One more thing: if you end up on ITU it’s a life-changing experience. It carries a huge cost even if you do get better. As our patients wake up, they are so weak they can’t sit unaided, many can’t lift their arms off the bed due to profound weakness. 1/

They need to be taught to walk again, breathe again, and have problems with speech and swallowing. Some have post traumatic stress, body image and cognitive problems. 2/

They get better in time but it may take a year and needs an army of Physiotherapy, speech and language, psychology and nursing staff to facilitate this. The few weeks on a ventilator are a small footnote in the whole process 3/