JMIR public health and surveillance
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Nov 2020
Leveraging a Cloud-Based Critical Care Registry for COVID-19 Pandemic Surveillance and Research in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed limitations in real-time surveillance needed for responsive health care action in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Pakistan Registry for Intensive CarE (PRICE) was adapted to enable International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC)-compliant real-time reporting of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI). The cloud-based common data model and standardized nomenclature of the registry platform ensure interoperability of data and reporting between regional and global stakeholders. ⋯ The PRICE network is now being recruited to international multicenter clinical trials regarding COVID-19 management, leveraging the registry platform. Systematic and standardized reporting of SARI is feasible in LMICs. Existing registry platforms can be adapted for pandemic research, surveillance, and resource planning.
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Nov 2020
Predicting spatial and temporal responses to non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 growth rates across 58 counties in New York State: A prospective event-based modeling study on county-level sociological predictors.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have been implemented in the New York State since the COVID-19 outbreak on March 1, 2020 to control the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Socioeconomic heterogeneity across counties closely manifests differences in the post-NPIs growth rate of incidence, which is a crucial indicator to guide future infectious control policy making. Few studies, however, examined the geospatial and sociological variations in the epidemic growth across different time points of NPIs. ⋯ There are geospatial differences in COVID-19 incidence after implementing different NPIs. Socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and healthcare resource disparities at the structural and historical levels across counties need to be considered in infection control policymaking to narrow the unequal health impact on vulnerable populations effectively.
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Nov 2020
Concerns and Misconceptions About the Australian Government's COVIDSafe App: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.
Timely and effective contact tracing is an essential public health measure for curbing the transmission of COVID-19. App-based contact tracing has the potential to optimize the resources of overstretched public health departments. However, its efficiency is dependent on widespread adoption. ⋯ For the COVIDSafe app to be accepted by the public and used correctly, public health messages need to address the concerns of citizens, specifically privacy, data storage, and technical capabilities. Understanding the specific barriers preventing the uptake of contact tracing apps provides the opportunity to design targeted communication strategies aimed at strengthening public health initiatives, such as downloading and correctly using contact tracing apps.