Coronavirus Update- NHS Workers Urging People To Wear Face Masks To Help Reduce The Spread
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to escalate in many countries, NHS workers urging people to wear face masks to help reduce the spread. The United States has become the most affected country with more than 82,400 cases reported, surpassing China’s tally at around 81,700 and Italy at 80,500 cases. The worldwide confirmed cases have surpassed half a million or 532,000 cases and 24,000 deaths at the time of the writing of this update.
Still, there is hope as researchers all over the world work towards developing a vaccine. In fact, a molecular geneticist from Johns Hopkins University, Peter Thielen, discovered very few genetic differences between the original COVID-19 virus from Wuhan and the strain affecting the UK. What does this mean? It means that the mutation rate of COVID-19 is slower than regular flu, and that, unlike most flu vaccines which must be taken annually, a COVID-19 vaccine will be longer lasting.
Future Hospital And Medical Lab Design
This has made hospital and medical facility design that much more important as we need to see how current designs work, or don’t work in a crisis situation and that is what the coronavirus pandemic has done for us. By providing us with a less than ideal situation, the coronavirus pandemic will make future hospital design much more streamlined and efficient.
Long Way To Go
With all of that being said, we still have a long way to go before we control the pandemic. Once a vaccine is developed, it must be tested and proven before it can be distributed. We were able to control the original SARS in 2003 before it could cause massive damages. SARS-CoV-2 virus will eventually make its way through the global population, leaving behind immune survivors with no more viable hosts. But, because SARS-CoV-2 is more fatal and highly transmissible, it will do a lot more damage to the world’s population, leaving behind millions of global deaths.
Contact Ansell+Bailey
To learn more about the upcoming design trends in the healthcare facilities industry and how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the healthcare design industry, contact Ansell+Bailey today!
Recently, Ansell+Bailey has achieved ISO 9001:2015 and the 14001:2015 certifications, making them among a select few healthcare facility design firms.
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