The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States has made a statement recently which reveals that the country must brace for a Coronavirus outbreak anytime now. Air ambulances, of course, are going to be a big part of this. The federal administration has asked for funding that runs into billions to tackle the Coronavirus scare. This includes both protective gear as well as research for an adequate vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has gone on to the extent of saying that it is no longer a matter of if but a matter of when. Further, they have opined that it is better to be over-prepared for this pandemic, rather than remain under-prepared.
What Role will Air Ambulances Play?
The biggest challenge that countries across the globe today are facing is isolating patients affected by Coronavirus from the rest of the communities. Building quarantines in such short notice is easier said than done. Of course, the problem simply is ballooned when such structures have to be built for rural areas. The issue is less challenging when it comes to urban areas. The main reason behind this is the resources that are readily available in urban regions. In essence, this means that air ambulances will play a major role to transport rural patients to urban quarantines in case there is an outbreak.
Why Should Air Ambulances Remain Prepared?
It is not entirely known how the virus spreads at this stage. However, it is now common knowledge that it is aerosolized and also can spread through bodily fluid contact. Air ambulances have been a part of the effort to tackle SARS and Ebola in the past. However, the scale of Coronavirus and the rate at which it is spreading is comparatively much higher. For this reason, more air ambulances will need to be prepared to handle this outbreak. This means that designated medical flights will need to have quarantine facilities during the transport and will have to be used exclusively to ferry infected patients.
