Lack of self-protection awareness
The transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 was significantly underestimated
initially, mainly because of our poor understanding of the novel virus.
Therefore, albeit on the alert, no sufficient attention from the
policy-makers or frontline healthcare workers was paid to
self-protection in fever clinics. For instance, it was not upgraded to
first-class protection level until end of January, 2020 in fever clinics
of Wuhan, before when there had been evidence showing the high
transmissibility of virus and elevated risk of nosocomial infection.
Similarly, healthcare workers lacked self-protection awareness in the
early stage of the pandemic to fully ensure their safety in fever
clinics, including failing to keep physical distancing in communication
with patients, inadequate disinfection, and failing to keep wearing
protective equipment constantly.