[JJ_BPK]

I had this in the back of my head, as a home solution.
Additionally, I would like to hear from the Spurts, can a typical portable O2 generator as use by COPD patients also augment home use of respirators?

Can Sleep Apnea Machines Treat COVID-19 Patients?
Article by Don Ward Hackett March 15, 2020

Fact checked by Robert Carlson, MD + 2 Updated 03/24/2020 - 19:08

March 15, 2020 – The expanding pandemic of COVID-19 disease cases in the USA could overwhelm the nation’s hospitals, which would force doctors into making respirator allocation decisions given their limited availability.

As demand grows, hospitals could sterilize and reuse ventilator tubing rather than discarding it after every patient.

And if supplies continue to run short, they could use transport ventilators or even positive airway pressure machines, similar to the devices sleep apnea patients use at home.

Furthermore, if demand continues to grow, hospitals could use sleep apnea machines, suggests George Washington University Law professor John Banzhaf, an MIT-trained engineer, and inventor.

Banzhaf suggested in an email newsletter distributed on March 15, 2020, the possibility of using existing CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machines, used to combat sleep apnea, as devices to help persons with respiratory problems due to coronavirus infection.

This potential use-case could fit especially in less serious cases which do not require the full power and sophistication of expensive hospital-type ventilator machines, says Banzhaf.

CPAP is a type of positive airway pressure, where the airflow is introduced into the airways to maintain a continuous pressure to constantly stent the airways open, in people who are breathing spontaneously. Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) is the pressure in the alveoli above atmospheric pressure at the end of expiration.

CPAP is a way of delivering PEEP but also maintains the set pressure throughout the respiratory cycle, during both inspiration and expiration, said this NIH article published in May 2019.

Professor Banzhaf suggests these advantages of using CPAP machines:

• the number of existing CPAP machines greatly exceeds the number of hospital ventilation machines,
• they are simpler and less expensive to acquire,
• manufacturing capability can be increased far more quickly,
• CPAP machines, especially those with full-face masks, can provide a very significant increase in the amount of air (and therefore oxygen) a user can consume, and many can easily be adjusted to provide even higher air pressures than would ordinarily be required to overcome mild sleep apnea.
• those most at risk of respiratory problems from the coronavirus virus are the elderly and/or have other medical problems - are also the population most like to already have and use CPAP machines already,
• family members are therefore familiar with and comfortable with using them,
• existing CPCP users could be asked to bring their units to the hospital where they might be used,
• many CPAP units are used largely to limit snoring, and in some cases, users might be able to do without them in an emergency without risk of serious health problems such as cardiovascular events.

https://www.coronavirustoday.com/cpa...at-sleep-apnea

This is the 1st time I have seen articles from www coronavirustoday com. I hove no idea of the vilidity of content.