Expect changes in the guidance for suspected COVID-19 infection! We have been instructed not to go to the hospital unless we feel shortness of breath. But if patients wait that long they greatly increase the odds that they will end up being placed on a ventilator. The problem is that patients may unconsciously compensate for decreasing blood oxygen levels by breathing faster. By the time they actually are aware they are not getting enough air, their lungs are severely compromised, and they have very few options. They need a ventilator. Once intubated, the patient's chances of multiple organ failure and death go way up. Patients on ventilators are administered a cocktail of powerful drugs that leave them incapacitated and totally dependent on a machine and the ministrations of a team of doctors and nurses minute to minute, 24 hours a day, for up to 3 weeks. The patient lies hooked up to a network of tubes, like a derelict ship only prevented from drifting away by its web of mooring lines. The medical team must convene twice a day to flip the patient. If that same patient were to receive care earlier in the course of the disease, the need for such heroic interventions probably could be avoided. There are things that can be done, like having the patient lie face down. This helps clear mucous from the lungs. And they can be given oxygen through a simple mask.  The learning curve for this novel corona virus has been steep. Italy confronted the pathogen early on, and they have learned what we in the US are  just now beginning to appreciate:  if you wait until your lips turn blue before going to the hospital, you may not need a ride home.