JMIR public health and surveillance
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Apr 2020
A Guide to Chatbots for COVID-19 Screening at Pediatric Health Care Facilities.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has required institutions to rapidly adapt to changing public health circumstances. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has encouraged health care facilities to explore novel health care delivery modes. ⋯ Chatbots are one digital health tool that can help evolve triage and screening processes in a scalable manner. Here, we present a decision-making and implementation framework for deploying COVID-19 screening chatbots at pediatric health care facilities.
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Apr 2020
Surveillance of COVID-19 in the General Population Using an Online Questionnaire: Report From 18,161 Respondents in China.
The recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become an international pandemic. So far, little is known about the role of an internet approach in COVID-19 participatory surveillance. ⋯ This study shows the usefulness of an online questionnaire for the surveillance of outbreaks like COVID-19 by providing information about trends of the disease and aiding the identification of potential risk factors.
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Apr 2020
Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and Antibodies in Diverse Samples: Protocol to Validate the Sufficiency of Provider-Observed, Home-Collected Blood, Saliva, and Oropharyngeal Samples.
The response in the United States to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been hampered by a lack of aggressive testing for the infection. Testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cornerstone of an effective public health response. However, efforts to test have been hampered by limited reagents, limitations in the availability of swabs used for the collection of nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) specimens, limitations in personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care providers collecting the NPS specimens, and limitations in viral transport media for transporting the specimens. Therefore, more flexible options for screening for SARS-CoV-2 RNA and serologic responses are critical to inform clinical and public health responses. ⋯ Defining a conceptual framework for assessing the sufficiency of patient-collected samples for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and serologic responses to infection is critical for facilitating public health responses and providing PPE-sparing options to increase testing. Validation of alternative methods of specimen collection should include objective measures of the sufficiency of specimens for testing. A strong evidence base for diversifying testing modalities will improve tools to guide public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Apr 2020
Regulation and Trust: 3-Month Follow-up Study on COVID-19 Mortality in 25 European Countries.
The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has dramatically changed societies in 2020. Since the end of February, Europe has been hit particularly hard by COVID-19, but there are major country differences in both the spread of the virus and measures taken to stop the virus. Social psychological factors such as institutional trust could be important in understanding the development of the epidemic. ⋯ The analyses demonstrated the importance of societal and social psychological factors in the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. By considering multiple perspectives, this study showed that country differences in Europe are major, and this will have an impact on how countries will cope with the ongoing crisis in the following months. The results indicated the importance of timely restrictions and cooperation with people.
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Apr 2020
Data Mining and Content Analysis of the Chinese Social Media Platform Weibo During the Early COVID-19 Outbreak: Retrospective Observational Infoveillance Study.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which began in Wuhan, China in December 2019, is rapidly spreading worldwide with over 1.9 million cases as of mid-April 2020. Infoveillance approaches using social media can help characterize disease distribution and public knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors critical to the early stages of an outbreak. ⋯ The results of this study provide initial insight into the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of Chinese social media data at the initial epicenter in Wuhan City. Future studies should continue to explore the utility of social media data to predict COVID-19 disease severity, measure public reaction and behavior, and evaluate effectiveness of outbreak communication.