Outpatient Management of COVID-19 Disease: A Holistic Patient-Centered Proposal Based on the Greek Experience

Abstract

Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a worldwide pandemic and affected more than 227 countries or territories, resulting in more than 179 million cases with over 3.890.00 deaths, as of June 25, 2021. The Hellenic Thoracic Society (HTS) during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic released a guidance document for the management of patients with COVID-19 in the community and in hospital setting. In this review, with guidance the HTS document, we are discussing the outpatient management of COVID-19 patients, including the preventive measures, the patients’ isolation and quarantine criteria of close contacts, the severity and risk stratification, including the decisions for advanced hospitalization, and the disease management at home in patients with mild disease and after hospital discharge for those with more severe disease.

Changes in the Comprehensiveness of Rural Medical Care for Older Japanese Patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…During the pandemic, care-dependent patients may have reduced their primary care utilization and controlled their symptoms by themselves or received help from their families. The pandemic has been reported to have negatively affected the availability of healthcare services, and driven people to manage their symptoms using proper infection control methods [45][46][47]. The appropriateness of medical care utilization can differ across different medical systems.…”