Emergency departments (EDs) in hospitals cannot be allowed to become “reservoirs” for future outbreaks of Covid-19 due to a lack of investment in infrastructure, doctors have warned. While EDs are segregated to create a separate pathway for suspected Covid-19 cases, the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine has warned that investment is required to enable sufficient levels of future physical distancing. If that is not done, they have said, there is a real danger of crowded departments becoming a breeding ground for the virus. On Tuesday the association called for investment in EDs, a treatment area under less pressure since the outbreak but one they feel could come under particular threat in the future. For now the departments have effectively been cut in two to isolate suspected cases from other hospital patients.

Source: The Irish Times May 13, 2020 10:16 UTC