Testing Sites, Other Outdoor Areas Need Temporary Barriers During COVID Restrictions
The end of the COVID-19 pandemic may be in sight. In November, research showed three different vaccines to be effective at preventing severe infection from the novel coronavirus. However, researchers and officials alike are quick to caution that the pandemic is not over yet. It is likely to be several more months before the vaccines are fully tested, approved, and ready for widespread distribution and administration to the public.
In the meantime, new COVID cases are surging in multiple areas across the country. The situation has gotten so bad that some states and municipalities are imposing new lockdown restrictions and opening more testing sites in attempts to, first, prevent new cases and, second, to identify them when they do occur. Portable barriers and bollards from Delta Scientific offer a temporary solution to crowd control while COVID restrictions are in force.
Recent Trends
Though the number of COVID cases nationwide declined over the summer, both infection rates and deaths have increased since the fall. Experts have identified several different factors that may have contributed to the surge:
- Cold weather driving people indoors
- Children returning to school after summer vacation
- A false sense of security produced by low infection rates
- General fatigue with COVID restrictions
Thanksgiving and Christmas, two holidays most associated with travel to family gatherings, also occur during the fall and winter. At the time of this writing, it is too early to forecast what impact the holidays will have on COVID infection rates. However, many Americans traveled for Thanksgiving against recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for people to stay home.
Government Responses
As of Nov. 16th, 2020, 49 states were seeing increasing COVID case numbers. Several large cities, including Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles, have issued new stay-at-home orders and restrictions in an attempt to slow the spread. Several states have either followed suit or have discussed doing so if infection rates start approaching what they were in the spring and summer. Rhode Island, having been hit particularly hard, recently instigated a two-week pause program asking the public to stay at home as much as possible, closing certain businesses, such as bars, but leaving schools in session, which is the opposite of the approach taken in most of the country. To lessen the strain on existing facilities, Rhode Island also plans to open two field hospitals.
Portable Barrier Uses
Keeping people away from field hospitals where COVID patients have been quarantined is important not only for the patients’ safety but that of the public. Similarly, states and municipalities may find it easier to enforce stay-at-home orders if the places where people usually go are temporarily inaccessible. Our portable bollards and barriers may not prevent people from walking up to restricted areas, but they do prevent people from parking close by. Health care workers in field hospitals have enough to think about without worrying about people ramming the temporary facility with vehicles. Though easy to set up and tear down, portable barriers nevertheless are powerful enough to prevent such attacks from causing devastation.
Large-scale testing sites allow patients to drive up in their cars and get tested without leaving their vehicles. These sites were swamped before Thanksgiving from people planning to travel and are likely to be again before Christmas. Portable beam barriers control the flow of traffic into testing facilities and prevent unauthorized access.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/24/health/covid-vaccines-design-explained/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/25/world/covid-19-coronavirus
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