The woman was 52, and the mother of two boys, ages 12 and 15. Seeing her, lying helpless, with her lungs shredded by COVID, reminded Dr. Peter Goldberg of the first wave of the virus, back in early spring, when “it was like a forest fire, and all I had was a garden hose.” No matter what the doctors tried, steroids, everything, her carbon dioxide levels kept rising. At some point they couldn’t ventilate her, they couldn’t get the carbon dioxide out. She died, “and we watched this,” says Goldberg, head of the critical care program at the McGill University Health Centre.
Beyond the numbers: Who is dying of COVID in Canada, and how?
