[omgwtfbyobbq]

That's expected. I think there's suspicion because the death rate on ventilators is significantly higher than has been seen in the past with acute respiratory distress.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/194560

It may be that for some patients going on a ventilator is more dangerous than not because of community acquired infections and/or some other characteristic we don't have a good handle on.

This could also just be an unfortunately characteristic of COVID-19, but we should critically examine that assumption in case it isn't.