The western journal of emergency medicine
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Review
Brief Summary of Potential SARS-CoV-2 Prophylactic and Treatment Drugs in the Emergency Department.
As of March 30th, 2020 there were 161,807 total cases and 2,953 total deaths of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States, with the number of cases expected to rise. Other than supportive care, there are no SARS-CoV-2 specific treatments available for patients discharged from the emergency department (ED) or those admitted to the hospital. In addition, there are no vaccines available to protect our at-risk healthcare workers. The National Institutes of Health is conducting a Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate for a potential vaccine and the recipients have started to receive the investigational vaccine.2 We present a brief overview of the potential prophylactic and treatment agents under investigation, some which could be initiated in the ED if proven effective.
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Review
Preliminary Results of Initial Testing for Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Emergency Department.
On March 10, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic due to widespread infection of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). We report the preliminary results of a targeted program of COVID-19 infection testing in the ED in the first 10 days of its initiation at our institution. ⋯ In this review of prospectively collected data on all ED patients who had targeted testing for acute COVID-19 infection at two EDs in the first 10 days of testing, we found that 10.2% of those tested were identified as positive. The continued monitoring of testing and results will help providers understand how COVID-19 is progressing in the community.