On Apr. 1, 2020, a University of Washington Medicine led study of 24 of the most critically ill patients with COVID-19, early on in the pandemic, indicated a high mortality rate, and a prolonged time on respirators for the patients who did survive the virus’ attack.

The study, published March 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine, saw a mortality rate of 50 percent. Most of the patients in the study spent an average of 10 days on a ventilator. Usually the average time a patient in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) spends on a ventilator ranges from 3 to 7 days, according to one study.

These conclusions were reached by an analysis conducted by UW Medicine pulmonologists. They studied the cases of 24 patients in nine hospitals during the early stages of the pandemic in Washington state, which reported the nation’s first COVID-19 death in late February.

The findings suggested that doctors should not be so quick to rule out coronavirus for patients who present only with a cough. The most common symptoms on hospital admission were shortness of breath and cough, which occurred in 21 (88 percent ) of the patients. Documented fever was present in 12 (50 percent) patients when they came into the hospital, the report states.