Toward better preparedness for the next pandemic

Abstract

New York City has been described as the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. While health care workers are notably at increased risk for COVID-19 infection, the impact on resident physicians remains unclear. In this issue of the JCI, Breazzano et al. surveyed resident physicians for their exposure to COVID-19 during the exponential phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers also assessed how personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing protected health care workers from infection. This study highlights resident physician experiences of the first COVID-19 wave that can inform and improve preparedness for upcoming COVID-19 surges and other future epidemics.

Figure 1. The number of residents infected with COVID-19 peaked 1 to 2 weeks before the peak number of COVID-19 hospitalizations across New York City.

The blue bars represent the estimated sum of the number of residents with presumed, confirmed, or suspected COVID-19 during each of the weeks described in the paper by Breazzano et al. (left y axis) (6). The total number of COVID-19 hospitalizations per week across all New York City hospitals (red bars, right y axis) peaked during the week of 3/30–4/6 (9). The change in PPE policy and availability may have influenced the COVID-19 cases among resident physicians.