Preparing for COVID-19 exit strategies

Michelle Griffin; Catrin Sohrabi; Zaid Alsafi; Maria Nicola; Ahmed Kerwan; Ginimol Mathew; Riaz Agha

doi:10.1016/j.amsu.2020.12.012

Preparing for COVID-19 exit strategies

Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2020 Dec 13:61:88-92. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2020.12.012. eCollection 2021 Jan.

Authors

Michelle Griffin¹, Catrin Sohrabi², Zaid Alsafi³, Maria Nicola³, Ahmed Kerwan⁴, Ginimol Mathew⁵, Riaz Agha⁶

Affiliations

¹ Stanford University, Palo Alto, United States.
² Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom.
³ Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ The Lister Hospital, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, United Kingdom.
⁵ UCL Medical School, University College London, United Kingdom.
⁶ Barts Health NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom.

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Exit strategy; Flatten the curve; Reopening; Social distancing.

Publication types

Review