Prior to the peak of first-wave hospital admissions on April 1, 75.9 percent of Covid patients were admitted within 24 hours of reaching ICU, according to the National Research Center Intensive Care.
This fell to 44.1 percent after the peak. At the same time, the mortality rates in ICUs decreased from 43 percent to 34 percent.
Dr. Pittard said this was not due to changes in shower use but to improvements in understanding how to treat aspects of Covid’s disease, such as blood clots, as well as the introduction of new drugs such as Dexamethasone.
The main reason for the decline in ventilator use, she said, was because doctors understood that Covid’s patients were doing unexpectedly well with what would normally be considered levels. dangerous oxygen saturation.
However, below a certain threshold level gives the same chance of survival.
“If you reach that point where you are offered an air conditioner, if you refuse there is a 100 per cent chance that you are going to die,” Dr Pittard said. “But if you say yes, it is there is a 40 to 50 percent chance. It’s the Covid that’s killing you. “
She noted a study conducted across five U.S. hospitals that included more than 1,000 Covid patients. Forty-two percent of those infected died, but tended to be older and were found to have more severe disease symptoms than those who survived.
On Friday afternoon 3,918 Covid patients were ventilated across the UK, out of a total of 35,375 hospitalized.
While total numbers of Covid patients in the hospital reached nearly twice the peak of the first wave this month, the highest peak in shower use in January – 4,077 – was only 23 percent higher than the peak April of 3,301.
Many Covid patients in the hospital still need a lot of oxygen, but doctors prefer to give this non-aggressively, either through a conventional oxygen mask or through advanced air pressure devices (CPAP), which Boris Johnson used during his illness.