Inpatient psychiatry response to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant surge

The increased transmissibility of the omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus resulted in a rapid increase in infection among many psychiatric inpatients in our hospital between December 2021 and February 2022. This required our institution to close affected units to new admissions. In response, we implemented a model utilizing universal SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing at the time of admission, the development of “admitting units” where all patients were quarantined for four days followed by repeat PCR testing, and subsequent transition to COVID-19 negative and COVID-19 positive “receiving units” based on the results of the second test. No unit closures occurred following full implementation of the model.