Pandemic Drones

Transfers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-158
Author(s):  
Julia M. Hildebrand ◽  
Stephanie Sodero
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
The Novel ◽  
International Media ◽  
Transport Mode ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Public Health And Safety

When the novel coronavirus moved around the planet in early 2020, reconfiguring, slowing down, or halting everyday mobilities, another transport mode was mobilized: the pandemic drone. We highlight the increasing prominence of this aerial device by surveying international media coverage of pandemic drone use in the spring of 2020. To address a range of pandemic drone affordances and applications, we organize manifold cases under two broad categories: sensing and moving with the pandemic drone. Here we ask: what roles do, and could, drones play during the pandemic? Following the empirical examples and related mobilities research, we theorize the drone versus virus and the drone as virus. As such, the work identifies avenues for mobilities research into pandemic drones as a growing mobility domain. Moreover, in thinking through the pandemic drone, we demonstrate creative extensions of mobilities thinking that bridge biological and technological, as well as media and mobility frameworks when multiple public health and safety crises unfolded and intersected.

scholarly journals The Fine Line: Rural Justice, Public Health and Safety, and the Coronavirus Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110031
Author(s):  
Jennifer Sherman ◽  
Jennifer Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Personal Liberty ◽  
Local Law Enforcement ◽  
Local Law ◽  
Sheriff's Department ◽  
Public Health And Safety

In this article, we provide an early glimpse into how the issues of public health and safety played out in the rural United States during the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on Washington State. We utilize a combination of news articles and press releases, sheriff’s department Facebook posts, publicly available jail data, courtroom observations, in-depth interviews with those who have been held in rural jails, and interviews with rural law enforcement staff to explore this theme. As elected officials, rural sheriffs are beholden to populations that include many who are suspicious of science, liberal agendas, and anything that might threaten what they see as individual freedom. At the same time, they expect local law enforcement to employ punitive measures to control perceived criminal activity in their communities. These communities are often tightly knit, cohesive, and isolated, with high levels of social support both for community members and local leaders, including sheriffs and law enforcement. This complex social context often puts rural sheriffs and law enforcement officers in difficult positions. Given the multiple cross-pressures that rural justice systems faced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we explore the circumstances in which they attempted to protect and advocate for the health and safety of both their incarcerated and their nonincarcerated populations. We find that certain characteristics of rural communities both help and hinder local law enforcement in efforts to combat the virus, but these characteristics typically favor informal norms of social control to govern community health. Thus, rural sheriff’s departments repeatedly chose strategies that limited their abilities to protect populations from the disease, in favor of appearing tough on crime and supportive of personal liberty.

scholarly journals A Failure of Political Communication Not a Failure of Bureaucracy: The Danger of Presidential Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 614-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Hatcher
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Medical Procedures ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Incorrect Information

President Trump’s communications during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic violate principles of public health, such as practicing transparency and deferring to medical experts. Moreover, the president’s communications are dangerous and misleading, and his lack of leadership during the crisis limits the nation’s response to the problem, increases political polarization around public health issues of social distancing, and spreads incorrect information about health-related policies and medical procedures. To correct the dangerous path that the nation is on, the administration needs to adopt a more expert-centered approach to the crisis, and President Trump needs to practice compassion, empathy, and transparency in his communications.

Leveraging blockchain based decentralized apps for the Tokyo Olympics amid the COVID-19 pandemic

First Monday ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rishi Sabarigirisan ◽  
Aditi Biswas ◽  
Ridhi Rohatgi ◽  
Shyam KC ◽  
Shekhar Shukla
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Crowd Management ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Smooth Contact ◽  
Public Health And Safety

The COVID-19 pandemic has induced a cloud of uncertainty over the mega sports event, the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Cancelling or re-scheduling the event could have serious repercussions on the economic, social and environmental well-being for the involved stakeholders. Thus, it becomes critical to conduct events of this magnitude by adopting appropriate public health measures. In this research, we primarily focus on two main premises relative to public health and safety, contact tracing and crowd management. We explore and evaluate the usability of blockchain based decentralized apps in crowd management and contact tracing for the Tokyo Olympics using value-focused thinking (VFT). A VFT framework aids in narrowing fundamental and strategic objectives that need to be addressed for smooth contact tracing and crowd management by understanding stakeholder viewpoints. We established an equivalence of the objectives identified through VFT with blockchain technology properties. Further, we also present a conceptual ideation of contact tracing and crowd management through blockchain based decentralized apps for the Tokyo Olympics. This work could potentially assist decision-makers, researchers and stakeholders involved in organizing the Tokyo Olympics in understanding and analysing the utility of blockchain based decentralized apps for crowd management and contact tracing.

Bogus Doctor Deceptions during Multi-Casualty Events and Disasters

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony Nocera ◽  
Anne M. Newton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Medical Literature ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Medical Practitioner ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Secure Systems ◽  
Public Health And Safety

AbstractBogus doctors pose a threat to public health and safety, and they present a security threat at disaster and multi-casualty event sites. A “bogus doctor” is an individual who misrepresents him/herself as a registered medical practitioner by their demeanour, actions, dress, or surroundings, while not entitled to be on a register of medical practitioners. There are very few reports in the medical literature, but practitioners have encountered them at the site of a disaster or multi-casualty event. This paper examines the five cases identified in the literature. Secure systems that confirm a health professional's identity and qualifications are required to avoid unnecessary delays and to protect the victims and health professionals providing the care.

scholarly journals Understanding Why Codes and Standards Fail

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Batzer ◽  
John S. Morse ◽  
Dong Y. Don Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Asymmetric Information ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Information Cost ◽  
Minimal Level ◽  
Corporate Behavior ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
Public Health And Safety

The enduring issues regarding codes and standards for consumer products and corporate behavior are discussed in this paper. It has been frequently asserted that the adherence of a product to a recognized government or private standard ensures that the product has a minimal level of safety, and that said product is therefore presumably non-defective. The agencies which promulgate these codes and standards are ostensibly impartial and informed, and have the public’s best interests in mind. This conviction is undoubtedly true in some instances, but is also unquestionably false in others. The issues regarding codes and standards and their impact upon products and the trusting public include, but are not limited to, asymmetric information, cost concerns, ethics, foreseeable misuses, non-alignment of interests, and technological advancements after the standards were adopted. In short, the adherence to the letter, rather than the spirit, of individual codes and standards is a manifestation of the Principal-Agent conflict, in which the agent, acting on behalf of the principal, has a different set of incentives than does the principal. This conflict and the underlying issues listed above are discussed. Case studies of numerous products with possible, known, and unforeseen adverse impacts upon public health and safety will be used as illustrations of products that were within the letter of the code or standard, but manifestly defective.

Curating the Evidence About COVID-19 for Frontline Public Health and Clinical Care: The Novel Coronavirus Research Compendium

2021 ◽  
pp. 003335492110587
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Redd ◽  
Lauren S. Peetluk ◽  
Brooke A. Jarrett ◽  
Colleen Hanrahan ◽  
Sheree Schwartz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Successful Model ◽  
Medical Response ◽  
Public Consumption ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The public health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a deluge of scientific research aimed at informing the public health and medical response to the pandemic. However, early in the pandemic, those working in frontline public health and clinical care had insufficient time to parse the rapidly evolving evidence and use it for decision-making. Academics in public health and medicine were well-placed to translate the evidence for use by frontline clinicians and public health practitioners. The Novel Coronavirus Research Compendium (NCRC), a group of >60 faculty and trainees across the United States, formed in March 2020 with the goal to quickly triage and review the large volume of preprints and peer-reviewed publications on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 and summarize the most important, novel evidence to inform pandemic response. From April 6 through December 31, 2020, NCRC teams screened 54 192 peer-reviewed articles and preprints, of which 527 were selected for review and uploaded to the NCRC website for public consumption. Most articles were peer-reviewed publications (n = 395, 75.0%), published in 102 journals; 25.1% (n = 132) of articles reviewed were preprints. The NCRC is a successful model of how academics translate scientific knowledge for practitioners and help build capacity for this work among students. This approach could be used for health problems beyond COVID-19, but the effort is resource intensive and may not be sustainable in the long term.

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