Implementation of Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Outbreak Response Training Program tools to develop a dedicated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hospital in Lucas County, Ohio

Methods A team was developed in January 2020 that included systemwide key leaders using the ORTP guidance document as a framework to identify internal stakeholders.1 Tool kits available on the ORTP Tool Kits website were used to guide planning.4 BayPark Hospital (BPH), a 77-bed acute-care hospital, was designated as the COVID-19 hospital for the ProMedica system, a 13-hospital system in lower Michigan and northwestern Ohio that included 1,472 inpatient beds. Discussion The ProMedica experience at BPH illustrates that a smaller hospital within a larger health system dedicated entirely to the care of COVID-19 patients provided safety for HCWs at a time that many hospitals reported high rates of transmission to HCWs.5,6 We implemented strategies to conserve PPE early on and developed expertise in recognition of COVID-19, including less common symptoms later reported by the CDC.7 Successful implementation of this strategy depended on prepandemic planning, and the initial meetings to discuss development of a hospital dedicated to COVID-19 patients were held 2 months prior to the first case being identified in Lucas County, Ohio. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html.