A single ventilator may be quickly modified to ventilate four simulated adults for a limited time. The volumes delivered in this simulation should be able to sustain four 70-kg individuals. While further study is necessary, this pilot study suggests significant potential for the expanded use of a single ventilator during cases of disaster surge involving multiple casualties with respiratory failure.

A single ventilator may be quickly modified to ventilate four simulated adults for a limited time. The volumes delivered in this simulation should be able to sustain four 70-kg individuals. While further study is necessary, this pilot study suggests significant potential for the expanded use of a single ventilator during cases of disaster surge involving multiple casualties with respiratory failure.

Background The coincidence of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests with the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA has raised concerns about the safety of mass gatherings for political causes. This study examines two databases to probe any correlation between protests and increases of COVID-19 case rates afterward. Methods A BLM protest aggregator and a county-level COVID-19 database were crosswalked, matching the city that the protest occurred in with the county and its case rates at 0, 1, 2 and 3 weeks after the index protest, and was compared with a control county in the same state with the nearest match of population size and case rate at Week 0. Results In the 22 days after the killing of George Floyd, there were 326 counties participating in 868 protests, attended by an estimated 757 077 protestors. The median case rate at Week 3 was 0.0049 in protest counties versus 0.0041 in control counties, which was found to be statistically significant. Regression analysis found that each individual protestor contributed to the case rate by 7.65 × 10−9, which was not statistically significant. Conclusion Although the increase was statistically significant, it was very small in magnitude and likely due to limitations of significantly different population sizes in comparators.

We describe the design, modeling and production of a 3D printed manifold for attaching multiple respiration masks to a single ventilator machine. During a disaster surge this would allow up to four masks to be connected to a single ventilator source. In a disaster which involves high numbers of patients with lung damage, simultaneous respirator support may be required; however, the number of patients may quickly outnumber the available respirator machines. We explore the use of a rapid and low cost 3D printing method referred to as Fused Filament Deposition (FFD) for creation of a four-port ventilator manifold. This 3D printing method deposits layers of melted ABS plastic filament in a fine "stream" onto successive layers in order to form a three dimensional object. The standard file format for this object (manifold attachment) can be made globally available through the internet. It can be "printed" anywhere and anytime it is needed as a three dimensional object at extremely low cost (under two dollars per unit) and since the digital file that represents the object is modifiable, "derivative" versions can be redesigned to suit a broad range of potential applications, especially in areas with limited healthcare resources.