A new analysis of coronavirus data suggests that reduced use of ventilators leads to a drop in the death rate from the virus, The Telegraph reports.
Data show that during a period when around 76% of patients were intubated within 24 hours of being admitted to an ICU, around 43% of ICU patients died, as opposed to around 34% during a period when only around 44.1% patients were intubated.
Neither use of different drugs nor any other changes to clinical guidelines were registered during the periods concerned; analysts believe the drop in death rates is a result of doctors' "informal learning" as they realized that patients on ventilators were faring less well than others on them.