If they needed and/or wanted a Vent. They got one.
We have things we look at...ABG's/VBG's...that tell us are they ventilating are they oxygenating?....What is their WOB if they are not acidotic.
I had pts's that did not want to be on a vent....but near the end they begged us to intubate and place them on a vent.
I saw a lot of death...and in a small rural Hosp. too.
But I NEVER saw anyone tubed..and placed on a vent that did not want it.
A friend of mine was put on a vent in January 2021.
He appeared to have contracted Covid at a family Christmas party. He was being treated at home until his oxygen fell dramatically, like the low 80s
From what I heard when he was first admitted to the hospital he was just given oxygen, but his O2 continued to fall and he was vented.
Toward the end of his stay he experienced acute kidney injury and when they attempted dialysis his BP would spike. He lasted about three days. The AKI was just too much. It may have been caused by the cytokine storm that accompanied severe cases of covid.