Articles: pandemics.
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Efficient strategies to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are peremptory to relieve the negatively impacted public health and global economy, with the full scope yet to unfold. In the absence of highly effective drugs, vaccines, and abundant medical resources, many measures are used to manage the infection rate and avoid exhausting limited hospital resources. Wearing masks is among the non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) measures that could be effectively implemented at a minimum cost and without dramatically disrupting social practices. ⋯ Wearing a mask presents a rational way to implement as an NPI to combat COVID-19. We recognize our study provides a projection based only on currently available data and estimates potential probabilities. As such, our model warrants further validation studies.
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The worldwide shortage of single-use N95 respirators and surgical masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many health care personnel to use their existing equipment for as long as possible. In many cases, workers cover respirators with available masks in an attempt to extend their effectiveness against the virus. Due to low mask supplies, many people instead are using face coverings improvised from common fabrics. ⋯ We show that silk is a hydrophobic barrier to droplets, can be more breathable than other fabrics that trap humidity, and are re-useable via cleaning. We suggest that silk can serve as an effective material for making hydrophobic barriers that protect respirators, and silk can now be tested under clinical conditions to verify its efficacy for this function. Although respirators are still the most appropriate form of protection, silk face coverings possess properties that make them capable of repelling droplets.
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Technol. Cancer Res. Treat. · Jan 2020
Challenges for a Cancer Center in the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic.
The novel Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is sweeping through China, posing the greatest ever threat to its public health and economy. As a tertiary cancer center in Southwest China, we formulated and implemented an anti-infection protocol to prevent the spread of Coronavirus disease 2019 in our department. ⋯ Challenges from the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic remain in our community. The anti-infection protocol implemented at our cancer center has been effective in preventing cross-infection. Whether our anti-infection protocol experience can be applied to curb the spread of the infection in other parts of the world remains to be tested.
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Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992) · Jan 2020
Investigation of the frequency of COVID-19 in patients treated with intravesical BCG.
In this retrospective study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of COVID-19 in patients with and without BCG application due to bladder tumors. ⋯ Intravesical BCG administration does not decrease the frequency of COVID-19 infection.
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Ethnicity & disease · Jan 2020
EditorialIncorporating Health Equity and Community Perspectives During COVID-19: Commonalities with Cardiovascular Health Equity Research.
The COVID-19 pandemic is revealing the deeply entrenched structural inequities in health that exist in the United States. We draw parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and our cardiovascular health equity research focused on physical activity and diabetes to highlight three common needs: 1) access to timely and disaggregated data; 2) how to integrate community-engaged approaches in telehealth; and 3) policy initiatives that explicitly integrate health equity and social justice principles and action. We suggest that a similar sense of urgency regarding COVID-19 should be applied to slow the burgeoning costs and suffering associated with cardiovascular disease overall and in marginalized communities specifically. We remain hopeful that the current crisis can serve as a guide for aligning our principles as a just and democratic society with a health agenda that explicitly recognizes that social inequities in health for some impacts all members of society.