Hospitals are Covid-19 high-risk hotspots – Wall Street Journal

Hospitals and health care workers are at the frontline of the fight against Covid-19. In recognition of this, citizens of countries like the United Kingdom and Italy have staged a weekly applause for doctors, nurses and carers. A report by the Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics group (DELVE) of the Royal Society in the UK has found that these workers and institutions are particularly vulnerable when it comes to contracting Covid-19. They found that nine out of 10 health and care workers who caught the coronavirus contracted it at work and one in five patients hospitalised with Covid-19 had caught the virus while on a ward in a hospital. The data also suggested that health workers are six times more likely to contract Covid-19. The Wall Street Journal has identified the weak points in hospitals that the virus exploits and says the gaps leave hospitals "heavily reliant on personal protective equipment". This knowledge of what other countries have experienced could help South Africa to ensure that hospitals do not become super-spreaders of Covid-19 or act as revolving door for the virus between hospitals and local communities. – Linda van Tilburg

Hospitals struggle to contain Covid-19 spread inside their walls

By Russell Gold and Melanie Evans | Photographs by Taylor Glascock for The Wall Street Journal

The University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago thought it was ready when the pandemic reached its emergency room in early March.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___