Emergency medical services (EMS) play a vital role in COVID-19 outbreak response and case management by responding to requests for assistance, triaging patients, and providing emergency medical treatment and transport for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 persons.

Unlike patient care in the controlled environment of a healthcare facility, care and transports by EMS present unique challenges due to:

• The nature of the setting.
• Enclosed space during transport.
• Frequent need for rapid medical decision-making, interventions with limited information, and a varying range of patient acuity and jurisdictional healthcare resources.