The 'ephemeral' intensive care units that saved the French healthcare system, a new concept to be preserved.

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) crisis has placed intense pressure on national healthcare systems, particularly in intensive care units (ICU), where existing bed capacity was quickly deemed insufficient. In France, at the peak of the pandemic, 30 375 patients were hospitalised, including 7148 critically ill patients, far exceeding the usual capacity of 5432 ICU beds.1