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Comment by notyourday | Hacker News Reader

> For most, this is a Hail Mary attempt with only 50% survival rate.

Non Hail-Mary Ventilators have only a 30% survival rate at 1 year mark:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8404197

Incidentally, that's exactly why medical systems to not stockpile ventilators. Under reasonable condition, the number of ventilators closely mirrors the expected number of Hail Mary procedures done at a given time and some spare units.

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The links I added in my edit suggests that using non-invasive, constant positive air pressure (C-PAP) with a closed mask could help certain patients from needing intubation and ICU as early (or at all). If this turns out to be the case, this might reduce the overload on the hospital system. They might be attempting it in Italy. Hopefully, it works.

That paper makes me wonder what will be the long-term health consequences and outcomes for the survivors of COVID-19 who needed to stay at an ICU.

And the survival rate is only 3% to 20% for COVID-19 specifically, based on data from Wuhan, following patients for a month. Long-term mortality will be even less.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

Plus you need nurses and doctors to intubate the patient and setup and monitor the actual ventilator. The machine itself is a small part of the equation.

I think the focus on ventilators is somewhat misleading. If you need mechanical ventilation, you're a goner anyway, and your bed and healthcare staff could be better used on someone else. The 'lack' of a machine is just a very visible component.

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