Hong Kong: The Healthcare Professions and the Outbreak

Contact Tracing ◽

Healthcare Profession ◽

Healthcare Professions ◽

The Government ◽

This chapter studies Hong Kong’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Hong Kong’s experience with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003 helped to prepare the health system for a pandemic, allowing it to avoid a complete lockdown of the city. Social-distancing measures, aggressive testing, and contact tracing have also been critical in controlling the local transmission of the disease. However, when historians and health policy researchers look back at the early days of the outbreak, they are likely to cite the impact of the five-day strike of healthcare professionals in February 2020 as a critical turning point in Hong Kong’s initially hesitant response. The chapter then focuses on this strike and the role of the healthcare profession in shaping public health policy. It argues that the striking healthcare professionals used their standing in Hong Kong to revive the city’s collective memory of the SARS outbreak, mobilizing public action, and possibly triggering a stronger public health intervention by the government.

The complication of cyber manhunt: How cyber manhunt further complicated the ethical conflict between breaching the confidentiality and endangering the society in face of the COVID-19 pandemic (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.29135 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yen-Chang Chen ◽

Yen-Yuan Chen

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Large Scale ◽

Health Workers ◽

Early Stage ◽

Personal Information ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Online Activity ◽

Contact Investigation ◽

UNSTRUCTURED While health care and public health workers are working on measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an unprecedentedly large number of people spending much more time indoors, and relying heavily on the Internet as their lifeline. What has been overlooked is the influence of the increasing online activities on public health issues. In this article, we pointed out how a large-scale online activity called cyber manhunt may threaten to offset the efficacy of contact tracing investigation, a public health intervention considered highly effective in limiting further transmission in the early stage of a highly contagious disease outbreak such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first section, we presented a case to show how personal information obtained from contact investigation and disclosed in part on the media provoked a vehement cyber manhunt. We then discussed the possible reasons why netizens collaborate to reveal anonymized personal information about contact investigation, and specify, from the perspective of public health and public health ethics, four problems of cyber manhunt, including the lack of legitimate public health goals, the concerns about privacy breach, the impact of misinformation, and social inequality. Based on our analysis, we concluded that more moral weight may be given to protecting one's confidentiality, especially in an era with the rapid advance of digital and information technologies.

Health Policy Issue Brief: COVID-19 in Mexico, an imperative to test, trace, and isolate.

10.31219/osf.io/6cerx ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel Bernal-Serrano ◽

Hector Carrasco ◽

Lindsay Palazuelos ◽

Joel M. Mubiligi ◽

Catherine Oswald ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Mass Communication ◽

Respiratory Infections ◽

Current Trend ◽

Policy Issue ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Public Health Approach ◽

Health Strategy ◽

The Government ◽

The Mexican government’sapproach to COVID-19 is failing. The strategy—to care for those that require hospitalization (20% of all cases), deliver mass communication messages, and regulate social distancing following a stoplight system for the rest of the population-is not aggressive enough for prevention. An anemic public health approach with scarce testing and no contact tracing or quarantine, has led to a sky-rocketing number of new infections and deaths. If the current trend continues, Mexico will see around 130 thousand deaths by December and a 53% annualized rate of decrease in the GDP. The government must implement a clear federal strategy to stop the spread of the virus: widespread testing, isolation of symptomatic cases; tracing, and quarantiningof their contacts. This comprehensive public health strategy with targeted social support to protect the vulnerable is a proven approach. Through evaluating other countries’ programs and extrapolating lessons for the Mexican context, we demonstrate thatimplementing testing and contact tracing for all acute respiratory infections is feasible with Mexico’s current resources. A strategy where symptomatic patients are tested and isolated and contacts are quarantined, can suppress community spread, save lives, reduce suffering, decrease the burden on hospitals, and restart the economic activity earlier and in a safer way. The more we wait to implement comprehensive testing and tracing to suppress the epidemic, the more people will become infected, and the impact of this measures will decrease.

The minimal COVID-19 vaccination coverage and efficacy to compensate for potential increase of transmission contacts, and increased transmission probability of the emerging strains

10.21203/rs.3.rs-140717/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Biao Tang ◽

Xue Zhang ◽

Qian Li ◽

Nicola Bragazzi ◽

Dasantila Golemi-Kotra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Vaccine Efficacy ◽

Attack Rate ◽

Vaccine Coverage ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Efficacy Rate ◽

Case Scenario ◽

Worst Case ◽

Abstract Background: Mass immunization is a potentially effective approach to finally control the local outbreak and global spread of COVID-19 pandemic. However, it can also lead to undesirable outcomes if mass vaccination results in increased transmission effective contacts and relaxation of other public health interventions due to the perceived immunity from the vaccine. Methods: We designed a mathematical model of COVID-19 transmission dynamics that takes into consideration the epidemiological status, public health intervention status (quarantined/isolated), immunity status of the population, and the strain variations. Comparing the control reproduction numbers and the final epidemic sizes (attack rate) in the cases with and without vaccination, we quantified some key factors determining when vaccination in the population is beneficial for preventing and controlling future outbreaks. Results: Our analyses predicted that there is a critical (minimal) vaccine efficacy rate (or a critical quarantine rate) below which the control reproduction number with vaccination is higher than that without vaccination, and the final attack rate in the population is also higher with the vaccination. We also predicted the worst case scenario occurs when a high vaccine coverage is achieved for a vaccine with lower efficacy rate and when the vaccines increase the transmission efficient contacts.Conclusions: The analyses show that an immunization program with a vaccine efficacy rate below the predicted critical values will not be as effective as simply investing in the contact tracing/quarantine/isolation implementation. We reached similar conclusions by considering the final epidemic size (or attack rates). This research then highlights the importance of monitoring the impact on transmissibility and vaccine efficacy of emerging strains.

Early Epidemiological Evidence of Public Health Value of WA Notify, a Smartphone-based Exposure Notification Tool: Modeling COVID-19 Cases Averted in Washington State

10.1101/2021.06.04.21257951 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Courtney Segal ◽

Zhehao Zhang ◽

Bryant T Karras ◽

Debra Revere ◽

Gregory Zane ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Privacy Preservation ◽

Case Fatality ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Health Value ◽

Anonymized Data ◽

Disparate Data ◽

The Impact ◽

Valuable Role

Background Secure and anonymous smartphone-based exposure notification tools are recently developed public health interventions that aim to reduce COVID-19 transmission and supplement traditional case investigation and contact tracing systems. We assessed the impact of Washington State's exposure notification tool, WA Notify, in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 during its first four months of implementation. Methods Due to the constraints of privacy-preservation and anonymized data, aggregate metrics and disparate data sources were utilized to estimate the number of COVID-19 cases averted based on a modelling approach adapted from Wymant et al (2021) using the following parameters: number of notifications generated; the probability that a notified individual goes on to become a case; expected fraction of transmissions preventable by strict quarantine after notification; actual adherence to quarantine; and expected size of the full transmission chain if a contact had not been notified. Results The model was run on a range of secondary attack rates (5.1%-13.706%) and quarantine effectiveness (53% and 64%). Assuming a 12.085% secondary attack rate and 53% quarantine effectiveness, the model shows that 6240 cases were averted statewide during the first four months of its implementation. Based on an estimated COVID-19 case fatality of 1.4%, WA Notify saved 30-120 lives during the study period. Conclusions These findings demonstrate the potential value of exposure notification tools as a novel public health intervention to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. As new variants emerge and non-essential travel bans are lifted, exposure notification tools may continue to play a valuable role in limiting the spread of COVID-19.

Contingency Plan: Comparison of Health Policies in Managing COVID-19 in Singapore and Indonesia

Journal of Public Health for Tropical and Coastal Region ◽

10.14710/jphtcr.v4i1.10569 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 28-34

Author(s):

Khalish Arsy Al Khairy Siregar ◽

Deasy Nur Chairin Hanifa

Keyword(s):

Health Policy ◽

Mortality Rate ◽

Good Health ◽

Disaster Mitigation ◽

Health Policies ◽

Economic Activities ◽

The Past ◽

System 2 ◽

The Government ◽

Introduction: Singapore is one of the countries with the lowest mortality rate and the best handling of COVID-19. Singapore can be an example for Indonesia on COVID 19 pandemic handling.Methods: The method used is a literature review from google platform with these keywords: “Singapore Health Policy in COVID-19, Indonesian Health Policy in COVID-19, Singapore's success in suppressing COVID-19”. The analysis was done by comparing the policies taken from the two countries in dealing with COVID-19.Results: Singapore and Indonesia did indeed have very big differences in terms of government and in broad areas, it cannot be denied that Indonesia can have the same opportunity as Singapore in providing a good health disaster mitigation system for the community. Three factors influence Singapore's success in dealing with COVID-19: 1) having a responsive and efficient health disaster mitigation system, 2) government legitimacy which is determined by the capacity of the state. Singapore has a semi-centralized government with high legitimacy the experience of dealing with pandemics in the past, 3) Singapore's experience with SARS in the past makes Singaporeans understand very well the impact of the pandemic on their economic activities and social life.Conclusion: Several things can be emulated from Singapore in handling COVID-19 was the transparency, strong communication between community and the government, prioritizing the benefit and safety of civil society and building obedience and awareness of Covid 19 prevention.

Kajian Tingkat Pencemaran Minyak Bumi Akibat Pengeboran Ilegal Berdasarkan Pemetaan Sungai Sumur Dan Fisika-Kimia Air Studi Kasus : Kecamatan Keluang Kabupaten Musi Banyuasin Sumatera Selatan

PROMINE ◽

10.33019/promine.v6i2.779 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 16-23

Author(s):

Harnani .

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Chemical Compounds ◽

Oil Drilling ◽

Physical Chemical ◽

Information Research ◽

The Status ◽

Chemical Content ◽

The Government ◽

Physical Changes ◽

Water pollution is a thing that can affect the environment, especially on health and hygiene environment around. Sub Keluang Regency Musi Betung South Sumatra known to have oil drilling wells of the Earth where illegal do not fit a common standardization is done, so worried about polluted areas the surroundings. This research aims to study and know the impact of environmental pollution due to the illegal drilling by local people, as well as provide information research results to the Government and the police to cooperate in enforcing laws that have set. To find out which level contamination using a research method that is mapping rivers and wells include deskipsi the physical characteristics, such as water color, flavor, odor, retrieval example of a sample for the analysis of physical-chemical content of the water, and the projection of the level of public health. The result of the physical identification of the water as much as 8 samples were declared contaminated. Sampling see the provisions on physical changes on either the river or the well, the results of the analysis of physical-chemical water, found many chemical compounds which exceed standard pH obtained ranged from 6.25- 8.16 and types of groundwater salt (31-464 mg/L TDS), increase the value of pH and TDS is assumed to be due to saltwater waste results from drilling for petroleum is illegal, and the presence of chemical compounds, either the main or excessive accessories in water then it can affect health, which that is evidenced by the results of the projection of the level of public health from the years 2016 to now that continues to decline. referring to the decision of the Minister of State for the environment number: 115 the year 2003 on guidelines for the determination of the Status of Water quality by the State Minister for the environment using STORET method with a score of 16 (polluted medium).

Guanxi, Trust, and Long-Term Orientation in Chinese Business Markets

Journal of International Marketing ◽

10.1509/jimk.13.2.28.64860 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 28-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 243

Author(s):

Don Y. Lee ◽

Philip L. Dawes

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Interpersonal Relationships ◽

Chinese Culture ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Business Markets ◽

Latent Construct ◽

Chinese Business ◽

The Government ◽

This research focuses on buying firms’ trust in a supplier's salesperson and posits that this type of trust is determined by characteristics of the salesperson, the interpersonal relationships between a salesperson and the buying firm's boundary personnel, and characteristics of personal interactions between these two parties. More important, the authors discuss the concept of interpersonal relationships in the context of Chinese culture and model it as a three-dimensional latent construct, which, in some literature, is called guanxi. A key aspect of this research is that the authors investigate the impact of each dimension of guanxi on salesperson trust separately. Moreover, the authors consider the buying firm's trust in the supplying firm and its long-term orientation toward the supplier the consequences of salesperson trust. To test the model, the authors use data collected from 128 buying organizations in Hong Kong. The sampled firms are from both the government and private sectors.

Health An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine ◽

The UK COVID-19 contact tracing app as both an emerging technology and public health intervention: The need to consider promissory discourses

10.1177/13634593211060768 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136345932110607

Author(s):

Gabrielle Samuel ◽

Rosie Sims

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Health Intervention ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

The Public ◽

Sociology Of Expectations ◽

Short Period ◽

The Media ◽

The Uk

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) COVID-19 contact tracing app was announced to the British public on 12th April 2020. The UK government endorsed the app as a public health intervention that would improve public health, protect the NHS and ‘save lives’. On 5th May 2020 the technology was released for trial on the Isle of Wight. However, the trial was halted in June 2020, reportedly due to technological issues. The app was later remodelled and launched to the public in September 2020. The rapid development, trial and discontinuation of the app over a short period of a few months meant that the mobilisation and effect of the discourses associated with the app could be traced relatively easily. In this paper we aimed to explore how these discourses were constructed in the media, and their effect on actors – in particular, those who developed and those who trialled the app. Promissory discourses were prevalent, the trajectory of which aligned with theories developed in the sociology of expectations. We describe this trajectory, and then interpret its implications in terms of infectious disease public health practices and responsibilities.

Epidemiological trend of COVID-19 in Nepal and the importance of social distancing to contain the virus

Applied Science and Technology Annals ◽

10.3126/asta.v1i1.30268 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 15-25

Author(s):

Amod K. Pokhrel ◽

Yadav P. Joshi ◽

Sopnil Bhattarai

Keyword(s):

Mitigation Measures ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Limited Information ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Mobility Data ◽

Epidemiological Trend ◽

Reproduction Numbers ◽

The Government ◽

Testing Case ◽

There is limited information on the epidemiology and the effects of mitigation measures on the spread of COVID-19 in Nepal. Using publicly available databases, we analyzed the epidemiological trend, the people's movement trends at different intervals across different categories of places and evaluated implications of social mobility on COVID-19. We also estimated the epidemic peak. As of June 9, 2020, Provinces 2 and 5 have most of the cases. People between 15 and 54 years are vulnerable to becoming infected, and more males than females are affected. The cases are growing exponentially. The growth rate of 0.13 and >1 reproduction numbers (R0) over time (median: 1.48; minimum: 0.58, and maximum: 3.71) confirms this trend. The case doubling time is five days. Google's community mobility data suggest that people strictly followed social distancing measures for one month after the lockdown. By around the 4th week of April, the individual's movement started rising, and social contacts increased. The number of cases peaked on May 12, with 83 confirmed cases in one day. The Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Removed (SEIR) model suggests that the epidemic will peak approximately on day 41 (July 21, 2020), and start to plateau after day 80. To contain the spread of the virus, people should maintain social distancing. The Government needs to continue active surveillance, more PCR-based testing, case detection, contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine. The Government should also provide financial support and safety-nets to the citizen to limit the impact of COVID-19.

Human epigenetics prematurely born(e)?

Blinded by Science ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447322337.003.0008 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

David Wastell ◽

Sue White

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Policy ◽

Natural Disasters ◽

Public Health Policy ◽

Social Deprivation ◽

Early Infancy ◽

Human Populations ◽

Thought Style ◽

A Site ◽

This chapterr shifts the focus from animals to humans, and examines the extant literature on the human epigenome. It reviews seminal work on the impact of natural disasters (such as the Dutch Hunger Winter) on the epigenetic profile of those subject to these calamities. It describes how gestation and early infancy are reconfigured as a site of risk. It interrogates the nature of the claims made within the literature and also examines the thought style and presuppositions, particularly in those studies which seek to translate findings from laboratory to the clinic and public health policy. The small size of the effects on human populations is also highlighted, compared to other influences such as social deprivation.