COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US)
Yeah right........so you would tell your loved one, “you don’t need oxygen or a ventilator, so go home and try not to die.”
If they don't medically need a ventilator, then you'll just do damage to their lungs for no gain.
I'm sure initial treatment is some sort of inhaler, antibiotics (to stave off Pneumonia), and something for the cough or to keep the congestion loose and productive.
Intermediate, which can be done at some Urgent Care centers, would be an oxygen treatment to help "dry out" the lungs (I think it helps a bit with that), but mainly to keep your oxygen levels high, since lung function will diminish. And it's not callous to be put on an O2 Tank and lug it around, that's what the elderly with lung problems do now. It's not easy, but it's not callous.
If it's in their lungs so bad they need to be intubated and put on a ventilator, then you do it, because the damage isn't as bad as death.
The point is the American public is kinda stupid. Too many people rush to the ER for treatment that can be better handled by your own doctor, or a much cheaper urgent care center. I will say that a lung CT scan is better than a normal X-ray, but a doctor listening to your lungs is a better judge of what you need to do, than our own uneducated (Medically) selves. The last thing you want to do, if you have mild symptoms is to go to the hospital first.. all you do is expose yourself to a higher potential of COVID-19 (like if you don't actually have it, but another respiratory illness), or you risk many other people who don't it to whatever you have.
Don't wait until you're turning blue or on death's door to go though. But don't rush there either.