Evaluating Efficacy of a COVID-19 Alternative Care Site Preparedness Assessment Tool for Catastrophic Healthcare Surge Capacity during Pandemic Response

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing catastrophic healthcare surge capacity required a network of facility infrastructure beyond the immediate hospital to triage the rapidly growing numbers of infected individuals and treat emerging disease cases. Providing regional continuity-of-care requires an assessment of buildings for alternative care sites (ACS) to extend healthcare operations into non-healthcare settings. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) appointed a COVID-19 ACS Task Force involving architects, engineers, public health, and healthcare professionals to conduct a charrette (i.e., intensive workshop) to establish guidance during the alert phase of the pandemic. The task force developed an ACS Preparedness Assessment Tool (PAT) for healthcare teams to assist with their rapid evaluation of building sites for establishing healthcare operations in non-healthcare settings. The tool was quickly updated (V2.0) and then translated into multiple languages. Subsequently, the authors of this manuscript reviewed the efficacy of the PAT V2.0 in the context of reported case studies from healthcare teams who developed a COVID-19 ACS in community settings. In summary, policy makers should re-examine the role of the built environment during emergency pandemic response and its impact on patients and health professionals. An updated ACS PAT tool should be established as part of the public health preparedness for implementing catastrophic healthcare surge capacity.

Association between Compliance with COVID-19 Restrictions and the Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Poland

“…When people are convinced about the need to apply self-protection measures and avoidance strategies, their compliance level is high, as shown by Moore et al [ 39 ]. It seems that educational campaigns and other ways to improve public compliance should be a key element in designing effective health communication about the COVID-19 pandemic and other health crises in the future [ 68 ]. As the end of the pandemic cannot be predicted, global efforts to overcome COVD-19 are still necessary.…”