Harvard M.D. students form COVID-19 rapid response teams
This is part of our Coronavirus Update series in which Harvard specialists in epidemiology, infectious disease, economics, politics, and other disciplines offer insights into what the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak may bring. With more than 50,000 patients admitted annually and millions of outpatient visits each year, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), one of the nation’s premier hospitals and biomedical research facilities, is an extremely busy place. Adding the new coronavirus pandemic to the mix is expected to exponentially increase patient demand at the Harvard Medical School (HMS) affiliate, and officials at Mass General and other HMS affiliated hospitals have been working diligently to prepare for an expected influx of patients with COVID-19. “We don’t know what’s coming, so we need to prepare for the absolute worst,” said Alberto Puig, HMS associate professor of medicine and the associate dean for undergraduate medical education at Mass General. To help in that effort, within days of the...