>I cannot really think of a story where an over-capacity hospital leads to the same or reduced mortality.
I think the emphasis on ventilators at the beginning of the pandemic likely caused an increase in mortality in hospitalized patients. At peak panic, there was a big push to create and distribute ventilators, including open source projects, big name tech billionaires dedicating resources, etc. Then we realized these were actually damaging lungs further, and nixed that treatment, switching to oxygen supplementation only.
This is interesting to read now, because at the time (March 2020) I was watching Drs from Italy on YouTube saying that they recommended hi-flow O2 and proning with surgical masks on the patient. I remember this because I researched whether it would be worthwhile buying O2 cylinders or a generator, concluding : no, because it would be hard to produce the necessary flow with available equipment. Somehow this memo didn't make it out to the wider medical community it appears.
I’m not sure which country’s “peak” you’re referring to, but in the US the peak was over Q4 2020 to Q1 2021. By this point doctors had already realized the issues with ventilators.
I think the emphasis on ventilators at the beginning of the pandemic likely caused an increase in mortality in hospitalized patients. At peak panic, there was a big push to create and distribute ventilators, including open source projects, big name tech billionaires dedicating resources, etc. Then we realized these were actually damaging lungs further, and nixed that treatment, switching to oxygen supplementation only.