Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected over 150 million people worldwide, with over 3 million deaths as of 6 May 2021 1. In the UK, approximately 15% of individuals affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have required admission to hospital 2 and those with severe disease require advanced respiratory support including invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) 3. Due to the considerable scale of the pandemic, noninvasive continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) has been utilised for COVID-19-related type I respiratory failure as a therapeutic strategy to improve patient outcomes 4, 5 and also to preserve IMV capacity during a challenging time for acute healthcare providers. However, its exact role is unclear and is the subject of a UK multicentre trial 6. An increased incidence of pulmonary barotrauma in patients receiving CPAP for #COVID19 pneumonia was observed during the second peak of infections at this centre in the UK https://bit.ly/3qeSTp9