The HIV Pandemic Prevention Efforts Can Inform the COVID-19 Pandemic Response in the United States

The change in presidential administrations in the United States promises new approaches to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The first year of the pandemic response in the United States has been characterized by a lack of national leadership. Moreover, the message from the White House Coronavirus Task Force has been muddled at best. There have been great inconsistencies in how the States have chosen to address spreading infections and increased stress on individual Americans who are trying to protect themselves and their families. The same pattern can be found with the distribution of vaccines and management of vaccinations. Politics has often conflicted with public health concerns. The States have been left to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to medical personnel and first responders and to formulate their own guidance for protective measures.

Download Full-text

Planetarium commute accessibility in the United States of America

10.22541/au.159724581.14747461/v2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alexander A. Kaurov ◽

Vyacheslav Bazhenov ◽

Mark SubbaRao

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United States Of America ◽

Science Communication ◽

The United States ◽

Census Bureau ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

Commute Time ◽

Pandemic Response ◽

Zip Code ◽

The U.S

The COVID-19 global pandemic unprecedently disturbed the education system in the United States and lead to the closure of all planetariums that were providing immersive science communication. This situation motivates us to examine how accessible the planetarium facilities were before the pandemic. We investigate the most important socioeconomic and geographical factors that affect the planetarium accessibility using the U.S. Census Bureau data and the commute time to the nearest planetarium for each ZIP Code Tabulated Area. We show the magnitude of the effect of permanent closure of a fraction of planetariums. Our study can be informative for strategizing the pandemic response.

Download Full-text

A Case Series: Describing the Coronavirus Pandemic Response in Small Naval OCONUS Military Treatment Facilities

Military Medicine ◽

10.1093/milmed/usab164 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 186 (Supplement_2) ◽

pp. 61-67

Author(s):

Emily R Latimer ◽

Christopher A Parker ◽

Pauline A Swiger

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Case Series ◽

The United States ◽

Staff Protection ◽

Treatment Facilities ◽

Pandemic Response ◽

Future Work ◽

Military Treatment Facilities ◽

Communication Methods ◽

Prolonged Stress

ABSTRACT Introduction The European SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak threatened military beneficiaries receiving care outside of the United States. Military treatment facilities located outside the United States were the first to respond to the pandemic, requiring immediate action to establish novel protocols. The purpose of this case series is to describe challenges, solutions, and future recommendations during a pandemic response at three small naval military treatment facilities located outside the continental United States (OCONUS). Results The analysis and discussion reviews challenges in information processing, communication methods and patterns, process changes, actions for staff protection, and change fatigue experienced during this time. Conclusions Recommendations for future work include filling the gaps in the evidence for a prolonged pandemic response and crisis management, such as the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, including best practices to communicate, maintain staff resilience, and manage or mitigate associated prolonged stress and uncertainty.

Download Full-text

The United States leads in coronavirus cases, but not pandemic response

Science ◽

10.1126/science.abc0192 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Science Staff

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

Pandemic Response

Download Full-text

Flattening the Curve

MacEwan University Student eJournal ◽

10.31542/muse.v4i1.1894 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Victoria Power

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Literature Review ◽

Risk Communication ◽

The United States ◽

Quick Response ◽

Communication Plan ◽

The Public ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

Pandemic Response ◽

Dialogue Theory

This paper explores Canada’s communications approach to the population during the global pandemic of COVID-19. Canada’s perceptive risk communication plan consists of quick response, transparency, and credible figures as representatives of information that are deemed the current principles of success (as of April 2020). The literature review inaugurates the necessary definitions for the topic and provides detailed information about the action Canada has taken in the 2020 pandemic, while the discussion evaluates and debates Canada’s communicative strengths while acknowledging areas for improvement. Following the tactics explored, comparisons are made against the United States’ pandemic response along with a review of practices to avoid in risk communication, such as blame. Finally, transformative dialogue theory is analyzed as a potential answer to the successful interactions between the Canadian government, authoritative figures, and the public.

Download Full-text

Securitization of Public Policy and Pandemic: Taiwan’s Case Against Covid-19

WIMAYA ◽

10.33005/wimaya.v2i01.32 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (01) ◽

pp. 1-7

Author(s):

Kai-Chun Wang

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Public Policy ◽

The United States ◽

Government Agencies ◽

Performance Gap ◽

Early Stages ◽

Health Infrastructure ◽

Public Resources ◽

Pandemic Response ◽

Compare And Contrast

Taiwan’s relatively better performance in the early stages of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic can largely be accredited to the rapid mobilization of public resources and the fast restructuring of government agencies to meet the pandemic-fighting coordination demand, but these measures are only possible when a community adopts a serious attitude followed by serious actions achieved via securitization of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper attempts to compare and contrast the securitization of pandemic response and management of Taiwan, the United States, and Japan to highlight the importance of how even developed states with equal or better health infrastructure than Taiwan, by contextualizing the pandemic into different security scenarios has resulted in the performance gap against COVID-19.

Download Full-text

Sequencing Data of North American SARS-CoV-2 Isolates Shows Widespread Complex Variants

10.1101/2021.01.27.21250648 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Colby T. Ford ◽

Rachel Scott ◽

Denis Jacob Machado ◽

Daniel Janies

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

Sequencing Data ◽

Upper Midwest ◽

Multiple Sequence ◽

Us States ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Pandemic Response ◽

United States Mexico ◽

Viral Isolates

Several new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 have been isolated in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Many of the variants contain single variants of functional significance (e.g. S: N501Y increases transmissibility). To study the occurrence and co-circulation of these variants, we have developed an easy-to-use dashboard at janieslab.github.io/sars-cov-2.We created a multiple sequence alignment workflow and processing script to generate a variant dataset, which populates this dashboard. We then use the features of the dashboard, such as visualization of the single and complex nucleotide variants geospatially and in a color-coded matrix format. Users also interact with the dashboard to filter the underlying data to regions of interest and or variants of interest. The user can export reports based on the desired filters, which we intend to be used for regionally specific pandemic response. We find in Genbank, an isolate from Massachusetts containing [(S: Q677H), (ORF3a: Q57H), (M: A85S), (N: D377Y)] collected on September 11, 2020.Moreover, we find that many viral isolates bear a marker of increased transmissibility (S: N501Y) in linkage with at least one variant of concern isolated from Ohio also range across the Untied States and stretch from British Columbia, Canada to Mexico. When we analyze co-circulation of more complex variant constellations with (S: N501Y), we note that the Upper Midwest and Northeast United States contain these isolates.In summary, the viral variants that have raised concern in a few US States in recent reports are widespread. Based on the increase in the proportion of variant viruses being sampled and some empirical evidence in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Ohio, these variants are likely to lead to increased transmission of SARS-CoV-2 across North America in the coming months.

Download Full-text

Willfull Ignorance : Trump and the Failure of US Pandemic Response

Jurnal Global & Strategis ◽

10.20473/jgs.14.2.2020.331-348 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 331

Author(s):

Agastya Wardhana

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

Willful Ignorance ◽

Policy Problem ◽

The Us ◽

The World ◽

Constant Feature ◽

Pandemic Response ◽

The One ◽

Trump Administration

Respons terhadap COVID-19 dilakukan secara berbeda oleh negara di dunia, namun satu yang pasti adalah bahwa penanganan terhadap isu ini bergantung pada kebijakan yang dikeluarkan oleh negara. Hal ini dikarenakan COVID-19 tidak hanya merupakan permasalahan kesehatan tetapi juga permasalahan kebijakan. Dalam konteks ini, salah satu negara yang menjadi sorotan adalah Amerika Serikat. Sebagai negara yang memiliki berbagai keunggulan baik material maupun imaterial, Amerika Serikat tidak berhasil merespons COVID-19 dengan kebijakan yang tepat. Tulisan ini berangkat dari premis tersebut, bahwa parahnya pandemi COVID-19 di Amerika terjadi karena adanya kegagalan pemerintahan Trump untuk memformulasikan kebijakan respons yang tepat. Dalam menguraikan argumentasi tersebut, Tulisan ini terbagi dalam tiga bagian, bagian pertama berisi kondisi umum COVID-19 di Amerika, bagian kedua berisi tentang analisis kegagalan pemerintahan Trump, dan bagian terakhir berisi simpulan serta pelajaran yang bisa kita ambil dari kegagalan penanganan COVID-19 di Amerika.Kata-kata Kunci: COVID-19, Amerika Serikat, Trump, Kegagalan, Ketidaktahuan yang disengaja Throughout the world, countries use different strategies to curb the COVID-19 spread. The one constant feature is that it is as much a policy problem as it is a medical one. The policy becomes increasingly important due to the infectious nature of the virus. Should a country failed to employ a working strategy, human lives are at stake. In this context, the United States became increasingly important to show that policy is essential to curb the virus. The United States had a vast array of resources ranging from medical experts to a well-prepared institution. Despite all that, the US is currently the worst country in the world in terms of the number of cases and death. This paper argues that this condition is the result of the Trump administration's failure to formulate a suitable and working strategy to curb the virus. The author will explore the argument in three sections. The first section gives a glimpse of COVID-19 in the US, the second section describes the US response to the virus, the third section explains the Trump administration failure, and the last part consists of the conclusion and lesson that we can learn from US failure.Keywords: COVID-19, United States, Trump, Failure, Willful Ignorance

Download Full-text

Critical Considerations for COVID-19 Vaccination of Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene ◽

10.4269/ajtmh.20-1614 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 104 (2) ◽

pp. 433-435

Author(s):

Christine M. Thomas ◽

Michael T. Osterholm ◽

William M. Stauffer

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Community Engagement ◽

Effective Communication ◽

The United States ◽

Beliefs And Practices ◽

Pandemic Response ◽

Equitable Allocation ◽

Improve Health

ABSTRACTAs COVID-19 vaccines are distributed across the United States, it is essential to address the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities. Although the National Academies Press Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine provides recommendations for an equitable vaccine campaign, implementation remains. Practical considerations for vaccine rollout include identifying and overcoming barriers to vaccination among RIM communities. To identify barriers, information regarding vaccine beliefs and practices must be incorporated into the pandemic response. To overcome barriers, effective communication, convenience of care, and community engagement are essential. Taking these actions now can improve health among RIM communities.

Download Full-text