Would You Believe? A Virus Changes Diabetes Care

摘要

I have learned that a virus can induce unimaginable changes in diabetes care that we have not been able to implement for many, many years. Some information on the ground: the moment I am writing this contribution (April 16, 2020), our University hospital, located in the (south)east of the Netherlands, is over the worst part of the corona virus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. The epicenter of the epidemic in our country was close by and probably related to the tradition in the south to celebrate carnival in large crowds amid February—with part of them probably being infected during winter holidays in Austria and northern Italy. As the peak was expected to come, the hospital was completely reorganized into COVID-19 wards, COVID-19 suspected wards, and non-COVID wards and clinics; the ICU capacity was doubled; all nonurgent care and procedures were discontinued; and fourfold staffing on call rotations. While none of us had ever witnessed a similar situation, these huge organizational changes went in fact relatively smooth and we have always been in control. Currently the number of new cases has clearly decreased, some COVID wards are closed down, and regular care will resume, although we believe that “COVID-care” will remain part of our workflow for quite a while.