Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/KMQTJr01C5Y   The new coronavirus can trigger an atypical pneumonia that creeps up on you before it kills you.   ICU docs in Germany, Baltimore, Seattle, and New York City observe that many patients, eventually diagnosed with CoVid19, barely notice respiratory symptoms as their lungs slowly deliver less and less oxygen to their vital organs.   Even patients coming in for fractures, trauma, and falls have surprisingly low oxygen levels without complaining about shortness of breath.  Their chest x-rays show advanced pneumonia but they breathe easily without chest tightness.     The reasons: CoVid halts the natural surfactant production that keeps the lung’s tiny sponge-like air chambers open.  Then too, the virus seems to drive lung micro-clotting that halts oxygen transfer into the bloodstream.   Many of such patients get better without high pressure mechanical ventilation using high flow oxygen and prone positioning.  Unnecessary incubation and ventilation can damage the voicebox