The speedy spread of the global outbreak of COVID-19 called for rapid deployment of tools to monitor its trends. In January 2020, the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED) released an official statement about the novel coronavirus with specific guidelines for our Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS)-user agencies to use the Emerging Infectious Disease Surveillance (EIDS) Tool for Sick Person (Protocol 26), Breathing Problems (Protocol 6), and other Chief Complaints where the caller offers information leading the emergency medical dispatcher (EMD) to suspect a respiratory-type illness.

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In 2003 the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED™) created the Severe Respiratory Infection (SRI) Tool in response to the SARS pandemic that year, when multiple cases were reported in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Then in 2009, an electronic version of the tool was developed for ProQA® dispatch software and deployed in multiple dispatch agencies during the 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic. This tool was later modified in response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and became what is known today as the Emerging Infectious Disease Surveillance (EIDS) Tool. The EIDS Tool enables EMS...

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