Intensive Care Unit versus High-Dependency Care Unit for COVID-19 Patients with Invasive Mechanical Ventilation.

This multicenter observational study in Japan suggests that care for mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients in the ICU may significantly reduce in-hospital mortality within 30 days compared with care in the HDU. Establishing a critical care system that would allow COVID-19 patients requiring ventilators to be treated in the ICU is desirable. Because this study was an observational study, our finding represents an association, not a causation. Further studies of different critical care systems are warranted to confirm our findings.