Separate Fever Clinics Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 and Offload Emergency Resources: Analysis from a large tertiary hospital in China

Jiangshan Wang; Liang Zong; Jinghong Zhang; Han Sun; Walline Harold Joseph; Pengxia Sun; Shengyong Xu; Yan Li; Chunting Wang; Jihai Liu; Fan Li; Jun Xu; Yi Li; Xuezhong Yu; Huadong Zhu

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, four doctors were allocated to the FC where influenza A and B were screened for every patient suffering from both fever and respiratory symptoms. The FC was also tasked with excluding eruptive infectious diseases (e.g. measles, rubella, and varicella). Patients with infectious diseases received initial therapy in the FC, and then were transferred to inpatient isolation wards if needed; other patients were transferred to the ED. After the COVID-19 outbreak, as many as twelve doctors wearing "grade-3" isolation gowns worked in the FC [10] . Two consulting rooms were added to supplement the original single-room. The number of medical care providers providing in-person coverage every 24 hours increased from two to nine every 24 hours, while nursing staff increased from nine to 15 every 24 hours. Rescue equipment such as endotracheal intubation tools, central venous catheters, noninvasive and invasive ventilator machines, high-flow oxygen therapy devices and bedside ultrasound were added or expanded.