- The coronavirus mortality rate for severely COVID-19 patients requiring ventilation is lower than initially believed.
- The data shows that patients who end up on breathing machines have a greater chance of surviving ventilation, similar to people struggling with other diseases that can cause similar lung complications.
- Doctors have learned how to better assess the need for ventilation, and new therapies can help reduce complications. However, the risk of death has not yet been significantly reduced.
The United States has just had its worst week of the new coronavirus pandemic so far. In the last three days alone, more than 150,000 cases were diagnosed on an average of more than 50,000 cases per day. The 60,000 mark seems imminent at this point, with Anthony Fauci recently warning that we could see 100,000 new cases daily if the spread is not contained. The rest of the world is not improving, collectively, at least, having reported more than 200,000 cases a day for three consecutive days and surpassing more than 11 million cumulative cases. More than 531,000 people have died since it all started, including more than 132,000 Americans. Thousands more will die in October, according to estimates. It’s not just that the virus is spreading faster than before, thanks to what could be a significant mutation. However, this genetic change does not appear to affect the efficacy of vaccines and other drugs, so it does not make the virus more deadly than before. It is the people who ignore the patterns of social distancing and face the masks that are responsible for the new massive waves in the cases.
Taken together, these are terrible numbers and facts that paint a clear and troubling picture. The disease will not go away soon. It won’t go away as Trump continues to suggest, and it won’t slow down during the summer months. But there is some good news emerging in all of this that needs to be recognized. While many people continue to die of COVID-19 complications worldwide, doctors report increased survival rates for severe cases that end up requiring mechanical ventilation.
Using oxygen and a ventilator doesn’t seem like a death sentence, as it seems to be the case in March and April. Outbreaks in Italy and New York painted a bleak picture at the time. Officials were concerned that health systems would be overwhelmed by an increase in cases, depleting hospital resources that were already insufficient in some cases. Access to the ventilator was one of the problems at the time, and several reports indicated that patients who need to be intubated and then hooked up to a breathing machine would likely not survive.
Things have improved dramatically since then. Not only can some therapies reduce the risk of complications, but doctors have been trained on how to best use ventilators. US hospitals report lower death rates related to mechanical ventilation, which are on par with death rates from other serious lung problems caused by other diseases.
Access to new therapies like remdesivir and dexamethasone may have helped. The first shortens recovery times for mild cases and the second can reduce mortality. The fact that hospitals are less overwhelmed also helps, as it gives doctors more time to devote to patients. Managing a patient on a breathing machine requires a large number of adjustment adjustments to meet that patient’s oxygenation needs. But doctors are also more adept at using ventilators than ever before. Also, initial mortality figures for Wuhan, Italy, and New York City may not have presented an accurate picture, The Washington Post reports.
A Northwell Health study in mid-April said that nearly nine out of 10 patients who receive ventilators will fail. The researchers subsequently had to correct the study, noting that only 24.5% of the patients observed at the time had died, while 72.2% remained in the hospital. Initially, the study said that 88% of people with fans had died.
“Being on a respirator now in our hands is no different than it would be any day of the year,” said Greg Martin. The charge. The Emory University School of Medicine professor of medicine and his colleagues explained in a May 26 study in Intensive Care Medicine that 35.7% of COVID-19 patients with respirators had died. That is still a large percentage, but it is not as high as those initial claims.
Data from UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center show that the mortality rate for ventilated patients is between 30% and 50%. That is within the range of the rate of people developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) related to other diseases. The same complication is seen in severe cases of COVID-19 as well.
At NYU Langone Health, 60% of mechanically ventilated patients died between March 1 and May 5, according to an article published in BMJ. The death rate “is never going to be 10% to 20%,” warns Leora Horwitz. “Let’s not kid ourselves,” said NYU professor of population health and medicine. The charge. “People who are sick enough to get fans are really sick.”
She recognized that doctors are learning how to better recognize who needs intubation, and are avoiding ventilation when possible. Techniques that include the prone position, as well as increased awareness of systemic blood coagulation in COVID-19, can also help manage severe cases. Approximately 20% of symptomatic patients require hospitalization and 5% end up in the ICU, the report notes. Most of them will progress to ventilated breathing.
That does not mean that people should start to let their guard down. Mortality rates remain significant for the disease, and some of the at-risk patients who end up with ventilators may need weeks before leaving, then additional weeks to recover. Social distancing, face masks, and hand washing should remain the top priorities.
Chris Smith started writing about gadgets as a hobby, and before he knew it, he was sharing his views on technology topics with readers around the world. Every time you don’t write about devices, you unfortunately don’t stay away from them, even though you desperately try. But that is not necessarily a bad thing.
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