Seems plausible that one Alibaba oxygen concentrator would be enough for some patients.
Agree that this is plausible; 2L/min at 70% can raise a patient’s FiO2 from 21% to ~26%, more if used with a reservoir cannula.
However, in much of the USA, it seems like ventilators and healthcare workers will be limited, but hospital O2 supply will be sufficient—from what I’ve read, Italy is short of ventilators, personnel, and protective equipment but not O2. The advantage of O2 concentrators would mainly be to relieve overcrowding by treating moderate cases outside of hospitals, which doesn’t seem sufficiently impactful, especially if the concentrators aren’t in constant use. Maybe e.g. the UK (with fewer hospital beds per capita) or a developing country would be a better candidate.
Edit: I think hospital surge tents use oxygen tanks: see here for an example. I don’t know how they’ll be supplied, but increases in liquid oxygen supply or donations of used home O2 concentrators could each probably meet demand alone. Also, US Society for Critical Care Medicine is worried about ventilators, personnel, and hospital beds but not O2.
Agree that this is plausible; 2L/min at 70% can raise a patient’s FiO2 from 21% to ~26%, more if used with a reservoir cannula.
However, in much of the USA, it seems like ventilators and healthcare workers will be limited, but hospital O2 supply will be sufficient—from what I’ve read, Italy is short of ventilators, personnel, and protective equipment but not O2. The advantage of O2 concentrators would mainly be to relieve overcrowding by treating moderate cases outside of hospitals, which doesn’t seem sufficiently impactful, especially if the concentrators aren’t in constant use. Maybe e.g. the UK (with fewer hospital beds per capita) or a developing country would be a better candidate.
Edit: I think hospital surge tents use oxygen tanks: see here for an example. I don’t know how they’ll be supplied, but increases in liquid oxygen supply or donations of used home O2 concentrators could each probably meet demand alone. Also, US Society for Critical Care Medicine is worried about ventilators, personnel, and hospital beds but not O2.