they usually do. So the thought now is to avoid intubation as much as possible, rather than what we were doing 2-3 weeks ago, which was intubating everyone as quickly as possible (at least in my hospital).

But there are still patients who present in profound respiratory failure, and your options at that point are either intubate and ventilate, or just stand around and watch them die, so we will still be intubating and ventilating lots of patients, because we have no better option for them right now.

I think if/when we do figure out an intervention that can actually decrease mortality in COVID patients, it will be a combination of things. I don't think the singular act of holding off on intubation/ventilation on certain patients will itself decrease mortality significantly.

Just my 2 cents. I work in an ED, not an ICU, so I don't see the full course of the patient's admission, just the initial presentation. ICU docs might have different thoughts.