If you’re requiring oxygen because of an infection with COVID then your lungs are DAMAGED. The MORE oxygen required, the MORE damage to the lungs. 🫁
https://twitter.com/cleavon_md/status/1420223744337981440
Those lungs of the child in the CT scan will NEVER be the same again. Tragic.
When the lungs are completely damaged and can’t oxygenate the blood then patients are placed on ECMO, which uses a machine to oxygenate the blood. This allows the lungs to hopefully recover. If the damaged lungs don’t recover then lung transplant is the next option. 
Patients must meet certain criteria to be candidates for ECMO.
ECMO isn’t available at every hospital. The latest figures show that 264 U.S. hospitals out of more than 6,000 in the country have the ability to perform ECMO
Escalation steps in hypoxemic covid patients (simplified):
1. Nasal Cannula
2. Hi flow oxygen therapy
3. Non-invasive ventilation
4. Invasive ventilation (breathing machine)
5. ECMO (if a candidate)
6. Lung Transplant
1. Nasal Cannula
2. Hi flow oxygen therapy
3. Non-invasive ventilation
4. Invasive ventilation (breathing machine)
5. ECMO (if a candidate)
6. Lung Transplant
This is based on a conversation w/ a person w/COVID who didn’t want to go the hospital b/c they didn’t want to be put on a breathing machine. I explained there are multiple steps b4 being placed on a ventilator. The earlier you’re treated in your illness, the better the outcome
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