Two years of COVID-19 outbreaks in residential care facilities: quantifying workload impact of outbreak control activities on a regional public health team in Ireland, March 2020 to March 2022

ConclusionsWhile substantial DePH resources were required to manage COVID-19 outbreaks in older person RCFs, it is highly likely that these efforts prevented new infections within RCFs and thus reduced hospitalisations, ICU admissions and deaths. This sustained input placed a significant burden on the wider multidisciplinary public health team, and it affected the department ’s capacity to deal with competing health threats and priorities. Future pandemic preparedness requires commensurate resource planning for public health teams.
Source: Irish Journal of Medical Science - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research