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How does the ventilator not just fill up with the virus over time?

exhaled air is exhausted to outdoors through filters, fresh air comes in. different tubes for different direction of air flow

Right, which is one of the differences between a ventilator and a CPAP machine. CPAPs don't have a return hose, so virus can spread from the exhaled air. Some hospitals are putting breathing masks on people just so they're not spreading virus into the hospital.

I've also ready some hospitals are using techniques were O2 levels are increased directly in the blood supply? I can't remember what that's called though.

> I've also ready some hospitals are using techniques were O2 levels are increased directly in the blood supply?

ECMO [1], it has been used quite a bit in Italy too.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extracorporeal_membrane_oxygen...

Modern ventilators are a bit like an air compressor. Air enters one side, exits the other at higher pressure. There is no place for the virus to accumulate.

The contaminated air will just be dumped in the room. There are virus filters (HEPA) which you can attach to the tubing so that the virus is caught there.

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