Post Publication Independent Review of
"Protecting health-care workers from subclinical coronavirus infection"
Table of Contents:
Post Publication Independent Review of "Protecting health-care workers from subclinical coronavirus infection"
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https://www.prabhubritto.org/post-publication-independent-reviews-covid-19
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Post Publication Independent Review of
Protecting health-care workers from subclinical coronavirus infection
De Chang, Huiwen Xu, Andre Rebaza, Lokesh Sharma, Charles S Dela Cruz,
Published: February 13, 2020 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30066-7
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30066-7/fulltext
Review Comments:
1. Quote "Health-care workers face an elevated risk of exposure to infectious diseases, including the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in China. It is imperative to ensure the safety of health-care workers not only to safeguard continuous patient care but also to ensure they do not transmit the virus" End of Quote.
The condition is the same for all Nations.
2. Quote "According to recent guidelines from the China National Health Commission, pneumonia caused by COVID-19 was included as a Group B infectious disease, which is in the same category as other infectious viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). However, current guidelines suggest ensuring protective measures for all health-care workers similar to those indicated for Group A infections—a category reserved for highly infectious pathogens, such as cholera and plague." End of Quore.
This indicates that the health care workers will be more susceptible to the disease. Unless they are protected, it will be very difficult to contain and treat the population.
3. Quote "Recent evidence suggests that even someone who is non-symptomatic can spread COVID-19 with high efficiency, and conventional measures of protection, such as face masks, provide insufficient protection" End of Quote.
Conventional measures of protection may be sufficient for the people who might come in contact with the disease seldom. However, conventional measures of protection may not be sufficient for health care workers who are in close proximity to the disease always, through the patient.
4. Quote " not only can subclinical patients transmit the virus effectively but patients can also shed high amounts of the virus and infect others even after recovery from the acute illness. These findings warrant aggressive measures (such as N95 masks, goggles, and protective gowns) to ensure the safety of health-care workers during this COVID-19 outbreak, as well as future outbreaks" End of Quote.
This statement needs to be given due attention, and all Nations may have to immediately manufacture on a large scale N95 masks, goggles and protective gowns for the healthcare workers and also ensure a steady supply of N95 masks, goggles and protective gowns, so that they can be changed periodically, ensuring maximum safety for the healthcare workers.