As Italy struggles to contain the rapidly spreading novel coronavirus, a leading health agency in the country has suggested intensive care units to treat young people in their wards before the elderly.
The Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care, or SAARI, published guidance this week instructing healthcare providers to bypass the standard policy of “first come first served,” and instead prioritize patients who have the best chance of survival. The agency urged ICUs to treat the epidemic with “catastrophe medicine” guidelines, which are only ever used in times of war or natural disaster.
“It may be necessary to place an age limit on admission to intensive care,” read the guidelines from SAARI. “This is not a value judgment but a way to provide extremely scarce resources to those who have the highest likelihood of survival and could enjoy the largest number of life-years saved.”
The death toll in Italy rose sharply on Wednesday when the country announced a dramatic increase from 196 to 827 dead as the country has moved to limit exposure through quarantines. The sudden increase comes as the global count for deaths spiked over 4,000 this week, with more than 100,000 persons infected worldwide.
Italy has been ground zero for the coronavirus in Europe, and infected patients rose to 12,462 from a previous 10,149, which marks a 22.8% increase overall since the last numbers were recorded by the country’s Civil Protection Agency in late February. The nation placed its entire population of 60 million people on lockdown this week as medics struggle to cope with long lines of patients overwhelming beds and medical supplies.
“There won’t be just a red zone,” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Tuesday. “There will be Italy.”
On Wednesday afternoon, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom officially labeled the coronavirus a pandemic, stating, “We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear.”