I’ve never really understood how these places, which naturally bring in the sick and unwell by the thousands every single day, eliminate all or any airborne pathogens, viruses that spread via contact with surfaces, or by a patient coughing or sneezing. It’s not like they lock down the whole facility and sanitize it top to bottom every time a new patient comes in, so how come these places don’t become massive hubs for the spread of disease? How are waiting rooms not considered one of the most dangerous places for transmission in the world? What steps are these doctors and professionals in the field taking to ensure that these people who are coming in sick, aren’t making everyone else in the building sick as well?
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**Mitigation**: the less time people are in hospitals the better. Therefore, Hospital visits and admissions are shorter than in the oast. This isn’t just a profit motive, it also reduces the chance of hospital acquired infection. Also, heavy education campaigning in the media stems people flocking to hospitals wondering if they have the plague. And, by Encouraging people to use virtual visits, doctor offices, urgent or express care facilities for non-emergent care, you have less chance of spreading diseases.
**Isolation**: Using PPE, HEPA filtration, single occupant rooms when possible, negative air pressure rooms when necessary and visitor restrictions.
**Sanitation**: They use bleach, quaternary disinfectants, heat and UV light to sterilize surfaces, machines and tools.
**Segregation**: Not every hospital treats every kind of inpatient; not every floor/wing in a hospital treats every kind of patient. New or remodeled ER facilities are being built to be more spacious and less constrictive. In some facilities patients are grouped by symptoms (cough/fever vs not).
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