The type of testing that is done for COVID-19 requires a laboratory that is different from one in a standard ambulatory health center such as ours. NGUYEN:We have the ability to collect the specimens, and these specimens are sent to external laboratories for analysis.
GAZETTE:Do you have the ability to test at HUHS? For example, as readers undoubtedly know, testing is still quite limited in the region and in America overall, and as a result we have to follow very specific guidelines from the Department of Public Health about whom to prioritize and when to test. Many of our responses have also been influenced not only by the medical and public health knowledge at the time, but also by the degree to which resources were available. As a result, the things that HUHS did in response had to evolve quickly. What has been unusual about this particular epidemic is that many of these recommendations have changed rapidly over a short period of time. We’ve been preparing our clinical staff over the past several months by making sure that all are familiar with the proper protocols for protecting themselves, as well as for recognizing patients who might be at risk for the coronavirus, and for collecting specimens from patients under investigation for COVID-19. These activities have been guided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Provost Alan Garber has also been very engaged from the beginning, and his expertise as a physician has helped tremendously. I am particularly glad that we de-densified the campus when we did, and the University benefited tremendously from the input of our medical expert advisory group. And they have been instrumental in guiding the policy and procedural decisions we’ve made at HUHS with regard to COVID-19, as well as the decisions that have been made by the University more broadly. We also formed a medical expert advisory group around the same time that included individuals with international expertise in epidemiology, virology, public health, and medicine. Shortly thereafter, we started meeting on a daily basis with the University’s outbreak response team as well, with the support of Executive Vice President Katie Lapp. So, as you mentioned, in late January we began having daily huddles of our internal outbreak response team to ensure that we were all informed about the quickly evolving science, and that we were also on the same page in terms of how we would respond should it arrive in our surrounding communities and on campus. NGUYEN: Early on, as the threat of the virus was starting to be reported elsewhere in the world, HUHS began preparations, knowing that it was likely to affect our community at some point. Would you give us a sense of what your early preparations looked like? GAZETTE:Your office first communicated with the Harvard community about the coronavirus in late January, before it was evident that COVID-19 would make such an impact worldwide. He also shared a wealth of new resources designed to inform the community about the latest developments. The Gazette spoke with HUHS Executive Director Giang Nguyen about new safety measures, including a shift to remote care by telephone and Zoom-based clinical visits. Since then, HUHS has been working to implement new protocols to serve the Harvard community, even as the majority of students, faculty, and staff left campus. When it first became known that a novel coronavirus was spreading through Wuhan, China, Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) began preparing for its possible arrival.
0 kommentar(er)
