Eurosurv Rapid response infrastructure for pandemic preparedness in a tertiary care hospital: lessons learned from the COVID-19 outbreak in Cologne, Germany, February to March 2020

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Rapid response infrastructure for pandemic preparedness in a tertiary care hospital: lessons learned from the COVID-19 outbreak in Cologne, Germany, February to March 2020

• Max Augustin^1,2,3,4, Philipp Schommers^1,2,4,5, Isabelle Su?rez^1,2,4, Philipp Koehler^1,3,6, Henning Gruell^2,5, Florian Klein^2,3,5, Christian Maurer⁷, Petra Langerbeins⁷, Vanessa Priesner¹, Kirsten Schmidt-Hellerau¹, Jakob J Malin^1,2,3, Melanie Stecher^1,2, Norma Jung¹, Gerhard Wiesm?ller⁸, Arne Meissner⁹, Janine Zweigner⁹, Georg Langebartels¹⁰, Felix Kolibay¹⁰, Victor Su?rez¹¹, Volker Burst¹¹, Philippe Valentin¹¹, Dirk Schedler¹², Oliver A Cornely^1,2,3,6, Michael Hallek^3,7, Gerd F?tkenheuer^1,2, Jan Rybniker^1,2,3,4, Clara Lehmann^1,2,3,4

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused tremendous pressure on hospital infrastructures such as emergency rooms (ER) and outpatient departments. To avoid malfunctioning of critical services because of large numbers of potentially infected patients seeking consultation, we established a COVID-19 rapid response infrastructure (CRRI), which instantly restored ER functionality. The CRRI was also used for testing of hospital personnel, provided epidemiological data and was a highly effective response to increasing numbers of suspected COVID-19 cases.

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https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.21.2000531#html_fulltext