scholarly journals Risk of Exposure to COVID-19: Visit Duration Data Can Inform Our Daily Activities Choices: An Epidemiological Investigation Using Community Mobility Data from the Metropolitan Area of Genoa, Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4632
Author(s):  
Cristina Oliva ◽  
Giampiero Favato
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
Epidemiological Investigation ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Duration Data ◽  
Mobility Data ◽  
Visit Duration ◽  
Risk Of Exposure

COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact. Policymakers mostly resorted to normative measures to limit close contacts and impose social distancing. Our study aimed to estimate the risk of exposure to COVID-19 by location and activity in crowded metropolitan areas. The risk of exposure to COVID-19 was defined as the product of crowding (people within a six feet distance) and exposure duration (fraction of 15 min). Our epidemiological investigation used aggregated and anonymized mobility data from Google Maps to estimate the visit duration. We collected visit duration data for 561 premises in the metropolitan area of Genoa, Italy from October 2020 to January 2021. The sample was then clustered into 14 everyday activities, from grocery shopping to the post office. Crowding data by activity were obtained from pre-existing building norms and new government measures to contain the pandemic. The study found significant variance in the risk of exposure to COVID-19 among activities and, for the same activity, among locations. The empirical determination of the risk of exposure to COVID-19 can inform national and local public health policies to contain the pandemic’s diffusion. Its simple numerical form can help policymakers effectively communicate difficult decisions affecting our daily lives. Most importantly, risk data by location can help us rethink our daily routine and make informed, responsible choices when we decide to go out.

scholarly journals Use of mask in COVID-19 era: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-90
Author(s):  
Rano Mal Piryani ◽  
Suneel Piryani ◽  
Jay Narayan Shah
Keyword(s):  
United States Of America ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Healthy Person ◽  
World Health ◽  
Source Control ◽  
Community Settings ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Risk Of Exposure ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Healthy Persons

World Health Organization (WHO) in its interim guidance of 6 April 2020 advises policy makers on the use of masks for healthy people in community settings. The rationale for mask use by healthy person is prevention from COVID-19, when there is risk of exposure, like working in close contact with public, people with comorbidities, where physical distancing cannot be maintained such as travelling in buses, staying in slum areas. Furthermore, WHO says the purpose and reason for mask use should be clear– whether it is to be used for source control (used by infected persons) or prevention of COVID-19 (used by healthy persons).1 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) United States of America (USA) updated its advisory on 4 Apr 2020, and recommended everyone (except some) should wear at least a cloth face covering when they have to go out in public. It will protect other people in case you are infected.2,3 This advisory of no strict demand on use of face masks could be possibly due to unavailability of disposable masks.

scholarly journals Transmission of toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae by a fully immunised resident returning from a visit to West Africa, United Kingdom, 2017

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (39) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Edwards ◽  
Dianne Kent ◽  
Caroline Lester ◽  
Colin Stewart Brown ◽  
Michael E. Murphy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Vaccine Coverage ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Corynebacterium Diphtheriae ◽  
Toxin Gene ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Public Health Action ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Laboratory Staff

In early 2017, a United Kingdom (UK)-born person in their 20s presented with a skin ulcer on the foot 3 weeks after returning from Ghana. The patient had last received a diphtheria-containing vaccine in 2013, completing the recommended course. MALDI-TOF of a cutaneous swab identified Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Real-time PCR ascertained the species and presence of the diphtheria toxin gene. An Elek test confirmed toxigenicity. The isolate was macrolide sensitive and penicillin resistant. The local Public Health England (PHE) Health Protection Team obtained the patient’s clinical history and traced contacts to inform appropriate public health action. One close contact (in their early 80s with uncertain immunisation status who had not recently travelled) had a positive throat swab for toxigenic C. diphtheriae and reported a history of mild coryzal symptoms. Multilocus sequence typing revealed that strains from the index case and contact had Sequence Type 493*. Diphtheria is extremely rare in the UK due to high vaccine coverage and this is the first documented transmission in 30 years. Clinicians and laboratory staff should remain highly suspicious of lesions in overseas travellers, even when patients are fully vaccinated. Older individuals who might not have completed a full immunisation course may have higher diphtheria susceptibility.

scholarly journals LBTrace: A LoRa and Blockchain Based Contact Tracing Method for COVID-19 and Future Pandemics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Fang ◽  
Wenbo Zhao ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Zhenquan Qin ◽  
Bingxian Lu
Keyword(s):  
High Stability ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Smart Device ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Epidemiological Investigation ◽  
Stability And Accuracy ◽  
Tracing Method ◽  
Close Contacts

COVID-19 has caused hundreds of millions of infections and hundreds of deaths, and even though vaccinations are increasing, the mutation of the virus makes the pandemic even difficult to control. Existing manual, operator and Bluetooth-based technologies for epidemiological investigation and close contact tracing suffer from high cost, low accuracy, and difficulty in scaling up. Viruses such as Delta variants have a greater ability to survive and spread, making many of the existing human-human close contacts tracing less effective. Also, it is easy to overlook the fact that there is still a large segment of the world's population that does not have access to the Internet and is proficient in using smartphones, which makes the performance of smart device-based tracing much less effective. Inspired by Health Code and Tracetogether, which have been widely accepted in China and Singapore, we propose a LoRa and blockchain-based contact tracing method LBTrace, which is low-power, lightweight, and operation-free. The experimental results demonstrate the high stability and accuracy of our proposed method, which can be used as a complement to existing methods to help some governments effectively control COVID-19 and future outbreaks under certain emergency conditions.

scholarly journals LBTrace: A LoRa and Blockchain Based Contact Tracing Method for COVID-19 and Future Pandemics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Fang ◽  
Wenbo Zhao ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Zhenquan Qin ◽  
Bingxian Lu
Keyword(s):  
High Stability ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Smart Device ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Epidemiological Investigation ◽  
Stability And Accuracy ◽  
Tracing Method ◽  
Close Contacts

COVID-19 has caused hundreds of millions of infections and hundreds of deaths, and even though vaccinations are increasing, the mutation of the virus makes the pandemic even difficult to control. Existing manual, operator and Bluetooth-based technologies for epidemiological investigation and close contact tracing suffer from high cost, low accuracy, and difficulty in scaling up. Viruses such as Delta variants have a greater ability to survive and spread, making many of the existing human-human close contacts tracing less effective. Also, it is easy to overlook the fact that there is still a large segment of the world's population that does not have access to the Internet and is proficient in using smartphones, which makes the performance of smart device-based tracing much less effective. Inspired by Health Code and Tracetogether, which have been widely accepted in China and Singapore, we propose a LoRa and blockchain-based contact tracing method LBTrace, which is low-power, lightweight, and operation-free. The experimental results demonstrate the high stability and accuracy of our proposed method, which can be used as a complement to existing methods to help some governments effectively control COVID-19 and future outbreaks under certain emergency conditions.

scholarly journals Ophthalmological practices in COVID times

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-274
Author(s):  
Amit Raj ◽  
Prerna Sinha ◽  
Amit Kumar ◽  
Upasna Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Literature Search ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The World ◽  
Risk Of Exposure

The COVID 19 pandemic has brought about a change in the lifestyle of one and all with the healthcare workers being no exception. The objective of this review is to discuss the problems faced during the COVID19 pandemic especially by the ophthalmological community owing to the close contact with the patient during examination which is inevitable. The text has been written after a thorough literature search of articles on Pubmed using relevant keywords. It discusses and brings forth the ways of ophthalmological practices to minimize the risk of exposure being followed across the world as laid down by the ophthalmological societies of various countries and regions. The importance of social distancing and the role of tele-ophthalmology which formed the cornerstone of treatment during this hour of crisis has also been discussed.

Impact of Hazardous Waste Material on Environment and Their Management Strategies

2018 ◽  
pp. 175-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mukesh Samant ◽  
Satish Chandra Pandey ◽  
Anupam Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Hazardous Waste ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
Indian Government ◽  
Hazardous Waste Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
Risk Of Exposure ◽  
Solid Liquid

Hazardous waste has emerged as an issue of major concern that has negative impact both on human health as well as on the environment. Hazardous and infectious agents are handled in daily routine in biomedical laboratories. Their effects are increasing continuously in the environment. Hazardous waste includes solid, liquid, sharp and pathological waste. Workers in hospitals and health care, agricultural and fishing occupations are at particular risk of exposure to hazardous biological agents. Recently, more systematic and strict steps have taken by the Indian government regarding the public concern to prevent the proliferation of hazardous waste and its improper disposal. However, management of waste are still not well promoted. So, to intercept the build-up of biohazards into the environment, waste from biohazardous operations must be disposed or treated appropriately in a special way and it also intends to create awareness amongst the personnel involved in these sectors to develop and implement hazardous waste management and mitigation strategies.

Development of a simple compatibility inspection method using pressure in a BD PhaSeal™ system and hazardous drug vials

2020 ◽  
pp. 107815522095251
Author(s):  
Hiromasa Ishimaru ◽  
Yasumasa Tsuda ◽  
Hidenori Kage ◽  
Tomoaki Kawano ◽  
Shinji Takayama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Closed System ◽  
Pressure Fluctuation ◽  
Clinical Setting ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Test Method ◽  
Rubber Stopper ◽  
Inspection Method ◽  
Drug Transfer ◽  
Risk Of Exposure ◽  
Hazardous Drugs

Background Many reports support the use of closed system drug transfer devices (CSTDs) to protect against exposure to hazardous drugs during their preparation. However, leakage may occur if the CSTD fails to maintain hermeticity when fitted into the vial. Our aims were to devise a measure to prevent HD exposure and to develop a test method to verify CSTD function when a BD PhaSeal™ protector is used in HD preparation. Methods We selected the BD PhaSeal™ System, which is the most commonly used CSTD device in Japan. The sealability of the BD PhaSeal™ protector and vial is considered to be due to the hermeticity of the protector and the rubber stopper of the vial. We constructed a protector with a damaged sealing rim and monitored the pressure fluctuation 10 times when the BD PhaSeal™ injector was connected to the pressurized vial. Results The reduction in pressure of the protector in the group without a damaged sealing rim was 5%, while that in the group with the damaged sealing rim was 84.9%. Conclusion It was suggested that leakage occurred through the gap between the protector and the rubber stopper when using a vial that was not in close contact with the sealing rim. In this study, we developed a test that can be easily used to verify the compatibility of the BD PhaSeal™ protector and a vial in the clinical setting. Thus, when new hazardous drugs are being prepared, these measures can be taken to ensure that the risk of exposure is reduced or eliminated.

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