Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Oct 2020
Predicted Effects of Stopping COVID-19 Lockdown on Italian Hospital Demand.
Italy has been one of the first countries to implement mitigation measures to curb the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There is currently a debate on when and how such measures should be loosened. To forecast the demand for hospital intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU beds for COVID-19 patients from May to September, we developed 2 models, assuming a gradual easing of restrictions or an intermittent lockdown. ⋯ Italian hospital demand is likely to remain high in the next months. If restrictions are reduced, planning for the next several months should consider an increase in health-care resources to maintain surge capacity across the country.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Oct 2020
Epidemiologic Features of 135 Patients With Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in Tianjin, China.
This study describes the epidemiologic features of an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Tianjin caused by a novel coronavirus and provides the scientific basis for prevention and control measures. ⋯ Current information suggests that people are generally susceptible to COVID-19, which has shown a familial clustering in Tianjin.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Oct 2020
Shelter Hospital: Glimmers of Hope in Treating Coronavirus 2019.
Since the first report of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, the outbreak of the disease has been continuously evolving. Until March 17, 2020, 185, 178 cases had been confirmed, including 81,134 cases in China and 104,044 cases outside of China. In this comment, we report the unexpected beneficial effect of a deployable rapid-assembly shelter hospital on the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. We describe the shelter hospital maintenance, treatment mode and primary treatment methods, which will provide a valuable experience in dealing with public health emergencies, such as COVID-19, for other countries and areas.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Oct 2020
Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic.
N95 respirators are personal protective equipment most often used to control exposures to infections transmitted via the airborne route. Supplies of N95 respirators can become depleted during pandemics or when otherwise in high demand. ⋯ Consultation with federal, state, and local public health officials is also important. We use the framework of surge capacity and the occupational health and safety hierarchy of controls approach to discuss specific engineering control, administrative control, and personal protective equipment measures that may help in optimizing N95 respirator supplies.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Oct 2020
Historical ArticleHow to Surge to Face the SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak: Lessons Learned From Lombardy, Italy.
Italy is fighting against one of the worst medical emergency since the 1918 Spanish Flu. Pressure on the hospitals is tremendous. ⋯ Unfortunately, hospitals are not prepared: even where a plan for massive influx of patients is present, it usually focuses on sudden onset disaster trauma victims (the most probable case scenario), and it has not been tested, validated, or propagated to the staff. Despite this, the All Hazards Approach for management of major incidents and disasters is still valid and the "4S" theory (staff, stuff, structure, systems) for surge capacity can be guidance to respond to this disaster.