Preventative and Proactive Measures to Mitigate the Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission can be mitigated through a combination of preventive and proactive measures. In this review, we first highlight modes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, quantitatively assess individual mitigation measures, and conclude with a qualitative comparison. We detail how the efficacy of specific face masks must be balanced with their availability, while for comparison, social distancing and good hygiene practices may not be as directly effective as respirators but are widely accessible methods not subject to limited supplies. Controlling environmental setting, testing, and contact tracing are highly effective mitigation practices, but typically require collective action versus the individual activity of the former strategies. Our qualitative comparative assessment of preventative mitigation factors (i.e., face mask usage, social distancing, hygiene, and choice of environment setting) and proactive mitigation measures (i.e., testing, and contact tracing) serves to inform communities on the effectiveness and feasibility of these strategies.

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COVID-19 Pandemic Response Simulation in a Large City: Impact of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions on Reopening Society

Medical Decision Making ◽

10.1177/0272989x211003081 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0272989X2110030

Author(s):

Serin Lee ◽

Zelda B. Zabinsky ◽

Judith N. Wasserheit ◽

Stephen M. Kofsky ◽

Shan Liu

Keyword(s):

Large City ◽

Face Mask ◽

School Closure ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

The Novel ◽

Agent Based ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Variable Compliance ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Nonpharmaceutical Interventions

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to expand, policymakers are striving to balance the combinations of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to keep people safe and minimize social disruptions. We developed and calibrated an agent-based simulation to model COVID-19 outbreaks in the greater Seattle area. The model simulated NPIs, including social distancing, face mask use, school closure, testing, and contact tracing with variable compliance and effectiveness to identify optimal NPI combinations that can control the spread of the virus in a large urban area. Results highlight the importance of at least 75% face mask use to relax social distancing and school closure measures while keeping infections low. It is important to relax NPIs cautiously during vaccine rollout in 2021.

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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 ◽

The Impact

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.

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Early estimates of COVID-19 infections in small, medium and large population clusters

BMJ Global Health ◽

10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003055 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (9) ◽

pp. e003055

Author(s):

Amir Siraj ◽

Alemayehu Worku ◽

Kiros Berhane ◽

Maru Aregawi ◽

Munir Eshetu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Population ◽

Face Mask ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Local Context ◽

African Region ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Population Sizes ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Impact

IntroductionSince its emergence in late December 2019, COVID-19 has rapidly developed into a pandemic in mid of March with many countries suffering heavy human loss and declaring emergency conditions to contain its spread. The impact of the disease, while it has been relatively low in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as of May 2020, is feared to be potentially devastating given the less developed and fragmented healthcare system in the continent. In addition, most emergency measures practised may not be effective due to their limited affordability as well as the communal way people in SSA live in relative isolation in clusters of large as well as smaller population centres.MethodsTo address the acute need for estimates of the potential impacts of the disease once it sweeps through the African region, we developed a process-based model with key parameters obtained from recent studies, taking local context into consideration. We further used the model to estimate the number of infections within a year of sustained local transmissions under scenarios that cover different population sizes, urban status, effectiveness and coverage of social distancing, contact tracing and usage of cloth face mask.ResultsWe showed that when implemented early, 50% coverage of contact tracing and face mask, with 33% effective social distancing policies can bringing the epidemic to a manageable level for all population sizes and settings we assessed. Relaxing of social distancing in urban settings from 33% to 25% could be matched by introduction and maintenance of face mask use at 43%.ConclusionsIn SSA countries with limited healthcare workforce, hospital resources and intensive care units, a robust system of social distancing, contact tracing and face mask use could yield in outcomes that prevent several millions of infections and thousands of deaths across the continent.

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Identifying airborne transmission as the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2009637117 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 117 (26) ◽

pp. 14857-14863 ◽

Cited By ~ 156

Author(s):

Renyi Zhang ◽

Yixin Li ◽

Annie L. Zhang ◽

Yuan Wang ◽

Mario J. Molina

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

New York City ◽

York City ◽

Effective Means ◽

The United States ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Protective Measure ◽

Airborne Transmission ◽

Social Distancing

Various mitigation measures have been implemented to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, including widely adopted social distancing and mandated face covering. However, assessing the effectiveness of those intervention practices hinges on the understanding of virus transmission, which remains uncertain. Here we show that airborne transmission is highly virulent and represents the dominant route to spread the disease. By analyzing the trend and mitigation measures in Wuhan, China, Italy, and New York City, from January 23 to May 9, 2020, we illustrate that the impacts of mitigation measures are discernable from the trends of the pandemic. Our analysis reveals that the difference with and without mandated face covering represents the determinant in shaping the pandemic trends in the three epicenters. This protective measure alone significantly reduced the number of infections, that is, by over 75,000 in Italy from April 6 to May 9 and over 66,000 in New York City from April 17 to May 9. Other mitigation measures, such as social distancing implemented in the United States, are insufficient by themselves in protecting the public. We conclude that wearing of face masks in public corresponds to the most effective means to prevent interhuman transmission, and this inexpensive practice, in conjunction with simultaneous social distancing, quarantine, and contact tracing, represents the most likely fighting opportunity to stop the COVID-19 pandemic. Our work also highlights the fact that sound science is essential in decision-making for the current and future public health pandemics.

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Effects of COVID-19 during lockdown in Nepal

Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences ◽

10.46405/ejms.v2i2.91 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Preeti Mahato ◽

Pasang Tamang ◽

Padam Simkhada ◽

Prakash Shahi ◽

Edwin van Teijlingen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Poverty Reduction ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Face Mask ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Border Crossings ◽

Health Coverage ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Financial Condition ◽

Precautionary Measures

Nepal started its full lockdown on March 24, 2020 and has been extended until 14 June 2020 as a precaution for prevention of COVID-19 infection. However, the strict lockdown has been criticised by many as not all the deaths are caused by COVID-19. The long and strict lockdown have had some negative effects in many aspects of health of an individual in the community. Many women are facing barriers to access maternity health care during the lockdown period and there has been rise in the suicidal behaviour such as sucidal attempt and actual suicide itself among the general population. As the lockdown began in Nepal, all the school and colleges were suspended, and children were forced to spend their time indoors and exams has been postponed leaving the students stressed about the uncertainty of their future. Social distancing, isolation and quarantine at home can result in isolated in an abusive home where there could be even more increase in abuse during such crisis. Millions of babies are missing the routine vaccinations which is a threat to global achievement in immunization. Apart from the rise in negative impact on health of Nepali people, there are other impacts related to health such as serious impacts on logistics and supply management including shortage of medicine and food supply; and impacts on farming including both production and sale. Nepal took several precautionary measures as a response towards COVID-19 such as First, limiting international air travel, sealing the land border-crossings with India and introduction of social distancing measures. However, with rise in deaths due to non COVID related causes and negative impacts on economic and financial condition of the country, there is a need for the country to ease its lockdown. Contact tracing, making face mask mandatory along with social distancing measure can be an alternative to lockdown for Nepal while the country is preparing to ease its lockdown. Social distancing, hygiene, lifestyle factors and PPE measures need to continue for long term, whilst we need to keep working on the big public health issues such as poverty reduction, improving access to health service to achieve universal health coverage.

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COVID-19 Countermeasures and Passengers’ Confidence of Urban Rail Travel in Bangkok

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13169377 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (16) ◽

pp. 9377

Author(s):

Varameth Vichiensan ◽

Yoshitsugu Hayashi ◽

Sudarat Kamnerdsap

Keyword(s):

Structural Equation ◽

Face Mask ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Factor Analyses ◽

Transit Systems ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Urban Rail ◽

Interview Survey ◽

Second Wave

Rail transit systems around the world have been suffering from heavily reduced ridership due to reduced capacity for social distancing and passengers’ concern over the risk of COVID-19 infection. Various countermeasures were implemented to reduce the COVID-19 risk so that passengers felt safe to travel on rail. The objectives of this study were to evaluate COVID-19 countermeasures of Bangkok’s urban rail from passengers’ viewpoints and examine its influence on passenger’s confidence. The background of the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand and the rail countermeasures implemented in Bangkok were summarized. The data were obtained from an interview survey of 1105 railway passengers conducted at the stations during the second wave of the pandemic. Factor analyses and structural equation modeling were conducted. The results revealed that social distancing was not satisfied by the passengers but adversely caused inconvenience and increased infection risk when the station or rail were congested. On the other hand, the passenger temperature check, face mask enforcement, and hand sanitization countermeasures were found to highly and positively contribute to passengers’ confidence. Contact tracing application was also found to raise awareness and confidence. The findings provided insights for rail authorities and related agencies to effectively implement the countermeasures that would be practically and financially sustainable.

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Face Mask: A Novel Material for Protection against Bacteria/Virus

10.5772/intechopen.98604 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Thilagavathi Govindharajan ◽

Viju Subramoniapllai

Keyword(s):

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Avian Influenza ◽

Health Workers ◽

Face Mask ◽

Test Methods ◽

Recent Developments ◽

Novel Material ◽

The Individual ◽

Environment Evolution ◽

Viral Respiratory

Facemask is defined as a loose-fitting device which creates a physical barrier between the mouth and nose of the individual wearing mask and likely pollutants in the immediate environment. Evolution of severe viral respiratory infectious agents such as pandemic COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome, pandemic influenza and avian influenza has driven the use of protective face masks by public and health workers. In this chapter, characteristics features and uses of different types of masks are discussed. Characteristics of various nonwoven technologies for manufacturing face masks are also discussed. Test methods and recent developments in face masks are briefly covered.

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The relevance of dietetic approach of Ayurveda from the perspective of COVID-19 pandemic

International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences ◽

10.26452/ijrps.v11ispl1.3077 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽

pp. 748-752

Author(s):

Swapnali Khabade ◽

Bharat Rathi ◽

Renu Rathi

Keyword(s):

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Healthy Person ◽

World Health ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Leading Role ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

The People ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization ◽

The Individual

A novel, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causes severe acute respiratory syndrome and spread globally from Wuhan, China. In March 2020 the World Health Organization declared the SARS-Cov-2 virus as a COVID- 19, a global pandemic. This pandemic happened to be followed by some restrictions, and specially lockdown playing the leading role for the people to get disassociated with their personal and social schedules. And now the food is the most necessary thing to take care of. It seems the new challenge for the individual is self-isolation to maintain themselves on the health basis and fight against the pandemic situation by boosting their immunity. Food organised by proper diet may maintain the physical and mental health of the individual. Ayurveda aims to promote and preserve the health, strength and the longevity of the healthy person and to cure the disease by properly channelling with and without Ahara. In Ayurveda, diet (Ahara) is considered as one of the critical pillars of life, and Langhana plays an important role too. This article will review the relevance of dietetic approach described in Ayurveda with and without food (Asthavidhi visheshaytana & Lanhgan) during COVID-19 like a pandemic.

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An Epidemiological Analysis of COVID-19 Confirmed Cases, Reported at National Institute of Health, Pakistan (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.20605 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ambreen Chaudhry

Keyword(s):

Age Groups ◽

Target Population ◽

Control Measures ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Bivariate Analysis ◽

Travel History ◽

Disease Epidemiology ◽

Hygiene Practices ◽

Multi Center Study ◽

Epidemiological Characteristics

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is a zoonotic disease of novel origin that posed a continuous threat to health worldwide after taking the shape of the pandemic. An understanding of disease epidemiology is supportive in timely preventive and control measures as well as contact tracing and curbing surveillance activities. OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to determine the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 confirmed cases reported at the National Institute of Health Pakistan and elements of its spread in Pakistan. METHODS A retrospective record review was conducted at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad, Pakistan from January 25 to April 4, 2020. Univariate and bivariate analysis was done with 95% CI and p<0.05. RESULTS A total of 14,422 samples of suspected COVID-19 cases were received with a positivity rate of 9% (n=1348). Among all 70% (n=939) were male. The median age was 41years of age (range: 01-99Years). Among all, 19% were from 30-39 years old followed by 50-59 years old (17%). Children remained the least affected by 3% (n=35). Of the total reported cases, 55% (n=735) have reported the travel history within the last 14 days. Among these travelers’ international travelers were 23% (n=166) and domestic travelers were 77% (n=569). Travel history including both international and domestic remained significantly associated with the different age groups and Young adults remained more vulnerable to COVID-19 (P=0.03). Fever, SOB, and Cough remained the most significantly associated (P<0.05) in all age groups. CONCLUSIONS A higher incidence of COVID-19 among elderly men suggests robust quarantine measures for this target population. An escalating incidence of local transmission needs strict social distancing and hygiene practices to help flatten the curve. An extensive multi-center study is also recommended for a full understanding of disease dynamics.

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Are social networking platforms the key to effective social distancing for COVID-19? (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.19722 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Viknesh Sounderajah ◽

Hutan Ashrafian ◽

Sheraz Markar ◽

Ara Darzi

Keyword(s):

Operating System ◽

Social Networking ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Text Data ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Web Mapping ◽

Viral Spread ◽

Behavioural Insights ◽

Mapping Software ◽

Incidence And Mortality

UNSTRUCTURED If health systems are to effectively employ social distancing measures to in response to further COVID-19 peaks, they must adopt new behavioural metrics that can supplement traditional downstream measures, such as incidence and mortality. Access to mobile digital innovations may dynamically quantify compliance to social distancing (e.g. web mapping software) as well as establish personalised real-time contact tracing of viral spread (e.g. mobile operating system infrastructure through Google-Apple partnership). In particular, text data from social networking platforms can be mined for unique behavioural insights, such as symptom tracking and perception monitoring. Platforms, such as Twitter, have shown significant promise in tracking communicable pandemics. As such, it is critical that social networking companies collaborate with each other in order to (1) enrich the data that is available for analysis, (2) promote the creation of open access datasets for researchers and (3) cultivate relationships with governments in order to affect positive change.

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