Articles: pandemics.
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COVID-19 is a highly contagious acute respiratory syndrome and has been declared a pandemic in more than 209 countries worldwide. At the time of writing, no preventive vaccine has been developed and tested in the community. This study was conducted to review studies aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus worldwide. ⋯ So far, no vaccine or definitive treatment for COVID-19 has been invented, and the disease has become a pandemic. Therefore, observation of hand hygiene, disinfection of high-touch surfaces, observation of social distance, and lack of presence in public places are recommended as preventive measures. Moreover, to control the situation and to reduce the incidence of the virus, some of the measures taken by the decision-making bodies and the guidelines of the deterrent institutions to strengthen telecommuting of employees and reduce the presence of people in the community and prevent unnecessary activities, are very important.
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Geriatr Orthop Surg Rehabil · Jan 2020
The Epidemiology of Fractures and Muskulo-Skeletal Traumas During COVID-19 Lockdown: A Detailed Survey of 17.591 Patients in a Wide Italian Metropolitan Area.
On 9 March 2020 the Italian Government declared a national lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. The aim of our study was to analyze the effects of such intervention on the traumatological emergency service, with particular emphasis on variations in trauma incidence and patients' characteristics. ⋯ The lockdown reduced the pressure on the Health System in at least 2 ways: directly, by curbing viral transmission and indirectly, by more than halving the ED trauma visits. Nonetheless, we observed an increased proportion of traumas in older patients, requiring hospitalizations, while the rate of less-severe cases decreased. This analysis may raise awareness of the effects of a lockdown on trauma services and may be helpful for those ones around the world who are now facing the emergency.
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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.
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Air filtration in various implementations has become a critical intervention in managing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the proper deployment of air filtration has been hampered by an insufficient understanding of its principles. These misconceptions have led to uncertainty about the effectiveness of air filtration at arresting potentially infectious aerosol particles. ⋯ Other types of filters are less or more effective and, correspondingly, are easier or harder to move air through. The use of masks, respirators, air filtration modules, and other dedicated equipment is an essential intervention in the management of COVID-19 spread. It is critical to consider the mechanisms of air filtration and to understand how aerosol particles containing SARS-CoV-2 virions interact with filter materials to determine the best practices for the use of air filtration to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
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In pandemics, because of increased demand and subsequent shortage of commercial facemasks, people need to use cloth facemasks, although such masks are reported to provide reduced protection. These masks can be prepared in local levels from different fabric materials. In developing countries, cloth masks are preferable because of low cost and added advantages of reusability. The filtering performance of a cloth facemask depends on the facial fit and on the material properties of fabrics such as porosity, yarn spacing or packing, and pore size. In resource limited settings, an affordable and easy to implement method that can assess the surface properties of cloth facemask fabrics would be important. ⋯ Out of the 16 masks examined, we found very diverse yarn packing and pore morphology (pore size and shape) in the fabrics. The pore size ranged from ~80 to 720 μm; much larger than respiratory droplet and bio-aerosol. This observation partly explains why such cloth facemasks provide reduced protection to the user during pandemics. The performance of a cloth facemask partly depends on the material properties of fabric such as yarn packing, pore size, porosity. Therefore, the surface properties of fabrics obtained from the smartphone method can be used to get preliminary idea on the facemask quality. We believe that the method can be an affordable and rapid method for selection of better fabrics for cloth facemask during pandemics.