Geospatial Analysis and Mapping Strategies for Fine Grained and Detailed COVID-19 Data With Geographic Information Systems

Spatio Temporal ◽

Media Reports ◽

Predictive Risk ◽

Abstract The CoVID-19 pandemic is showing a dramatic impact across the world. To the tragedy of the loss of human lives, we must add the great uncertainty that the new coronavirus is causing to our lives. Governments and public health authorities must be able to respond this emergency by taking the appropriate decisions for minimizing the impact of the virus. In the absence of an immediate solution, governments have concentrated their efforts on adopting non-pharmaceutical interventions for restricting the mobility of people and reducing the social contact. Health authorities are publishing most of data for supporting their interventions and policies. The geographic location of the cases is a vital information with exceptional value for analysing the spatio-temporal behaviour of the virus, doing feasible to anticipate potential outbreaks and to elaborate predictive risk mapping. In fact, a great number of media reports, research papers, and web-browsers have presented the COVID-19 disease spreading by using maps. However, processing and visualization of this sort of data presents some aspects that must be carefully reviewed. Based on our experience with fine-grained and detailed data related to COVID-19 in a Spanish region, we present a bunch of mapping strategies and good practices using geospatial tools. The ultimate goal is create appropriate maps at any spatial scale while avoiding conflicts with data such as those related to patients’ privacy.

Geospatial Analysis and Mapping Strategies for Fine-Grained and Detailed COVID-19 Data with GIS

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information ◽

10.3390/ijgi10090602 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 602

Author(s):

Angel Miramontes Carballada ◽

Jose Balsa-Barreiro

Keyword(s):

Geospatial Analysis ◽

Optimal Decision ◽

Sensitive Information ◽

Fine Grained ◽

Health Authorities ◽

The Face ◽

Predictive Risk ◽

Optimal Decision Making ◽

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic is showing dramatic impact across the world. Public health authorities attempt to fight against the virus while maintaining economic activity. In the face of the uncertainty derived from the virus, all the countries have adopted non-pharmaceutical interventions for limiting the mobility and maintaining social distancing. In order to support these interventions, some health authorities and governments have opted for sharing very fine-grained data related with the impact of the virus in their territories. Geographical science is playing a major role in terms of understanding how the virus spreads across regions. Location of cases allows identifying the spatial patterns traced by the virus. Understanding these patterns makes controlling the virus spread feasible, minimizes its impact in vulnerable regions, anticipates potential outbreaks, or elaborates predictive risk maps. The application of geospatial analysis to fine-grained data must be urgently adopted for optimal decision making in real and near-real time. However, some aspects related to process and map sensitive health data in emergency cases have not yet been sufficiently explored. Among them include concerns about how these datasets with sensitive information must be shown depending on aspects related to data aggregation, scaling, privacy issues, or the need to know in advance the particularities of the study area. In this paper, we introduce our experience in mapping fine-grained data related to the incidence of the COVID-19 during the first wave in the region of Galicia (NW Spain), and after that we discuss the mentioned aspects.

XarxaSalut, network of municipalities for health, Valencia Region (Spain): policy process evaluation

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.235 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

R Peiró Pérez ◽

E Pérez Sanz ◽

E Legaz Sanchez ◽

J Quiles Izquierdo ◽

Grupo XarxaSalut

Keyword(s):

Process Evaluation ◽

Citizen Participation ◽

Policy Process ◽

Local Level ◽

Common Language ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Open Questions ◽

Economic Support ◽

Abstract “XarxaSalut” started in 2017, with the municipalities that have taken the commitment to boost the Promotion of Health (HP) at the local level through community participation, intersectorality and equity perspective. The objective is to present a policy process evaluation (2'5 years) of the implementation of XarxaSalut. Different approaches have been used; a questionnaire addressed to the municipalities at the time of adhesion including data on intersectorality, participation, HP actions and open questions; description of instruments that Regional Public Health Authorities (RPHA) has mobilized and an analysis of barriers and strengths made by the coordination office. In 2017, 17 municipalities were joined, being 197 in February 2020 (70% of the population). 65% are in a process of an organizational change through the intersectoral, decision making and participative working group. 35% are doing analysis of determinants and /or health situation, assets maps and a prioritization of HP actions. The main barriers identified by municipalities are lack of economic and personal resources, and difficulties in achieve citizen participation. The main benefits were the optimization of resources, the exchange of experiences, training, or economic support from the RPHA. Some support instruments develop for RPHA are a collection of guides for community development, funds that the municipalities can apply to support actions related with training, HP action on vulnerable population, on asset maps, participation processes, vulnerable neighborhoods, etc.; Community actions have been included in the “Health Observatory” to give visibility and social support to XarxaSalut. Interdisciplinary training processes with health and municipal professionals have been made in order to develop a common language and strength the competences for HP. Lesson learned: The need to improve coordination and a common language between different types of participants and professionals Key messages The decision makers and professionals in the municipalities understand the impact in health of the policies developed at local level but needs guide and support to deal with it. The coordination between different administrations and primary health at local level and the misunderstandings about health and their determinants are the main aspect to reinforce.

The Impact of Covid-19 Public Health Policies on Persons with Disability and their Caregivers in Malta

International Journal of Social Science Research and Review ◽

10.47814/ijssrr.v4i2.88 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 25-37

Author(s):

Andrew Camilleri ◽

Samantha Pace Gasan ◽

Andrew Azzopardi

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

World Health Organisation ◽

World Health ◽

Persons With Disabilities ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Essential Services ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Restrictive Measures ◽

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health pandemic, due to the spread of a novel coronavirus, later named “Covid-19”. The spread of Covid-19 led to social isolation, distancing and a number of restrictive measures in Malta. The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of Covid-19 and the subsequent restrictive measures on persons with disability and their caregivers and families in Malta. Using thematic analysis, the study found that a variety of impacts ranging from a sense of isolation, lack of essential services being provided, additional difficulties encountered at the place of work and education and measures that were not sufficiently tailored for persons with disability issued by public health authorities. Underlying the additional difficulties brought about by Covid-19, structural difficulties to access essential services as well as ignorance from policy makers and politicians and the added “vulnerable-ization” of persons with disabilities were found to be highly impacting factors that pervade the experience of persons with disabilities and their caregivers.

Impact of data accuracy on the evaluation of COVID-19 mitigation policies

Data & Policy ◽

10.1017/dap.2021.25 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Michele Starnini ◽

Alberto Aleta ◽

Michele Tizzoni ◽

Yamir Moreno

Keyword(s):

Epidemiological Data ◽

Surveillance Data ◽

Inaccurate Data ◽

Health Authorities ◽

The Social ◽

Containment Measures ◽

Nonpharmaceutical Interventions ◽

The Impact ◽

Extreme Care

Abstract Evaluating the effectiveness of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial to maximize the epidemic containment while minimizing the social and economic impact of these measures. However, this endeavor crucially relies on surveillance data publicly released by health authorities that can hide several limitations. In this article, we quantify the impact of inaccurate data on the estimation of the time-varying reproduction number $ R(t) $ , a pivotal quantity to gauge the variation of the transmissibility originated by the implementation of different NPIs. We focus on Italy and Spain, two European countries among the most severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. For these two countries, we highlight several biases of case-based surveillance data and temporal and spatial limitations in the data regarding the implementation of NPIs. We also demonstrate that a nonbiased estimation of $ R(t) $ could have had direct consequences on the decisions taken by the Spanish and Italian governments during the first wave of the pandemic. Our study shows that extreme care should be taken when evaluating intervention policies through publicly available epidemiological data and call for an improvement in the process of COVID-19 data collection, management, storage, and release. Better data policies will allow a more precise evaluation of the effects of containment measures, empowering public health authorities to take more informed decisions.

The importance of sustained compliance with physical distancing during COVID-19 vaccination rollout

10.21203/rs.3.rs-390037/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alexandra Teslya ◽

Ganna Rozhnova ◽

Thi Mui Pham ◽

Daphne van Wees ◽

Hendrik Nunner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vaccination Coverage ◽

Vaccine Coverage ◽

Transmission Model ◽

Cumulative Number ◽

Vaccination Rates ◽

Contact Rates ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Vaccination Campaigns ◽

Abstract Mass vaccination campaigns against SARS-CoV-2 are under way in many countries with the hope that increasing vaccination coverage will enable reducing current physical distancing measures. Compliance with these measures is waning, while more transmissible virus variants such as B.1.1.7 have emerged. Using SARS-CoV-2 transmission model we investigated the impact of the feedback between compliance, the incidence of infection, and vaccination coverage on the success of a vaccination programme in the population where waning of compliance depends on vaccine coverage. Our results suggest that the combination of fast waning compliance, slow vaccination rates, and more transmissible variants may result in a higher cumulative number of infections than in a situation without vaccination. These adverse effects can be alleviated if vaccinated individuals do not revert to pre-pandemic contact rates, and if non-vaccinated individuals remain compliant with physical distancing measures. Both require convincing, clear and appropriately targeted communication strategies by public health authorities.

Examining trends in gun violence injuries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic across six trauma centers

Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open ◽

10.1136/tsaco-2021-000801 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. e000801

Author(s):

Constance McGraw ◽

Stephanie Jarvis ◽

Matthew Carrick ◽

Mark Lieser ◽

Robert M Madayag ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Substance Use ◽

Trauma Centers ◽

National Guidelines ◽

Level Of Evidence ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Level I ◽

The Impact ◽

At Home

ObjectivesThe onset of the national stay-at-home orders accompanied by a surge in firearm sales has elevated the concerns of clinicians and public health authorities. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the stay-at-home orders among gunshot wound (GSW) trauma admissions.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study at six level I trauma centers across four states. Patients admitted after the onset of COVID-19 restrictions (March 16, 2020–June 30, 2020) were compared with those admitted during the same period in 2019. We compared (1) rate of patients with GSW and (2) characteristics of patients with GSW, by period using Χ2 tests or Fisher’s exact tests, as appropriate.ResultsThere were 6996 trauma admissions across the study period; 3707 (53%) in 2019 and 3289 (47%) in 2020. From 2019 to 2020, there was a significant increase in GSW admissions (4% vs. 6%, p=0.001); 4 weeks specifically had significant increases (March 16–March 23: 4%, April 1–April 8: 5%, April 9–April 16: 6%, and May 11–May 18: 5%). Of the 334 GSWs, there were significant increases in patients with mental illness (5% vs. 11%, p=0.03), alcohol use disorder (2% vs. 10%, p=0.003), substance use disorder (11% vs. 25%, p=0.001), and a significant decrease in mortality (14% vs. 7%, p=0.03) in 2020. No other significant differences between time periods were identified.ConclusionOur data suggest that trauma centers admitted significantly more patients with GSW following the national guidelines, including an increase in those with mental illness and substance use-related disorders. This could be attributable to the stay-at-home orders.Level of evidenceLevel III, retrospective study.

Covid-19-induced fear in infoveillance studies: a meta-analysis (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.21156 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Styliani Geronikolou ◽

George Chrousos

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

World Health ◽

Forest Plot ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Prophylactic Measures ◽

The Social ◽

Health Organization ◽

UNSTRUCTURED The World Health Organization named the phenomenon of misinformation spread through the social media “infodemics”, and recognized the need to curb it. Misinformation infodemics undermine not only population safety, but also compliance to the suggestions/prophylactic measures recommended in pandemics. The aim of this study was to review the impact of social media on general population fear in “infoveillance” studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. PRISMA protocol was followed and six out of twenty studies were retrieved, meta-analyzed, and had their findings presented in the form of a Forest plot. The summary random and significant event rate was 0.298, 95% CI respectively 0.213 and 0.400, suggesting that social media-circulated misinformation related to COVID-19 triggered public fear and other manifestations. These findings merit special attention by public health authorities. Thus, “infodemiology” and Infoveillance are valid tools in the hands of epidemiologists to help prevent dissemination of false information, with potentially damaging effects.

Germs on a Plane: The Transmission and Risks of Airplane-Borne Diseases

Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board ◽

10.1177/0361198118799709 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2672 (29) ◽

pp. 93-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nereyda L. Sevilla

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Infectious Diseases ◽

Close Contact ◽

Air Travel ◽

Economic Consequences ◽

Disease Spread ◽

Pneumonic Plague ◽

Health Authorities ◽

This research explored the role of air travel in the spread of infectious diseases, specifically severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), H1N1, Ebola, and pneumonic plague. Air travel provides the means for such diseases to spread internationally at extraordinary rates because infected passengers jump from coast to coast and continent to continent within hours. Outbreaks of diseases that spread from person to person test the effectiveness of current public health responses. This research used a mixed methods approach, including use of the Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeler, to model the spread of diseases, evaluate the impact of air travel on disease spread, and analyze the effectiveness of different public health strategies and travel policies. Modeling showed that the spread of Ebola and pneumonic plague is minimal and should not be a major air travel concern if an individual becomes infected. H1N1 and SARS have higher infection rates and air travel will facilitate the spread of disease nationally and internationally. To contain the spread of infectious diseases, aviation and public health authorities should establish tailored preventive measures at airports, capture contact information for ticketed passengers, expand the definition of “close contact,” and conduct widespread educational programs. The measures will put in place a foundation for containing the spread of infectious diseases via air travel and minimize the panic and economic consequences that may occur during an outbreak.

Incentivizing hospital infection control

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1812231116 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 116 (13) ◽

pp. 6221-6225 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Sarah E. Drohan ◽

Simon A. Levin ◽

Bryan T. Grenfell ◽

Ramanan Laxminarayan

Keyword(s):

Infection Control ◽

Transmission Rate ◽

Economic Incentive ◽

Hospital Infection ◽

Fixed Amount ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Hospital Infection Control ◽

Lower Transmission ◽

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) pose a significant burden to patient safety. Institutions can implement hospital infection control (HIC) measures to reduce the impact of HAIs. Since patients can carry pathogens between institutions, there is an economic incentive for hospitals to free ride on the HIC investments of other facilities. Subsidies for infection control by public health authorities could encourage regional spending on HIC. We develop coupled mathematical models of epidemiology and hospital behavior in a game-theoretic framework to investigate how hospitals may change spending behavior in response to subsidies. We demonstrate that under a limited budget, a dollar-for-dollar matching grant outperforms both a fixed-amount subsidy and a subsidy on uninfected patients in reducing the number of HAIs in a single institution. Additionally, when multiple hospitals serve a community, funding priority should go to the hospital with a lower transmission rate. Overall, subsidies incentivize HIC spending and reduce the overall prevalence of HAIs.

A Mathematical Model for Stability Analysis of Covid like Epidemic/Endemic/Pandemic

10.1101/2021.11.08.21265055 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sanjeev Kumar ◽

Amit Kumar Awasthi

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Stability Analysis ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

World Population ◽

Containment Control ◽

Hurwitz Stability ◽

Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽

Health Authorities ◽

The transmission and spread of infectious disease like Covid-19 occurs through horizontal and vertical mode. The causative pathogens for such kind of disease may be bacterium, protozoa, virus or toxin. The infectious diseases like AIDS, SARS, MARS, Polio Plague, Bubonic Plague and Covid-19 have destroyed the social and economic structure of world population. The world scientific community adopts different mechanisms to model and analyze the population dynamics of infectious disease outbreaks. Mathematical Modelling is the most effective tool to take the informed decision about the containment, control and eradication of the pandemic. The main focus of Government and public health authorities is to design the strategy in destabilizing the spread and impact of the infections. A series of models-SIR, SEIR, SEIRD, SEAIHCRD, SAUQAR has been under study to combat the Covid-19 since its inception. An effort has been made to design the model based on reproduction number, endemic equilibrium and disease-free equilibrium to curtail the impact of Covid-19 through stability analysis methods- Hurwitz stability criteria, Lyapunov Method and Linear Stability Analysis