The Evolution of COVID-19 Care

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic engulfed New York City. Hospitals began filling up with the virus that at that point no one knew how to treat successfully. And the Montefiore Moses division of the Montefiore Health System became one of the first designated COVID centers, and the first to achieve in-house COVID-19 testing in New York City using the polymerase chain reaction.

As with health care in general, Montefiore experienced more HAIs. In the early days of the pandemic, before the realization of treatment protocols for COVID-19, Montefiore struggled to find therapy regimens and had a lack of medical devices and equipment so these things had to be shared.

Priya Nori, MD, director, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Montefiore Health System and associate professor, Medicine & Orthopedic Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, program director of the infectious diseases fellowship program, talked about the data from studies showing increased incidence rate of HAIs. “We know now that this is a pandemic surge-driven phenomenon,” Nori said. “And this is because healthcare workers were overwhelmed; our capacity to take care of people was overwhelmed.”

In the second installment of an interview with Nori, she spoke about how COVID-19 care has changed since the beginning of the pandemic, offered some insights into the bacterial infections they saw, and how they combatted them with infection prevention measures. To see the first interview, go here.