Awake proning prevented intubation and death from Covid-19 pneumonia*

* in China.

Prolonged periods in the chest-down (prone) position improve lung ventilation-perfusion matching in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)—i.e., hypoxemic respiratory failure usually caused by pneumonia.

In mechanically ventilated patients, prolonged prone positioning seems to reduce ventilator-induced lung injury and mortality from ARD…