Ensuring sufficient cabin hospital beds for curbing the spread of COVID-19 – Findings from petri net analysis

Due to the complexity of the virus and its rapid rate of spread, many countries face the same challenges of providing adequate medical resources. This paper provides an analytical approach for evaluating the possibility of the regional construction industry constructing a large number of cabin hospi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chen Chen, Zijie Xing, Yonghui Xi, Robert Tiong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-10-01
Series:Heliyon
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022024902
Description
Summary:Due to the complexity of the virus and its rapid rate of spread, many countries face the same challenges of providing adequate medical resources. This paper provides an analytical approach for evaluating the possibility of the regional construction industry constructing a large number of cabin hospitals within a short time. The key idea is to compare the demand and supply of patient beds using a Petri net-based approach that incorporates a neural network for the prediction of demand, fuzzy logic for decision-making, and a linear model for predicting supply. The data reported in the Shanghai Omicron battle is used to validate the developed model. Our results show that the fastest conversion speed and the least manpower requirement are obtained from high-rise buildings. Then, preparing some high-rises for easy conversion into cabin hospitals seems a possible solution for future citywide preparedness toward pandemic resilience.
ISSN:2405-8440