UNPRECEDENTED EVENT

COVID-19 PANDEMIC

In late December of 2019, the international community began to hear the rumblings of a novel viral infection cluster in Wuhan, China. Although it was not recognized at the time, this new pneumonia-causing virus would be named COVID-19 and it would soon be spreading across the globe in one of the largest and deadliest pandemics seen since the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. As an academic medical center providing high-quality care to our patients as well as a world-renowned infectious disease research organization, it was recognized early on that UTMB would play a vital role in helping to fight and protect against this disease. Beginning in late February, UTMB began to ramp up its preparation plans to ensure the safety of our healthcare workers and researchers on the front line with COVID-19. As alterations to facilities and operations were made, EHS was working hand-in hand with health system and academic enterprise to ensure the safety of our patients, healthcare workers, researchers, students, and staff.

Keeping our staff safe meant working in close collaboration with our Supply Chain and Infection Control partners. As a virus which spreads through respirable droplets and aerosols, the primary concern was to ensure that our workers had the necessary respiratory protection to continue to work safely. In the first half of 2020, EHS performed more than 4800 successful respirator fit tests among health care workers and researchers, exceeding the number of successful fit tests in the preceding two fiscal years combined. EHS also increased the frequency of building facility walkthroughs to ensure that alterations to facilities and operations did not create negative impacts to safety. The pandemic has placed a severe strain on the supply chain across the entire health care industry, and many forms of personal protective equipment have been hard to acquire. EHS, working with the Galveston National Lab (GNL), developed and validated N95 reprocessing methodologies that have allowed us to extend how long our supplies of valuable N95 respirators have lasted. EHS has reviewed alternative forms of respiratory protection, such as Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs), to help ensure even those who cannot be fit tested have the protection they need to work safely. Procedures for patient care and equipment utilized for diagnostic testing of patient specimens had to be evaluated and in some cases procedures modified to ensure staff safety. EHS worked with the different healthcare departments to implement the necessary changes. PAPRs were also a means to alleviate the shortage of PPE on the research side.

As a renowned research center and host of the World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses (WRCEVA) collection, UTMB was a leader in providing critical biological materials to diagnostic reference laboratories and other entities around the world to support the fight against COVID-19. EHS played a critical role in supporting the shipping of all of these materials. Although the pandemic is not yet over, EHS remains committed to supporting the safety of our visitors, patients, employees, and students.