As ResMed notes, while their CPAP machines are useful for those with breathing difficulties, they cannot safely be reused between patients. Meaning every CPAP machine provided by Tesla to hospitals can only be used on one COVID19 patient.
So, they're better than nothing but still an example of Tesla/Musk saying one thing, borking the execution of that one thing, and then congratulating themselves for failing to do what they claimed they would do.
CPAPs aerosolize on exhale, they aren't closed loop like hospital ventilators. It's not about cleaning just the machine but decontaminating the whole room.
Is it not possible to route the exhaust through a filter? If a couple millimeters of masks can stop it surely a canister style filter would more than do th job.
I can see some pretty easy hacks for dealing with that. Putting a hose on the outlet and filtering with electret material or UVC. Healthcare in the US is regulated to the nth degree, but at this point it seems that a slightly imperfect solution is better than nothing, and testing a solution like this for viability should be easy in any hospital that can test for COVID-19.
The current concern is having enough ventilators to match the peak next week, so even if it's true that these machines can't be reused (and I kinda want to see a source on that) it seems pretty helpful.
Along with CPAP machines Resmed does make ventilators which are FDA approved for use in clinical environments. Tesla also distributed ventilators from Medtronic and Philips.
Yeah using his own money to buy medical equipment.
"Fuck you asshole that is not the perfect equipment"
There are tons of tweets from doctors who are happy to get that stuff, but clearly fuck those asshole doctors. They should spit in his face and demand higher quality products.
If by "own money" you mean Tesla money, which is he using to burnish his own public image.
And the point isn't that the equipment isn't perfect. The point is that these large devices are (a) limited to single-patient use and (b) aren't the kind of ventilators used to treat the breathing complications created by COVID19. (CPAP machines are a much simpler form of ventilator.)
Beating a dead horse here, but the "ventilators" that Elon Musk bought were 5-year old discontinued models that aren't even made any more. Moreover, these CPAP machines (technically BiPAP) are now suspected to be the reason for the extremely high fatality rate in Washington. In order to use these for COVID19 patients, medical facilities first need to make substantial modifications (such as adding filtering mechanisms).
So, not only do I stand by my initial comments, but it is the opinion of multiple medical experts with actual experience treating COVID19 patients that these machines are actually be harmful to use in a clinical situation without substantial modifications requiring resources the hospitals don't have. https://khn.org/news/covid19-ventilator-shortage-substitutin...
