Basics of Developing a COVID-19 Reopening Roadmap: A Systematic Scoping Review

Abstract

Background: The necessity of easing pandemic restrictions is explicit. Due to the harsh consequences of lockdowns, governments are willing to find reasonable pathways to reopen their activities.

Methods: To find out the basics of developing a reopening roadmap, on 6th -10th July 2020, we conducted a systematic search on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science to review the databases; and Google by manual to review the grey literature. Two independent authors extracted the data, and the senior author solved the discrepancies.

Results: Sixteen documents were included. Data categorized into four sections: principals, general recommendations for individuals, health key metrics, and in-phases strategy. The number of phases or stages differed from three to six, with a minimum of two weeks considered for each one. Health key metrics were categorized into four subsets: sufficient preventive capacities, appropriate diagnostic capacity, appropriate epidemiological monitoring, and sufficient health system capacity. These metrics were used as the criteria for progressing or returning over the roadmap, which guarantees a roadmap's dynamicity. Noticeably, few roadmaps did not mention the criteria that may alter the dynamicity of their roadmap. When some areas face new surges, the roadmap's dynamicity is essential, and it is vital to describe the criteria to stop the reopening process and implement the restrictions again.

Conclusion: Providing evidence for policymaking about lifting the COVID-19 restrictions seems to be missed in the literature should be addressed more, and further studies are recommended.