Disability activist Stacey Park Milbern discussed “navigating COVID-19 as a ventilator user” at a May 6, 2020 California Care Rationing Coalition Press Conference, shortly before her death on May 20. In this YouTube video, she talks about being at high risk for death from Covid and losing access to care workers who had been exposed. She notes that Santa Clara County had recently issued a public safety alert asking ventilator users to identify themselves “for county inventory,” sparking fears of medical rationing and the removal of ventilators from disabled users for redistribution.
— Mara Mills