4 ms·

> a large proportion of the deaths were in care homes … which is no different from other countries. I seem to recall articles comparing the numbers, and the pr

> a large proportion of the deaths were in care homes … which is no different from other countries. I seem to recall articles comparing the numbers, and the proportions seem similar in many places. > Also, what will count is not the first few months but the entire lifetime of this pandemic. Considering only the improvements in treatments made between March and now, it seems fairly evident that a strategy of front-loading deaths was ill-considered. Even if all countries eventually end up with the same percentage of the population infected (which is far from certain), it's likely that those with a late wave will have considerably fewer deaths.

sjg007 6y ago
There’s been no real progress in clinical treatment since March.
- microtherion 6y ago
  There have been numerous improvements, summarized here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lessons-factbox-idUSKBN23Z04K https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lesson... * Some medication which appears to be effective, i.e. dexamethasone and remdesivir * Proning * An increased focus on avoiding blood clots, e.g. by using blood thinners.
- mhandley 6y ago
  Dexamethasone decreases deaths of ventilated cases by a third: https://www.recoverytrial.net/files/recovery_dexamethasone_statement_160620_v2final.pdf https://www.recoverytrial.net/files/recovery_dexamethasone_s...
  - sjg007 6y ago
    Prevents 1 death in 8 of ventilated cases and 1 in 25 on oxygen.
- TMWNN 6y ago
  No longer putting everyone with a <95% blood oxygen level on ventilator. It's heartbreaking to read this article from three months ago (https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/08/doctors-say-ventilators-overused-for-covid-19/ https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/08/doctors-say-ventilators-...) and realize that everything those warning against overuse of ventilators turned out to be correct.
  - microtherion 6y ago
    But even among people who do go on ventilators, there has apparently been a massive improvement in death rates: https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1280889429100552192 https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1280889429100552192
    - TMWNN 6y ago
      Yes, because they're now the ones who really needed mechanical respiration in the first place. The earlier "putting everyone with a <95% blood oxygen level on ventilator" strategy harmed people by damaging healthy lungs via overoxygenation, and causing breathing dependence that doctors found difficult/impossible to wean from and all sorts of other complications, such as deep vein thrombosis. (This is what happened to Nick Cordero.)
      - microtherion 6y ago
        Yes, but presumably (1) that harm affects everybody put on ventilators and (2) those who are now put on ventilators are the most desperate cases, so better ventilator triage as such does not seem to explain the improvement in ventilated death rates to me (even though it may explain improvement in overall death rates).

sjg007 6y ago

There’s been no real progress in clinical treatment since March.

microtherion 6y ago
There have been numerous improvements, summarized here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lessons-factbox-idUSKBN23Z04K https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lesson... * Some medication which appears to be effective, i.e. dexamethasone and remdesivir * Proning * An increased focus on avoiding blood clots, e.g. by using blood thinners.
mhandley 6y ago
Dexamethasone decreases deaths of ventilated cases by a third: https://www.recoverytrial.net/files/recovery_dexamethasone_statement_160620_v2final.pdf https://www.recoverytrial.net/files/recovery_dexamethasone_s...
- sjg007 6y ago
  Prevents 1 death in 8 of ventilated cases and 1 in 25 on oxygen.
TMWNN 6y ago
No longer putting everyone with a <95% blood oxygen level on ventilator. It's heartbreaking to read this article from three months ago (https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/08/doctors-say-ventilators-overused-for-covid-19/ https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/08/doctors-say-ventilators-...) and realize that everything those warning against overuse of ventilators turned out to be correct.
- microtherion 6y ago
  But even among people who do go on ventilators, there has apparently been a massive improvement in death rates: https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1280889429100552192 https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1280889429100552192
  - TMWNN 6y ago
    Yes, because they're now the ones who really needed mechanical respiration in the first place. The earlier "putting everyone with a <95% blood oxygen level on ventilator" strategy harmed people by damaging healthy lungs via overoxygenation, and causing breathing dependence that doctors found difficult/impossible to wean from and all sorts of other complications, such as deep vein thrombosis. (This is what happened to Nick Cordero.)
    - microtherion 6y ago
      Yes, but presumably (1) that harm affects everybody put on ventilators and (2) those who are now put on ventilators are the most desperate cases, so better ventilator triage as such does not seem to explain the improvement in ventilated death rates to me (even though it may explain improvement in overall death rates).