, Columnist
Hopeful Coronavirus News: Doctors Learn More About Treatment
The medical community is learning a lot, fast, and sharing information across borders.
Working together.
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So much of the news around Covid-19 is scary, but there is a hopeful item to share: A steep rise in the learning curve of doctors treating critically ill coronavirus patients.
Doctors are learning more about just how weird this disease can be when people get sick enough to be hospitalized. Some say that unlike typical cases of severe pneumonia, in which the lungs stiffen and look cloudy on CT scans, about half of patients with severe Covid-19 have healthier, more elastic lungs, and report little trouble breathing — even as their blood-oxygen levels drop to dangerous lows.