1. Answering the call

Wounded British soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk make their way up the gangplank from a destroyer at Dover, May 1940 [Imperial War Museums image, public domain]
Invoking the Korean War–era act was kind of like drafting the medical device industry into a war — a war against the virus. Under the Defense Production Act, the U.S. Department of Defense could go to a medical device manufacturer and, for example, make a large order for ventilators. The law requires the manufacturer to treat the order as a top priority, fulfilling it before any commercial orders previously made.
Invoking the act could affect a whole host of companies making products that health providers will need to treat the sick. Major makers of ventilators and respiratory care products include Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG), GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE), ResMed (NYSE:RMD) and Allied Healthcare Products. Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) makes surgical masks and blood draw and testing systems, and 3M (NYSE:MMM) makes the N95 respirator masks that are supposed to be especially effective at protecting people from inhaling the virus.