I’ve seen references that the medical community has developed better therapies for Covid over the past half year, so the survival rate is better.
What are the new therapies that they’ve developed?
One I’ve heard about is having the patient lie on their stomach instead of their back. Why does that help?
Gravity augments chest cavity expansion so more air(oxygen) is taken in. Better aeration (and oxygenation).
It’s called proning. Sometimes it helps to have the patient sit up or lie on one side. These techniques reduce the need to put patients on ventilators.
Thanks for the link. Interesting.
I’d heard of this as well.
As an asthmatic, who cannot lie flat at all during a bad flare, it’s very counterintuitive - but in this case I’d have to assume the doctors know what they’re doing. There are even special beds that rotate 360 degrees along the long axis, though they aren’t common.
Other treatments that have increasing evidence of efficacy:
As well as other more experimental treaments.
One other is the use of monoclonal antibodies. Trump got that. I single treatment would be expected to cost in the neighborhood of $100,000.
There’s always a wiki page for it. In this case there are several - this is probably the most germane, and it links to several others, including old and new drugs under investigation.
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One other thing I have seen is that the SSRI anti-depressant fluvoxamine may also be helpful. In addition to its anti-depressant effect, articles say: “unlike other SSRIs, fluvoxamine has a strong interaction with a protein called the sigma-1 receptor, which helps regulate the body’s inflammatory response.”
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-11-12/an-antidepressant-might-help-prevent-severe-covid-19
Since many people have problems with depression during the time they have COVID-19, I suppose an antidepressant they might consider should be one that also helps with the physical symptoms, too.
https://frontiersmag.wustl.edu/2020/10/04/the-comorbidity-of-major-depressive-disorder-with-covid-19-in-populations/
As a lesser alternative to a ventilator, some hospitals have tried using CPAP machines (used mostly by people with sleep apnea) with mixed results. It can be helpful for patients with short hospital stays, but makes things worse for patients with longer hospitalizations, and because they typically release the patient’s exhalations into the room, the air blowing out of the mask’s vent carries virus particles which can infect others. (Two links below.)
https://medical.mit.edu/covid-19-updates/2020/06/could-cpap-machines-help-covid-19-patients
I’m not sure if this is useful, but this kills COVID in saliva:
The CPAP machine is independent of the mask used so it’s just a matter of using a filtered mask..
I would add that the mask itself has to be integral to the filter. My CPAP mask is designed to leak at the junction of the hose connection. So adding a filter requires a tight sealing mask that vents back through a filter.
Like any system in place, it can’t just be thrown in a box and stored for emergencies. These things have a life span so they would have to be either easily scalable or a stockpile that is rotated or replaced periodically.