Table I.

Potential impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on hospital transmission of multi-drug-resistant organisms (MDROs)

	Factors that may favour MDRO transmission	Factors that may prevent MDRO transmission
Infection prevention and control practices and use of PPE	Shortage of PPE due to the rapid increase in people admitted with COVID-19 [[3], [4], [5]]	Isolation of patients with COVID-19, application of enhanced standard precautions (hand hygiene policy and respiratory hygiene), use of PPE (when available) and appropriate environmental disinfection procedures [[3], [4], [5]]
Hospital overcrowding	The need for large-scale medical assistance exceeds the availability of hospital beds, resulting in overcrowded facilities [3,6]	Lack of beds in ICUs has led to new facilities being developed both within and outside current hospital ICU settings, many with existing colonization with MDROs [3,5]
HCWs	High rates of staff sickness and nosocomial acquisition of COVID-19, leading to low HCW:patient ratios [3,5,6]	COVID-19-designed ICUs with dedicated HCWs may have decreased cross-transmission of nosocomial infections [3,4]
Demographic features of patients affected by COVID-19	Elderly patients with comorbidities require prolonged hospitalization with mechanical ventilation support with high use of broad-spectrum antibiotics [[2], [3], [4]]	Lower rates of admission to hospital from long-term care facilities may lead to fewer transmission cycles between long-term care facilities and hospitals [[2], [3], [4]]

PPE, personal protective equipment; HCW, healthcare worker; ICU, intensive care unit.