Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19): Information and Resources

Pat Stricker, RN, MEd
Former SVP, Clinical Services
TCS Healthcare Technologies

As everyone is well aware, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is sweeping the globe. Since it was first reported in December 2019 to the World Health Organization by China, it has been reported in 159 counties worldwide, causing 184,976 reported cases and 7,529 deaths, according to the WHO website statistics of March 17, 2020. The U.S. has 3,536 reported cases with 58 deaths.  

And it is continuing to increase extremely rapidly. There are no vaccines or treatments identified to combat this new virus, so the greatest fear is that large numbers of patients will become severely ill at the same time, requiring respirators and intensive care beds. This could overwhelm hospital and healthcare system resources, resulting in a large number of deaths. In an attempt to slow down the transmission, regions and countries around the world have instituted large-scale “lockdowns” to enforce “social distancing.”

I know everyone is overloaded with information about the virus, but don’t worry, this article in not going to re-state basic information and data that is being reported by numerous organizations on a daily basis. Things are changing too quickly to do that, and there are already many reputable sources that are consolidating and updating that information daily. However, while there is an immense amount of information available on the internet and TV, some of it may not be totally accurate, and trying to find up-to-date, accurate information in a timely manner is difficult and time-consuming.   

The purpose of this article is to consolidate key clinical and educational information from reputable websites and resources into one document, a Resource List, so you can quickly refer to it when dealing with patients and family members.

The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sites were chosen as the main sources for a large portion of the information about COVID-19, since they are responsible for oversight and management of the outbreak in the world (WHO) and in the U.S. (CDC). In addition, they are the most reputable sources of accurate, up-to-date information for this pandemic.

Other websites are also included as resources for more specific, pertinent information related to certain conditions, federal and state agencies, professional associations, and statistical data.    

The Resource List also includes some educational and operational resources that can be used by management for staff in-services or for program development.  

The Resource List is organized by organizations (WHO, CDC, etc.) and topics (education, videos, statistics, etc.). The goal is to make the information you need very quick and easy to find. A large amount of additional information is available on these websites, but it was not added to the list because it did not seem to be needed by most case managers. However, you can change that if you wish.

The Resource List is designed to be edited by you, so it meets your specific needs. It is provided as a WORD document for you to download (or you can copy/paste the list into a WORD document). This will allow you to edit it to meet your individual needs, adding or deleting items as needed. When viewing the WORD document, the capitalized, bolded HEADINGS can be found in the Navigation bar on the left. Clicking on a HEADING will quickly take you to that section. (Turn on the Navigation bar by going to VIEW on the horizontal bar and selecting NAVIGATION PANE).    

I hope you will find this Resource List helpful.

INTRODUCTION TO CORONAVIRUS 2019 (COVID-19)
Before we look at the Resource List, let’s review coronaviruses (CoV) first. They are a family of viruses known to cause the common cold and severe respiratory diseases, such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), identified in 2012, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), identified in 2003. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is causing alarm because it is the first time it has been found in humans, and it has shown an extremely rapid transmission rate across the entire globe compared to the other coronaviruses. The following comparisons are described on the WHO website:

* NOTE: Statistics were obtained from the WHO website on March 17, 2020.