Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected more than 50 countries so far this year. Xiaobo Yang and colleagues described in their single-centered, retrospective, observational study that 52 of 710 patients with confirmed COVID-19 admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) in Wuhan, China.

29 (56%) of 52 patients were given non-invasive ventilation at ICU admission, of whom 22 (76%) required further orotracheal intubation and invasive mechanical ventilation.

The ICU mortality rate among those who required non-invasive ventilation was 23 (79%) of 29 and among those who required invasive mechanical ventilation was 19 (86%) of 22.2.

Jonathan Chun-Hei Cheung and colleagues do not recommend use of a high-flow nasal cannula or non-invasive ventilation until the patient has viral clearance.

Of 1,688 health-care workers who have become infected with COVID-19, 5 have died, a sign of the vastly difficult working conditions for health-care workers.

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