COVID-19 Continues to Surge

Nurses at NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro, Arkansas care for a patient in the ICU COVID-19 ward (Nurses check, 2021).

COVID-19 has truly changed our lives and the ways we interact with the world around us. Seeing others without masks while indoors is now often accompanied by a feeling of unease and hesitation. However, COVID-19 hasn't only made us more cautious of social interactions but has also radically changed the provision of patient care. The first COVID-19 wave exposed frontline healthcare workers to vulnerabilities, when a vaccine had yet to be produced and was just out of reach. In the midst of this rapidly spreading infectious disease, supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) were decimated, and healthcare workers were burdened with the difficult dilemma of optimizing personal safety or patient care. The lack of PPE and effective methods to contain COVID-19 and to protect frontline workers resulted in high rates of infection and death (Ranney, Griffeth, & Jha, 2020).

COVIAGE^TM was born out of a desire to address this pressing need and is a portable, modular protective enclosure that operates under negative pressure and uses HEPA filters to contain airborne particles such as virus droplets. The device is intended to be used by healthcare providers on patients to provide an extra layer of protection when caring for, transporting, or performing procedures on a patient who is known or suspected to have COVID-19. COVIAGE^TM contains the spread of infectious diseases and proves to be valuable in various healthcare situations. Not only does COVIAGE^TM reduce the amount of PPE needed, but it can also effectively contain infectious patients and make more intensive care unit (ICU) space available.

Given the current surge of the COVID-19 Delta Variant, widespread shortages of ICU space have negatively impacted the provision of timely patient care. Hospitals across the nation are reporting ICUs at full capacity due to high rates of admitted COVID-19 patients (Yan & Elamroussi, n.d.). States, such as Louisiana, are setting record numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations and are facing critical staffing shortages as a result (Yan & Elamroussi, n.d.). According to findings from Johns Hopkins University researchers, we are seeing record highs of COVID-19 cases. These sheer numbers result in large influxes of hospitalizations into ICUs, causing those who may need ICU care to not be able to obtain it. In Texas, Ava Amira Rivera, an 11-month old COVID-19 patient, had to be airlifted to a hospital 150 miles away because of a shortage of pediatric beds in the Houston area (Yan & Elamroussi, n.d.). In Alabama, Ray DeMonia was turned away from 43 hospitals while having a cardiac emergency due to a lack of available ICU space (Alabama man Ray DeMonia, n.d.). He eventually had to be transferred to a Mississippi hospital about 200 miles away (Alabama man Ray DeMonia, n.d.).

The adoption of COVIAGE^TM within the hospital setting mitigates the problem of ICU shortages because it acts as an isoation device that can be used to effectively house and treat COVID-19 patients. This in turn increases available ICU capacity for patients with other conditions and illnesses. COVIAGE^TM, during the beginning of the pandemic as well as now, provides a solution to the myraid of problems that our healthcare system faces in the still ongoing battle against COVID-19.

Sources:

Alabama man Ray DeMonia dies after 43 hospitals did not have an ICU bed, family says (n.d.). The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/12/alabama-ray-demonia-hospitals-icu/

Nurses check on a patient in the ICU Covid-19 ward at NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro, Arkansas, on Wednesday, August 4. (2021, August 4). CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/08/us/five-figures-us-summer-covid-surge/index.html

Ranney, M. L., Griffeth, V., & Jha, A. K. (2020, April 30). Critical Supply Shortages—The Need for Ventilators and Personal Protective Equipment during the Covid-19 Pandemic. New England Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2006141

Yan, H. & Elamroussi, A. (n.d.). “All the beds are taken up by Covid victims”: Hospitals in the South are running out of space or staff. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/08/health/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html