Becker's Hospital Review

68 CMO / CARE DELIVERY New virus in China similar to swine, Spanish flu, Fauci says By Mackenzie Bean H ealth officials are closely monitoring a flu strain discovered in pigs in China, Anthony Fauci, MD, told the U.S. Senate's health and education committee June 30, according to CNBC. The flu strain, known as "G4 EA H1N1," has characteristics similar to the strains responsible for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there is no evidence to prove that the new flu strain can infect humans, but he noted the virus is exhibiting "reassortment capa- bilities," according to CNBC. "In other words, when you get a brand new virus that turns out to be a pandemic virus it's either due to mutations and/or the reassortment or exchanges of genes," Dr. Fauci said. The new virus is not "an immediate threat where you're seeing infec- tions, but it's something we need to keep our eye on, just the way we did in 2009 with the emergence of the swine flu," he said. n WHO official clarifies comments on asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 By Anuja Vaidya A top World Health Organization official backpedaled on com- ments she made that transmission of the new coronavirus by infected but asymptomatic people is "very rare," The New York Times reported. On June 8 Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, head of the WHO's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said that although a person with COVID-19 who is not showing symptoms can spread the virus, "it still seems to be rare." Dr. Van Kerkhove confirmed June 9 that the comments were based on two or three studies and saying that transmission of the virus by asymptomatic individuals worldwide is rare is a "misunderstanding." She further clarified that the estimates of asymptomatic transmission came from models, which do not provide an accurate picture of the spread of the virus. Scientists and health experts were quick to call out the comments as confusing and even "irresponsible." Scientists also criticized the comments in light of the fact that they may have policy implications, as many countries have implemented rules around wearing masks and social distancing due to the risk of asymp- tomatic or pre-symptomatic spread. Dr. Van Kerkhove and WHO officials reiterated the importance of social distancing, along with other measures, such as testing, tracing, quar- antine and isolation, to help curb the pandemic, the Times reported. n 6 ways hospitals can prepare for another COVID-19 wave By Mackenzie Bean T he pandemic's first wave, which is still hitting hard in some areas, has provided valuable les- sons for hospitals to refine their processes and improve preparedness if another wave occurs, accord- ing to ProPublica. Here are six lessons hospital leaders and health ex- perts shared with ProPublica: 1. Rely on widespread testing to quickly spot a COVID-19 resurgence. Early detection is a crucial part of containing the virus's spread. 2. Stock up on personal protective equipment and other supplies now. Northwell Health has spent $42 million on personal protective equipment alone during the pandemic. In early February, the New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based health system purchased $5 million in supplies and medical equipment, which "turned out to be a wise move," Senior Vice President and Chief Public Relations Officer Terence Lynam told ProPublica. 3. Have the flexibility to quickly move staff members and equipment from one virus hot spot to another. is was a major lesson for Northwell, which brought in 500 temporary nurses to help with COVID-19 care. Mr. Lynam said the system should have brought in these nurses at least a week earlier than it did. 4. Determine how to care for patients who don't have COVID-19 and are afraid of contracting it at a hospital. "We have to have some sort of a mechanism by which we can offer people assurance that if they come in, they won't get sick," Ashish Jha, MD, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute in Cambridge, Mass., told the publication. 5. Provide mental health resources for front-line staff members, some of whom have witnessed an un- precedented amount of death. 6. Develop protocols to allow hospital visitors. Most hospitals banned visitors during COVID-19 surges to limit the virus's spread. However, strict no-visitor policies may have produced other unintended conse- quences, according to Robert Wachter, MD, chair of the department of medicine at the University of Cali- fornia, San Francisco. "We didn't fully understand how important that was for patients, how much it might be contributing to some people not coming in for care when they really should have," Dr. Wachter told ProPublica. n

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