We are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many parts of the world have been ravaged by this virus, but disease severity varies significantly. There are several types of patients with COVID-19: those who have mild disease who hopefully we don’t see in the ED, those with mild hypoxemia and symptoms but do well with therapy, those who are moderately to severely hypoxemic but otherwise appear well and may later develop severe symptoms, and those with hyperacute progression who decompensate quickly.

The case fatality rate also varies, from less than 2% in those under age 60 years to approaching 10% by 80 years.

While severe patients with significant illness are the minority of cases, patients with hypoxemia are challenging.

Recent literature suggests our strategy of early intubation may not be beneficial and may result in patient harm. What do we have that can help these patients?

This series will evaluate the patient with COVID-19 requiring respiratory support.

Our first part in this series will evaluate non-invasive measures and oxygen therapy escalation.

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