Item — HN Reader

As many have said it seems everyone is creating designs for ventilators, but few are producing large numbers that are being used.

But I'd guess that 99% of the effort required to create a ventilator is not the design of the mechanism pumping air into lungs but guaranteeing it is reliable, maintainable, easy to use, is hygienic and can be cleaned safely, obeys regulations and manufactured.

It doesn't matter if there's a crisis on or not - hospitals will get sued if your Heath Robinson style ventilator breaks and kills a person, however sick that person is.

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It is also worth noting that the fatality rate of cases that get artificial ventilation is about 50 % even in ideal conditions. While it can save a lot of lifes, keeping the total number of cases low is still absolutely crucial.

Agreed, It would make seem to make more sense for people to think about how to make people stay further apart, or designing and creating face masks or other 'gadgets' that stopped the spread of the disease.

Given that the recommended distance is 2 metres, I thought it might be fun to provide everyone with a metre stick, and if you can only just touch sticks then you're the right distance away. + it gives an alternative to the handshake!

If you are an adult, a meter stick is attached to your shoulder - just extend it.

Being pedantic, arm lengths vary from ~60cm to ~90cm. So not quite / only if you're a very large human!

Thankfully, in the US the recommended distance is only 6 feet (1.8m) :)