I had never heard of the word “intubated” before the pandemic. This is a procedure where a tube is inserted into a person’s mouth or nose all the way down into their airway or trachea so that air can get through. The other end of the tube is connected to a machine that supplies oxygen. The oxygen may also be delivered through a mask instead of a tube (Cleveland Clinic). Some people who suffered very badly with Covid-19 were unable to breathe on their own so they had to be hooked up to a ventilator.
An article published on the Yale Medicine website explains that “if the body’s immune system does not fight off the infection, it can travel to the lungs and cause a potentially fatal condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In ARDS, the alveoli (tiny air sacs that allow oxygen to reach the blood stream and remove carbon dioxide) fill with fluid, which diminishes the lungs’ ability to provide vital organs with enough oxygen. ‘ARDS entails severe inflammation of the lungs, but the main problem is that it makes portions of the lungs unusable,’ Dr. Ferrante explains. ‘It can be very serious, and many of these patients will need to be on a ventilator’” (Macmillan). The length of time a patient can be on a ventilator can be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. For longer periods of time, a surgeon will perform a tracheostomy whereby a hole is made in the patients neck and the tube is inserted into the trachea with the other end connected to the ventilator.
New Jersey still publishes the list of those who tested positive for Covid-19 which includes the number of those on ventilators: “There were 1,038 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported at 69 of the state’s 71 hospitals as of Friday. Of those hospitalized, 105 are in intensive care and 37 are on ventilators” (Furst).
Social Media Trends as of August 24, 2022
*** Trigger warning – some images can be distressing to watch ***
Facebook #intubated: people are posting about this
TikTok #intubated: 13.9 million views
Google Trends: intubated is not a new term but the popularity of the search term peaked during the first week of April 2020 coinciding with the start of the pandemic.
Sources:
Furst, Camile. “N.J. reports 2,067 COVID cases, 8 death. 3 counties remain ‘high risk’ for transmission.” NJ.com. August 26, 2022. URL: https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2022/08/nj-reports-2067-covid-cases-8-deaths-only-3-counties-have-high-risk-for-transmission-cdc-says.html.
“Intubated.” Cleveland Clinic. URL: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22160-intubation#:~:text=Being%20intubated%20and%20being%20on%20a%20ventilator%20are%20related%2C%20but,a%20device%20that%20delivers%20air..
Macmillan, Carrie. “Ventilators and COVID-19: What You Need to Know.” Yale Medicine. June 2, 2020. URL: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/ventilators-covid-19#:~:text=Some%20people%20may%20need%20to,tube%20into%20the%20trachea.