It was just a couple of days ago, when the provincial government had announced that they'd ordered 10,000 new ventilators for hospitals in the province.
The risk is that hospitals won't be able to keep up, if we see a surge in cases of COVID-19.
As of Thursday, the number of people in hospital with the virus was above 400, and of that the people needing a ventilator was 112.
"Looking at Italy for example, about 10% of their patients would end up in a critical care bed, and a good number of those would end up on a ventilator," says Kevin Taylor, the CEO of the College of Respiratory Therapists of Ontario.
As a matter of fact, there have been horror stories out of Italy, where doctors have had to choose who gets a ventilator, and who doesn't. There just simply isn't enough to go around.
So, it's great that Ontario is getting things moving before it's too late, and getting the machines for when the time hits.
But what about the people needed to operate them?
"As soon as the numbers started ticking up, we knew where this was going, and we've been following what's been happening around the globe," says Taylor.
Taylor says they put a call out to recently retired respiratory therapists, and those who are on leave, to ask them back.
And he says the college is fast-tracking students who are graduating from their course this year, to make sure they can start working as soon as possible.
"They're perfect because they've been training in the facilities, they've been using the ventilators, they are familiar with all of the infection control protocols so they are basically job ready."
Taylor says the numbers though, are in their favour.
"Unlike an airplane where you get one pilot per plane, with ventilators, typically a respiratory therapist will supervise and manage at least five ventilators at a time and often upwards from there," says Taylor.
So he says if the province has ordered 10,000 ventilators, their current staffing levels can actually handle 12,500, right now.