Across the globe,
companies and organizations began shifting production
to meet the demand for much-needed ventilators.
In Europe, scuba diving masks
became a new tool to fight COVID-19.
An Israeli missile company
now makes life-saving breathing machines.
And, in the United States,
Tesla engineers designed ventilators
made from spare electric car parts.
In late March, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla,
offered free ventilators to hospitals that needed them.
But, these machines, designed for sleep apnea,
had to be converted by doctors
at a New York City hospital.
Now, Tesla employees created a prototype
made from Model 3 parts.
- We've been working on developing
our own ventilator design, specifically one
that's heavily based on Tesla car parts.
You can see that all the red parts
here are a Tesla vehicle part,
so we've used a lot of those.
- This touch screen is powered by
the Model 3 infotainment computer in here,
which controls Model 3 vehicle controllers.
- In Michigan, Ford and GE
plan to use a former automotive plant
to build a ventilator that doesn't need electricity.
It uses air pressure to run.
The companies expect to get started in late April,
producing 50,000 ventilators in the first 100 days,
and then, 30,000 a month, going forward.
In Tokyo, Metron produces ventilators for animals.
Now, they're being converted to use for people.
The CEO said the respiratory systems
of humans and many animals are similar.
Japan's government asked Metron
to modify the equipment for human use.
Representatives from the UK, the US, and India
have also reached out to the company to ask for help.
The global effort to fight the coronavirus
even meant one company making a life-saving product,
instead of its usual life-taking weapons.
In Tel Aviv, Israel Aerospace Industries
rapidly shifted its production line
from missiles to ventilators.
It partnered with medical device maker Inovytec
and the Israel Defense Force
to deliver 30 ventilators.
In France, the Ambroise Paré Clinic
converted scuba diving masks to medical use,
so that patients would not need tubes
going into their lungs.
These can help less severe cases of COVID-19.
Decathlon, the maker of the masks,
suspended sales to the public
and donated them to hospitals in need.
In Belgium, an engineer devised an adapter
for the masks on a 3D printing machine.
- So that's why we could go very, very fast
and from the first talk we had
to the really usable prototype,
it was really a few hours.
- The printed prototype
became the model for a large order
using medical-grade plastics.
In the Czech Republic,
researchers designed a simple ventilator
for others to produce around the world.
The design will be released to the public
so that anyone can manufacture the ventilators,
instead of waiting for the finished product
to be shipped from somewhere else.
And in Slovakia,
these students built a stop-gap ventilator
for patients waiting on more professional designs.
In light of the pandemic,
the world is seeing human ingenuity and compassion
attacking a problem facing everyone.