Greater attention to flexible hospital designs and ventilated clinical facilities are a pre-requisite for coping with the next airborne pandemic

Acute care hospitals traditionally have a combination of mixed occupancy rooms, i.e. two or more patients sharing the same room with an en suite, and single rooms occupied by one patient with or without a lobby. This has been changing in recent years with a move towards single rooms for most if not all patients. Single rooms are currently prioritized for providing a protective environment for immunocompromised patients who are at particular risk of serious infection (protective isolation) or for the isolation of those patients with transmissible infections who pose a risk to other patients (source isolation).