Washington's Ventec and GM kick into gear for ventilator production

Local maker Ventec Life Systems says it is going ahead with a plan to build 10,000 ventilators a month, to help patients battling COVID-19.

The Bothell-based company is teaming up General Motors to do it. Ventec’s website has exploded with opportunities for assemblers, testers and others.

It looked like this deal wasn’t going to happen. The Trump Administration questioned the scope and the billion-dollar price tag for this operation.

But GM says it had already sourced the 700 parts it needs to build the devices. The automaker says it will muster a thousand Indiana workers to build the devices.

Ventilators push air in and out of the lungs so that patients can save their strength for getting well. It's been estimated that nearly a million Americans with COVID-19 will need one.

But the Society of Critical Care Medicine says there are only about 200,000 ventilators in the United States.