The Application of Temporary Ark Hospitals in Controlling COVID-19 Spread: The Experiences of One Temporary Ark Hospital, Wuhan, China

Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China spread worldwide, resulting in a large number of deaths. Methods: Temporary Ark hospitals (TAH) have played an important role in controlling the spread of the epidemic in the city of Wuhan. Taking one TAH with 800 beds as an example, we summarized details of the layout, setting, working mode of medical staffs, patient management, admission standards, discharge standards, and standards for transferring to another hospital, hospital operation, and so on. Results: Over the period of operation, a total of 1,124 patients were admitted for treatment. Of these, 833 patients were cured and discharged from the hospital and 291 patients were transferred to other designated hospitals owing to aggravation of their condition. The achievement is to have zero infection for medical staff, zero in-hospital deaths among admitted patients, and zero readmission for discharged patients. Conclusion: The rapid deployment of TAH provided a suitable place for treating mild/moderate or no asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and successfully helped to control the infection in Wuhan. The successful model of TAK would rapidly and effectively control the spread of COVID-19 in other cities. Funding Statement: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81870067), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81972408), Application and Basic Research Project of Wuhan City (No. 2018060401011321), and Innovation Project of Medical School of Wuhan University (TFZZ2018017). Declaration of Interests: The authors have no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: The study was approved by the ethics committee of Wuhan University Renmin Hospital (Wuhan, China).