Pleasure to participate in this global interdisciplinary program from #Respiratory perspective. Valuable lessons learned and key areas for future intense research and implementation

A1-a. When the prevalence of virus is low(less than 5%) and/or the trajectory of cases is decreasing for 14 days. #ATSchat

A1-b. This represents conditions that minimize risk of virus transmission and allows medical centers to allocate staff and PPE for Covid patients in areas where the cases are increasing #ATSchat

Q2 How should outpatient services be prioritized? #ATSchat

A1-a. When the prevalence of virus is low (less than 5%) and/or the trajectory of cases is decreasing for 14 days. #ATSchat

A2-c Tier 1 visits are low acuity services for routine specialty care, screening, preventive care. Tier 2 visits are intermediate acuity services for established patients with new symptoms or for new patients with non- urgent symptoms. #ATS chat

A3-a #ATSchat Patient screening protocols should be tailored according to the service being provided to the patient and to the prevalence of virus in the community.

A4-a #ATSchat. This question is the subject of much discussion and ongoing research. Previous guidance from CDC suggested using either a symptom-based or test-based strategy for assessing risk of infection transmission by a recovered COVID-19 patient

#ATSchat A5-a All healthcare workers should wear a surgical mask at all times while in the medical facility, should regularly sanitize their hands, and should distance themselves from colleagues and patients as appropriate.

it is recommended to screen patients before entering the practice. Any patient who screens positive should be diverted for testing and evaluation in a separate area as available. #ATSchat

A9-a #ATSchat Key concept is that precaution approaches can/should be tailored to local conditions. For example, a non-urgent outpatient visit can be directed to telehealth instead of to an in-person visit for a high risk patient.

A9-b #ATSchat Risk of disease is high 30-40%, in asymptomatic high-risk patients. nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…

The parallels between 1918 and 2020 are striking, despite modernization and remarkable advances in medicine. The basic principles of public health infection prevention remain of paramount importance. The Mask Slackers of 1918 nytimes.com/2020/08/03/us/…

As we enter #LaborDayWeekend, we are at a persistently high plateau (still drifting lower, but very slowly) with the broadest spread of cases ever (20 states over 1K cases yesterday). We have also blown through the 190K death toll. We make our own future here.

Check out my latest article: 6 Months In: COVID-19 in Fall-2020 linkedin.com/pulse/6-months… via LinkedIn

US cannot "give up" on controlling Covid-19. Nature Medicine nature.com/articles/s4159… shows over 500,000 deaths expected in US without mask mandate. Over 130,000 lives could be saved with universal mask use.

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