High-flow Nasal Cannula Oxygenation Revisited in COVID-19

Abstract

As of 31 March 2020, the Centers for Disease Control has reported a total of 163,593 confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and 2,860 COVID-19-related deaths in the US. According to several public health predictive models, these numbers are expected to continue to rise in the upcoming weeks, leading to a nationwide shortage of hospital beds and especially intensive care unit (ICU) beds. Owing to its predominantly respiratory manifestations, including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), one of the treatment modalities that is expected to run short is mechanical ventilators.