Healthcare facilities play a crucial role in controlling pandemics, and nosocomial infections, which are infections attained within hospitals by patients and healthcare workers (HCWs), are a significant part of this fight, as observed during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. To mitigate these risks, a novel strategy has been proposed to restrict some hospitals solely to the treatment of infected patients, with HCWs working in shifts and isolated for particular periods. This strategy was implemented in various locations, and was broadly applied in Egypt.
An assessment was in order to understand the implications of this new approach on overall pandemic management. A comprehensive mathematical model that integrates hospital and community data was utilized for this study. The findings indicate that quarantining hospitals can remarkably lower the total number of cases and peak incidents, but this also heavily relies on the effective implementation of control strategies within the community and the commitment of symptomatic healthcare workers to self-isolation. These results are consistent, irrespective of the assumed biological traits of the virus, indicating that this isolation of hospitals can be a viable strategy in future pandemic scenarios to safeguard the entire population.
The study has been made accessible for distribution and reproduction under the Creative Commons Attribution License, acknowledging the original author and source. The information presented is backed by extensive research and visual data analyzing global model structures, epidemic curves, SARS-CoV-2 acquisition routes, and the achieved reduction by the quarantine hospital strategy. This research provides a foundational and robust assessment of an approach that could revolutionize the way healthcare facilities respond to pandemics.