COVID-19 transmission: a positive perspective

Author(s):  
Apurva Sakarde ◽  
Roshan Takhelmayum ◽  
Seema Garg ◽  
Arvind S Kushwaha

Abstract Objectives To understand the dynamics of infectivity of COVID-19 and allay the fear and anxiety associated with it in healthcare workers and the society. Case presentation Three individuals accompanied their pediatric patients in the COVID ward but did not develop infection. Information about their knowledge and perspective about the disease and the protective measures undertaken by them during their stay in the hospital was gathered by administering a questionnaire 14 days after discharge. Conclusions It was observed that use of proper precautionary measures like wearing a mask and regular hand sanitization helped in prevention from COVID-19 infection even after having close contact with confirmed cases. Such facts/observation will help in sensitizing the public about COVID-19 and eliminate panic in the society.

Author(s):  
Claire D Greaves ◽  
Mike J Dunn

Following the administration of a radiopharmaceutical, the patient is essentially a mobile source of radiation. The hazards from the patient are contamination from radioactive tissue/body fluids, and exposure to the radiation emitted from the patient. These hazards present a risk to the patient due to self-absorbed radiation, healthcare workers, other patients, members of the public, family members (including the foetus), colleagues at work, and carers. This chapter presents the methodology used for assessing the doses to patients and critical groups, and discusses its limitations. It considers the risks and protective measures for: the patient (both adults and paediatrics), the foetus and young children including reproduction, breastfeeding, and close contact, hospital and external workers who may come into contact with the patient or be at risk of contamination, and the general public (inside and outside the hospital environment). The risks are presented along with practical guidance to minimize the hazard.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 3630
Author(s):  
Muhammad Abdullah ◽  
Nazam Ali ◽  
Charitha Dias ◽  
Tiziana Campisi ◽  
Muhammad Ashraf Javid

Public transport use has drastically declined during the COVID-19 pandemic because the virus spreads through close contact with infected people and contaminated surfaces, especially in closed-environments. Evidence suggests that following the necessary safety guidelines can limit the spread of the virus, however, non-compliance to precautionary measures has been reported widely. Ignoring the precautionary measures may lead to quick transmission of the virus since public transport vehicles generally resemble closed-environments. This study explores people’s intentions to use public transport during the COVID-19 pandemic while adhering to precautionary measures. For this purpose, a total of 1516 useable responses were collected through a questionnaire survey conducted in Lahore, Pakistan. Regression models were developed to model the intentions to use public transport during the pandemic, to adhere to the precautionary measures while using public transport during the pandemic, and to use public transport while suffering from COVID-19 disease. The results of this study will help in understanding the intentions of the public transport users during the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also provide insights for policymakers and public transport operators about further necessary actions to promote safe public transport use during the current and any possible future pandemics. As public transport use declined during the pandemic, policy implications for alternative mobility options such as demand-responsive-transport (DRT) are also presented. Considering the study results, a policy interventions framework is proposed to promote the safe use of various public transport modes, particularly in developing regions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (16) ◽  
pp. 2109-2113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lichun Zheng ◽  
Xiang Wang ◽  
Chongchong Zhou ◽  
Qin Liu ◽  
Shuang Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Healthcare workers (HCWs) at the frontline are facing a substantial risk of infection during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Methods We acquired information and data on general information on and infection and death status of HCWs in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak and completed statistical analyses. Results We obtained the data on 2457 infected cases among HCWs in Wuhan, China. More than half of the infected individuals were nurses (52.06%), whereas 33.62% of infected cases were doctors and 14.33% of cases were medical staff. In particular, the case infection rate of nurses (2.22%) was remarkably higher than that of doctors (1.92%). Most infected cases among HCWs were female (72.28%). A majority of the infected HCWs (89.26%) came from general hospitals, followed by specialized hospitals (5.70%) and community hospitals (5.05%). The case infection rate of HCWs (2.10%) was dramatically higher than that of non-HCWs (0.43%). The case fatality rate of HCWs (0.69%) was significantly lower than that of non-HCWs (5.30%). Conclusions The infection risk of HCWs is clearly higher than that of non-HCWs. HCWs play an essential role in fighting the pandemic. The analysis of the infection status of HCWs is essential to attract enough attention from the public, provide effective suggestions for government agencies, and improve protective measures for HCWs.


Coronaviruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suneel Prajapati ◽  
Pankaj Gupta ◽  
Digvijay Verma ◽  
Shilpi Singh ◽  
Ashish Tripathi ◽  
...  

Abstract: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the more prevalent infectious human disease in several parts of the world caused by SARS Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 transmission is mainly via the respiratory tract, contact, digestive tract and hospital-acquired infections. Health care workers particularly working in clinics of traditional medicine system need to be in close contact with patients, so they have a higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this paper, there-fore, the personal-protective measures need to be followed by healthcare workers in traditional medicine clinics during COVID-19 pandemic are emphasized, to enlighten them about self-protection and to improve the safety of such a special group of traditional healers


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Misse Wester ◽  
Johan Giesecke

Aims: Exposure to infection is a risk for all healthcare workers. This risk acquires another dimension in an outbreak of highly contagious, lethal disease, such as the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014. Healthcare workers are usually well and correctly informed about the risks from such diseases, but family, neighbours, friends, or colleagues may react strongly to the risk that staff might bring infection home from an epidemic overseas. Research around such stigmatization is scarce. We wanted to investigate how common it is, which expressions it assumes and how it is influenced by dissemination of information. Methods: We interviewed a sample of Swedish healthcare workers who had worked in West Africa during the 2014 outbreak of Ebola, as well as one close contact for each of them, about reactions before leaving and after returning, and also about information received. Results and conclusions: The majority of contact persons reported no or little concern, neither when the healthcare worker revealed the plan to leave, nor on the healthcare worker’s return. The prevailing reason was trust in the judgement of ‘their’ healthcare worker, mainly using information received from the healthcare worker to assess risks, and relying little on other information channels. This means that the person assessing the risk was at the same time the hazard. There were indications that instructions regarding quarantine and self-isolation were less stringently followed by healthcare workers than by other aid workers in the outbreak, which could give confusing signals to the public. Simple, clear and non-negotiable rules should be preferred – also from an information perspective.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anran Wang ◽  
Xiaolei Xiu ◽  
Sizhu Wu

Abstract Background: Understanding public perception and behaviors toward COVID-19 is valuable for mitigating the severe epidemic. Our study aimed to investigate differences of the public from the US, UK, and Brazil on the aspects of the living environment, behaviors, attitude and risk perception. Methods: Dataset were taken from the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Survival Calculator project. 89554 respondents from the US (n=71812), UK (n=10392), and Brazil (n=7350) completed online questionnaire survey from April 28 to July 8. Frequencies and percentages were calculated to describe respondents’ responses. Chi-square tests with Holm-Bonferroni correction and binary logistic regression were used to determine the differences in environmental status, behaviors and worried degree of participants among the three countries, and further explore the sociodemographic characteristics related to protective measures. Results: Brazil participants had the highest risk perception to COVID-19, followed by the US, and the UK was the lowest (39.02±24.57 vs. 32.72±22.38 vs. 29.47+22.39, P<0.001). More Brazil participants expressed that they were worried about COVID-19. The proportion of respondents from the US and UK who reported they were not worried about COVID-19 was 2.00 times (95%CI: 1.80-2.23) and 3.24 times (95%CI: 2.88-3.65) that of Brazil. A higher percentage of Brazil respondents reported they were in close contact with more than ten people, using public transport and engaging in work. Regarding behaviors, social distancing (ranges:84.9%-86.8%) and washing hands (ranges:84.8%-90.3%) were the most frequently used protective measures, but respondents from the US (69.8%) and UK (15.8%) were relatively reluctant to wear masks. Moreover, it was found that participants from ethnic minorities were more likely to take protective measures. But males, respondents under 20 years, and respondents with poor economic conditions had various degrees of neglect to take steps. Meanwhile, healthcare workers also had a relatively stronger awareness of protection. Conclusion: There are significant differences in the environment, behaviors, attitude and risk perception of the public from the US, UK and Brazil. The sociodemographic subgroups analysis indicated that it is necessary to enhance protection publicity and support for specific groups. Our findings are conducive to the public health authorities to carry out more targeted publicity work of COVID-19 protection measures.


2021 ◽  
pp. emermed-2021-211454
Author(s):  
Louise E Smith ◽  
Danai Serfioti ◽  
Dale Weston ◽  
Neil Greenberg ◽  
G James Rubin

BackgroundHealthcare workers (HCWs) are frontline responders to emergency infectious disease outbreaks such as COVID-19. To avoid the rapid spread of disease, adherence to protective measures is paramount. We investigated rates of correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE), hand hygiene and physical distancing in UK HCWs who had been to their workplace at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and factors associated with adherence.MethodsWe used an online cross-sectional survey of 1035 UK healthcare professionals (data collected 12–16 June 2020). We excluded those who had not been to their workplace in the previous 6 weeks, leaving us with a sample size of 831. Respondents were asked about their use of PPE, hand hygiene and physical distancing in the workplace. Frequency of uptake was reported descriptively; adjusted logistic regressions were used to separately investigate factors associated with adherence to use of PPE, maintaining good hand hygiene and physical distancing from colleagues.ResultsAdherence to personal protective measures was suboptimal (PPE use: 80.0%, 95% CI 77.3 to 82.8; hand hygiene: 67.8%, 95% CI 64.6 to 71.0; coming into close contact with colleagues: 74.7%, 95% CI 71.7 to 77.7). Adherence to PPE use was associated with having received training about health and safety in the workplace for COVID-19, greater perceived social pressure to adopt the behaviour and availability of PPE. Non-adherence was associated with fatalism about COVID-19 and greater perceived difficulty of adopting protective measures. Workplace design using markings to facilitate distancing was associated with adherence to physical distancing.ConclusionsUptake of personal protective behaviours among UK HCWs at the start of the pandemic was variable. Factors associated with adherence provide insight into ways to support HCWs to adopt personal protective behaviours, such as ensuring that adequate PPE is available and designing workplaces to facilitate physical distancing.


Author(s):  
Nilesh Doshi ◽  
Aditi J. Upadhye ◽  
Jayshree J. Upadhye

Background: Swine influenza outbreaks are common in pigs year-round and infection in humans is a result of close contact with infected animals. Understanding the perception of the public and their potential resources would help public health agencies in developing educational programs to increase the awareness of the public. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices on different aspects of swine flu.Methods: A cross-sectional study of 100 pregnant women was conducted at Varun Arjun Medical College, Banthara, Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India to test their knowledge, attitudes, and use of precautionary measures against influenza infection.Results: In this study, 98 (98%) of pregnant women were aware of swine flu infection, 85 (85%) of pregnant women knew that swine flu is due to viral infection while 65 (65%) of pregnant women were aware that swine flu infection spreads through air while sneezing and coughing. In this study, 95 (96%) of pregnant women knew fever as symptom of swine flu, 83 (83%) of pregnant women knew cough and cold as symptoms while 64 (64%) of pregnant women knew headache and body ache as symptoms. 94 (94%) of pregnant women were aware that vaccination against swine flu can prevent swine flu infection. 80 (80%) of pregnant women knew that covering mouth and nose while coughing and sneezing can prevent spread of swine flu infection while 52 (52%) of pregnant women knew that frequent hand washing helps in preventing spread of swine flu infection. 76 (76%) of pregnant women received vaccination against swine flu while 24 (24%) of pregnant women did not receive vaccination against swine flu.Conclusions: Learning more about the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of the public during swine flu and other infectious disease outbreak can be crucial to improve efforts by public health officials and clinicians.


Author(s):  
PSA Au-Yong ◽  
WM Peh ◽  
FHX Koh ◽  
LM Teo ◽  
SP Ng ◽  
...  

Introduction: There is worldwide concern over the psycho-emotional impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to elicit HCWs’ perceptions of the adequacy of protective measures in high-risk clinical areas and the factors associated with these perceptions. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in April 2020. An anonymous electronic survey was sent via email to operating theatre (OT) and intensive care unit (ICU) staff of Sengkang General Hospital, Singapore. Results: Of the 358 eligible participants, 292 (81.6%) responded to the survey. 93.2% of the participants felt that precautionary measures at work were sufficient and 94.9% acknowledged that adequate training was provided. More than 60% of the participants opined that their chances of contracting COVID-19 were moderate to high. Female gender, nursing occupation and duration of service < 10 years were significantly associated with increased fear of contracting COVID-19, less control over occupational exposure and lower perceived need to care for COVID-19 patients. Having young children at home did not significantly affect these perceptions. The most important ICU precautions were availability of personal protective equipment outside the rooms of COVID-19 positive patients (95.3%) and having visitor restrictions (95.3%). The most important OT measures were having a dedicated OT for COVID-19 positive patients (91.2%) and having simulation as part of protocol familiarisation (91.7%). Conclusion: Overall, there was high confidence in the adequacy of COVID-19 protective measures to prevent healthcare transmission in Singapore. The pandemic had a lower degree of psycho-emotional impact on HCWs here as compared to other countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanmo Li ◽  
Mengyang Gu

AbstractThe COVID-19 outbreak is asynchronous in US counties. Mitigating the COVID-19 transmission requires not only the state and federal level order of protective measures such as social distancing and testing, but also public awareness of time-dependent risk and reactions at county and community levels. We propose a robust approach to estimate the heterogeneous progression of SARS-CoV-2 at all US counties having no less than 2 COVID-19 associated deaths, and we use the daily probability of contracting (PoC) SARS-CoV-2 for a susceptible individual to quantify the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a community. We found that shortening by $$5\%$$ 5 % of the infectious period of SARS-CoV-2 can reduce around $$39\%$$ 39 % (or 78 K, $$95\%$$ 95 % CI: [66 K , 89 K ]) of the COVID-19 associated deaths in the US as of 20 September 2020. Our findings also indicate that reducing infection and deaths by a shortened infectious period is more pronounced for areas with the effective reproduction number close to 1, suggesting that testing should be used along with other mitigation measures, such as social distancing and facial mask-wearing, to reduce the transmission rate. Our deliverable includes a dynamic county-level map for local officials to determine optimal policy responses and for the public to better understand the risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 on each day.


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