Former Newport executives, government officials and executives at rival ventilator companies suspect Covidien acquired Newport to prevent the frugal $3,000 ventilator design from disturbing its profitable ventilation operation. Covidien merged in 2015 into Medtronic. "Project Aura" looked for and then signed a new contract with Philips healthcare. In July 2019, the FDA signed for 10,000 units of their Trilogy Evo portable ventilator, to be delivered to the SNS by mid-2020. On 25 March 2020, Andrew Cuomo made a detailed 1-hour COVID-19 press conference, emphasising an expectation of a severe shortage of ventilators, and their importance in sustaining life in severe COVID-19 cases. Cuomo said New York state would ultimately need about 30,000 ventilators to handle the influx, while having only 4,000 as of 25 March; on the 27th, President Trump expressed doubt about the need, saying "I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators," and resisted calls to force businesses to produce them. Later on the 27th, the President acceded to calls to assist states in ventilator procurement, using the Defense Production Act, although fears remain that procurement will not happen in time to prevent severe shortages. In Europe, the company Löwenstein Medical producing 1500 ICU-level ventilators and 20,000 home-level ventilator per year for France alone, pointed out of the current high demand and production shortage. Based in Europe, all their components are European and not relying on the Chinese supply chain. As for production ramp-up, it was suggested to increase the production of home-level ventilators, more basic and which can be assembled in half an hour, yet able to support patients through acute respiratory distress syndrome. The current bottleneck is mainly a question of qualified human resources. In business as usual, ICU-level ventilators are to be renewed every 10 to 15 years. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Germany and other European countries have started to take control over the company's supply. In China, local manufacturers are racing to answer the demand. Medtronic made ventilator design specifications publicly available but licensing questions remain unclarified.  3D makers have been working on various low-cost alternative ventilation devices or adaptations. Anaesthetist Dr. Alan Gauthier from Ontario, Canada, turned one single-patient ventilator into a nine-patient device thanks to a 2006 YouTube video by 2 doctors from Detroit.