CHICAGO (AP) – The Illinois governor says the state needs thousands more ventilators from the federal government as it desperately prepares for its a peak in coronavirus cases expected in late April.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker told CNN on Sunday that he’s requested 4,000 ventilators but has only received 450. Later in the day, state officials said the number of cases in Illinois climbed in one day by 899 to 11,256 and the number of deaths rose by 31 to 274.
Pritzker told CNN’s Jake Tapper that even though President Donald Trump called for General Motors to build ventilators under the Defense Production Act, they won’t be ready until well after Illinois’ expected peak.
