Preparing for COVID-19 exit strategies
Michelle Griffina✉, Catrin Sohrabib, Zaid Alsafic, Maria Nicolac, Ahmed Kerwand, Ginimol Mathewe, Riaz Aghaf
- aStanford University, Palo Alto, United States
- bBarts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- cImperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
- dThe Lister Hospital, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, United Kingdom
- eUCL Medical School, University College London, United Kingdom
- fBarts Health NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
- ✉Corresponding author
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected 20 million people worldwide with over 732,000 deaths and trillions of dollars of lost economic productivity. It has put many countries into lockdown to contain the virus and save lives. As COVID-19 cases in some countries start to plateau and societies work hard to 'flatten the curve', leaders are being asked to formulate plans for safe and staged 'exit strategies' to reopen society. Each country will decide on their own exit strategy but many plans are considering similar vital healthcare principles including the maintenance of social distancing to prevent ongoing community transmission, testing capacity, protection of the healthcare systems and the health of their care workers. This review aims to provide an overview of essential factors that plans for exit strategy should consider and their effect on the societies' social and healthcare life.