A simple nasal cannula with oxygen ought to work for most cases. Assuming you need physical help though:
Iron lungs are superior. They avoid throat injury caused by tubes, they allow semi-normal talking and eating (time it right), and they generally make people more comfortable.
We got rid of iron lungs for cost reasons. They are physically huge and heavy. They slow down all patient care that doesn't involve the head.
There is a new device that is even better than an iron lung, but it is extremely uncommon. It operates the same way, but it is in the form of a body-conforming shell (like a turtle) and it has a push-pull action. It even has a button to request coughing, which turns out to be important.
I feel that we ought to somehow pressure hospitals to upgrade. It isn't right that people have to suffer with tubes jammed down their throats when far superior alternatives are available.
> They slow down all patient care that doesn't involve the head.
That's an understatement. The entire body is in a pressure vessel and is inaccessible. You can't even easily give medication or draw blood. I wouldn't say iron lungs are "superior"; they're no longer used for good reasons that don't just boil down to cost/bulkiness reasons. Also, modern ventilators aren't that cheap anyway.
You easily give medication or draw blood via the head. Air locks and captive gloves (like a glove box) are also workable.
If you were to be the patient, I think you would say iron lungs are "superior". The alternative is tubes jammed down your throat, which is horrible torture. I had a relative who literally chose death over the tubes. He would fight to rip them out, despite knowing that he needed them. Finally the hospital gave in, and now he's dead.
Yeah, you're right. Point being there's less than a thousand sufficient beds according to the last thing I've read and 4ish percent of patients may need one.
That is the only valid reason I can see for all the canceling. Given that a vaccine is 1-2 years out, it is likely to spread through the population regardless. All that canceling does really is slow it down so the healthcare infrastructure has time to adjust.
