Establishing and Managing a Temporary Coronavirus Disease 2019 Specialty Hospital in Wuhan, China

Abstract

I n December 2019, a novel and ongoing outbreak of pneumonia was reported in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China, Chinese scientists completed isolation of this novel betacoronavirus from patients in Wuhan, and it has been subsequently named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As of March 6, 2020, a total of 80,813 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infections were reported in China, leading to the deaths of 3,073 patients within the country. In Wuhan alone, 49,871 COVID-19 infections have been confirmed with 2,349 deaths and 28,511 patient recoveries. 5 Designated hospitals which can manage COVID-19 effectively are limited in terms of bed availability, staffing, and resources. Nearly 70% of COVID-19 patients display no symptoms or only mild symptoms. Because there are more than 9 million citizens in Wuhan, the designated hospitals cannot admit all patients suspected of infection as well as provide adequate clinical care to severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients. This could lead to a severe strain on healthcare resources and poor quality of patient care.