The modified National Early Warning Score m-NEWS for COVID-19 infected patient evaluation: a proof-of-concept

The second wave of Sars CoV 2 pandemic in Italy still represents an important concern for the Italian health system (IHS). Despite the experience gained during the first phase of the pandemic in January 2020, COVID-19 patients are still arising, putting on a strain resources of local authorities and emergency services. The aim of this research project is to analyze the feasibility of using the modified National Early Warning Score (m-NEWS) as a way to rapidly identify COVID-19-infected patient with high risk of clinical deterioration, helping the clinical pre-evaluation in a moment of overwhelming request for the Italian out-of-hospital emergency system (Perlini et al., Intern Emerg Med 15(5):825-833, 2020) as during the initial coronavirus outbreak.