12th Workshop on Accelerator Operations

At the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST), carbon-ion therapy has been carried out since 1994, and a total of more than 13,000 patients have been treated to date. Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, all medical facilities are required to have robust measures against infectious diseases. In our facility, operators who work in the medical setting have indirect contact with patients and therefore need to have the measures equivalent to those taken by medical staff. Our measures focused on two things: avoiding contact between operators and patients, and ensuring that treatment could be continued in case anyone became infected. Rubbing alcohol has been installed in each treatment room and staff room to disinfect hands and equipment frequently. Operators were forbidden to use some of the passageways used by patients. There were also changes in the working style. Combination of pairs or trios for operation were fixed in order to prevent the spread of infection. Even with these measures in place, one operator was infected with COVID-19, but the infection did not spread any further. This result may have been due to the thoroughness that comes with being in the medical setting. In this presentation, we will show the influence of COVID-19 on operations in the medical setting.