Here is what a doctor saw in this video of Tweety:
-Extra-respiratory muscles to breathe.
-Visible chest wall rise.
-Open mouth breathing at times.
-Rapid shallow breaths at roughly 25-30 breaths per minute. More than twice normal.
This is respiratory distress.
The next few days will be telling. He is in a honeymoon period right now, largely due to the meds. In the next few days, he will either respond to treatment and turn the corner or he will crash. Time will tell.
Remember he looks like this with top-notch care/medications that almost no one else would get.
Dexamethasone has been shown to be effective in severe COVID19. In severe COVID there is a hyperinflammatory state highly correlated with death. The dex shuts that down. In mild COVID, it increases mortality due to immune suppression. And then you have the mental side effects.