Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

April 14, 2020

Protecting our health care workers while protecting our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparison of approaches and early outcomes in two Italian regions, Italy, 2020

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  • The authors determine that the community-based approach used in Veneto was associated with reduced cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and infection among HCWs when compared with the patient-centered approach used in Lombardy. Findings suggest that the impact of COVID-19 can be reduced through strong and aggressive public health efforts to confirm and isolate cases and to minimize unnecessary contact with HCWs.
  • While the authors acknowledge that a community approach may be more challenging in the U.S. due to privatized health care, they propose Kaiser Permanente (KP) as a feasible setting, as KP serves a large population, integrates prevention and treatment, and has a tradition of community-based care. 

Binkin et al. (April 14, 2020). Protecting our health care workers while protecting our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparison of approaches and early outcomes in two Italian regions, Italy, 2020. Pre-print downloaded Apr 14 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.10.20060707