Lessons learned from COVID frontline: A Paris hospital refines ICU treatment

A nurse puts on a protective suit in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Robert Ballanger hospital in Aulnay-sous-Bois near Paris as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in France, September 15, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

PARIS (Reuters) - Doctor Alexandre Avenel has four COVID-19 patients in his intensive care ward, all with depleted blood oxygenation levels but none under intubation. That might not have been the case six months ago.

As a second wave of coronavirus sweeps across France, and the number of seriously ill patients climbs, intensive care medics say the lessons learned from early in the pandemic are leading to changes in how they treat the sick.