[mugwump]

Regarding hydroxychloroquine (HCQ): I think it helps and I'm not aware of a single ICU doc who can't prescribe it. It's the top drug being used in COVID patients (~30% of polled docs use it).

It's untrue that there have been no retrospective analyses of HCQ administation. The problem is that pooling "observational" studies (i.e. anecdotal accounts) from docs in the trenches produces little useful data. Some studies claiming benefit excluded patient deaths (WTF? why?) and many studies changed the goalposts mid-study.

The problem is with assumptions. Docs and politicians were screaming for ventilators ("I need 30,000 ventialtors and I need them now!") and it now looks like vents were execution machines. Over 99% of patients over the age of 60 who were vented in NYC died. You literally had a better chance of of surviving a GSW to the head than getting placed on a vent if you were over 60.

Proning and O2 support are now the gold standard most places with non-invasive high pressure O2 support the preferred device when proning/O2 isn't enough (think CPAP with integrated O2). Vents, when used, are set for low pressure and low inspiration 'pause' rates.

Look back at questions in this thread. I can't remember if I chipped in on the "CPAP is not indicated" bandwagon (it's still not BTW unless you have O2 to go along with it) because someone got in ahead of me, but that was the conventional wisdom because NI ventilators spew aerosols around the whole room and it's an infection risk.

Hosp administrators in NYC were urging *early* invasive vent use "to get a head of the infection curve" even when the patient didn't really need it at that time because they often crashed and the admins were trying to protect the *staff* (invasive vents don't spew virus) over treating the patient. A lot of people died IMO for that reason.

People now think the disease causes micro-clots in the lungs and it's that causing hypoxia, and not pneumonia, causing the damage. My daughter had clots in her legs from this disease and nearly lost a leg.

So it infects the lungs but kills by destroying the heart and circulatory system. Even the first deaths in WA state in Jan were all attributed to heart/circ system effects and not pulmonary effects.