key: cord-0928040-akkwhbyr
authors: Wu, Yi-Chi; Chen, Ching-Sung; Chan, Yu-Jiun
title: Reply to “The outbreak of COVID-19: An overview”
date: 2020-05-04
journal: J Chin Med Assoc
DOI: 10.1097/jcma.0000000000000331
sha: e8881008e892c77e2c08833bf5bacb2c9daa111e
doc_id: 928040
cord_uid: akkwhbyr

nan

Yi-Chi Wu a , Ching-Sung Chen a , Yu-Jiun Chan a,b,c,* 3, 4 A random sample survey in March 2020, in Noord-Brabant, Netherlands, revealed nearly 4% of the hospital staff is infected with this novel coronavirus, but the percentages vary per hospital (0%-10%). 5 Mortality did happen even among young doctors. As we emphasized in previous overview and the authors concur that "stringent protection procedures should be conducted for high-risk procedures." 2 Endotracheal tube intubation by all means is one of the most dangerous maneuver. It has been shown that aerosol might be generated during intubation and viral-containing droplets can floating or contaminate different surfaces for many hours. 6 Particularly, viral loads are high in the early stage of symptom onset and lung-derived samples (such as sputum or aspirate) contain high viral load when the patient's condition deteriorates and need intubation. 7, 8 It has been shown that surgical face masks can effectively prevent viral spreading of many respiratory viruses, including the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). 9 However, surgical face masks need to be removed during intubation. The authors invented a transparent acrylic "aerosol box" to protect the person who conducts intubation from aerosol spreading or droplet contamination. This device seems promising in reducing the chance of infection during intubation. It would be very informative if the authors could demonstrate or show experimental data that how effective "the box" can contain viral-containing droplets inside the box and protect people from infection.

Protecting against COVID-19 aerosol infection during intubation

The outbreak of COVID-19: an overview

Protecting healthcare workers from subclinical coronavirus infection

Characteristics of and important lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China

Sample Test: 4% of Hospital Staff Infected With Coronavirus. RIVM Committed to health and sustainability

Aerosol and surface stability of SARS-CoV-2 as compared with SARS-CoV-1

Virological assessment of hospitalized patients with COVID-2019

Viral dynamics in mild and severe cases of COVID-19

Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks