[ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the latest coronavirus updates ]“The first week or two, I don’t think too many of us expected him to survive,” Spiegelman admitted.The virus was, and remains, a mystery in many ways.Castillo was hooked up to a ventilator, but his oxygen levels were decreasing, so the team thought of other ways to try and support him.“We were also at the point where we had no real option but to prone him, so we turned him upside down on his stomach to help give him more oxygen … and it seemed to work on him.