Airway management in COVID-19: Time to start thinking outside the box?

Abstract

Faced with limited time, severely constrained resources and a lack of manpower in the face of the overwhelming numbers in Xerxes’ invading Persian Army, the Greeks strategised to halt their foe using two natural barriers which restricted movement: the Straits of Atremisium, and the narrow pass at Thermopylae. King Leonidas of Sparta led 7 000 mettlesome troops to engage at the Hot Gates, preparing to face a force today believed to have exceeded 150 000 fighters. When told that the Persians were so multitudinous that each volley of their arrows would block out the sun, Herodotus writes that the plucky Spartan soldier, Dienekes, replied laconically: “In the shade, then, we will fight!” The Battle of Thermopylae is history interwoven with legend, but speaks of the power of strategic interventions applied at the right place, at the right time, by the right people, even in the face of overwhelming odds.