Fig. 1

Projected demand for paediatric isolation facilities (May – October 2014). Occupied bed-days = the cumulative daily occupancy of the 18 isolation beds per month; missed bed-days = duration of hospitalization of patients with pathogens warranting isolation that were not isolated plus days of delay in patients with late implementation of isolation precautions; estimated syndromic bed-day requirement = number of patients with clinical suspicion of viral illness but a negative laboratory test/s for viral pathogens (measured as empiric isolation required from day of admission to a negative test result); projected occupancy = sum of occupied bed-days plus missed bed-days plus estimated syndromic days, minus total bed-days of inappropriate use; Bed-days of inappropriate isolation room use (not shown in figure) = total days per period where isolation rooms were used for inappropriate purposes i.e. where there was no clinical indication for isolation or where a patient was not de-isolated after laboratory testing identified no pathogens or pathogens that did not warrant isolation