Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Feb 2021
Face Masks for All and All for Face Masks in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Community Level Production to Face the Global Shortage and Shorten the Epidemic.
The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused a global shortage of medical masks, leaving most exposed health personnel without appropriate protection. Since the beginning of the outbreak, the World Health Organization WHO) has revised several times the recommendations on general use of facemasks. Until recently, WHO recommended to limit the use of facemasks to symptomatic people and advised against off-standard solutions. ⋯ Especially in low-middle income countries, due to the scarce capacity of national industrial production or import, the use of masks produced at community level may become the only viable option. For the purpose ad hoc guidelines will be needed. Current knowledge and experience call for further and updated review of global and national guidelines to provide clear and consistent criteria to ensure the widest availability and appropriate use of facial protection, bearing in mind populations in socio-economic disadvantaged settings.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Feb 2021
Protection and Response of a Tertiary Hospital in South Korea to the COVID-19 Outbreak.
Here, we present an overview of how a tertiary hospital responded to maintain necessary activities and protect patients and staff from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. ⋯ While tertiary hospitals play an important role in treating both COVID-19 patients and non-COVID-19 patients, hospital staff have to protect themselves from unexpected in-hospital transmission. A multifaceted response must be undertaken to protect tertiary hospitals and their staff during the COVID-19 epidemic.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Dec 2020
Impact of Fundamental Diseases on Patients With COVID-19.
In December 2019, a new type of coronavirus, called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), appeared in Wuhan, China. Serious outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, have occurred throughout China and the world. Therefore, we intend to shed light on its potential clinical and epidemiological characteristics. ⋯ In our study, we found that most of the deaths were elderly men with chronic fundamental diseases, and their COVID-19 progression to death time was shorter. At the same time, we demonstrated that older men are more likely to become infected with COVID-19, and the risk of death is positively correlated with age.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Dec 2020
Clinical and Ethical Considerations in Allocation of Ventilators in an Influenza Pandemic or Other Public Health Disaster: A Comparison of the 2007 and 2015 New York State Ventilator Allocation Guidelines.
During an influenza or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that results in acute respiratory distress, the number of available ventilators will not meet demand. In 2007, the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law and Department of Health released draft Guidelines for ethical allocation of ventilators for adults. In 2015, updated guidelines were released to ensure that: (1) revisions reflect the public's values and (2) the triage protocol is substantiated by evidence-based clinical data. We summarize the development and content of the 2015 Guidelines compared with the 2007 version, emphasizing new/revised aspects of the ethical considerations and clinical protocol. ⋯ The 2015 Guidelines reflect advances in medicine and societal values and provide an evidenced-based framework to save the most lives. The framework could be adapted in other emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that require ventilators.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Dec 2020
Adaptation of the National Plan for the Prevention and Fight Against Pandemic Influenza to the 2020 COVID-19 Epidemic in France.
On Tuesday, March 17, 2020, at noon, France became the third European country to impose a nationwide containment policy in the fight against epidemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) viral infection. Announcing that the country was at "war," President Macron called upon all to play a role in mitigating against further development of contagion. This extreme measure never seen before during peace time was the result of adapting not only the French Pandemic Influenza Plan (PIP) being applied to the national context but also real-time clinical, epidemiological, and scientific information about the evolution of COVID-19 infection in the country. ⋯ As a result, decisive and immediate action was taken by the State for the national public health interest. This report from the field details the timely events that contributed to this extreme policy decision taken by France. A policy decision that other Western democracies have since applied as the pandemic disseminated across the globe.