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| - Patients with psychiatric illnesses are particularly vulnerable to highly contagious, droplet spread organisms like SARS-CoV-2. Patients with mental illnesses may not be able to consistently follow behavioral prescriptions to avoid contagion, and they are frequently found in settings with close contact and inadequate infection control, such as group homes, homeless shelters, residential rehabilitation centers, and correctional facilities. Further, inpatient psychiatry settings are generally designed as communal spaces, with heavy emphasis on group and milieu therapies. As such, inpatient psychiatry services are vulnerable to rampant spread of contagion. With this in mind, the authors outline the decision process and ultimate design and implementation of a regional inpatient psychiatry unit for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, and share key points for consideration in implementing future units elsewhere. A major take-away point of the analysis is the particular expertise of trained experts in psychosomatic medicine for treating SARS-CoV-2 infected patients.
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