Contested solidarity and vulnerability in social media-based public responses to COVID-19 policies of mobility restrictions in Singapore: a qualitative analysis of temporal evolution

Background Mobility restriction is the most effective measure to control the spread of infectious disease at its early stage, especially if a cure and vaccine are not available. When control of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) required strong precautionary measures, lockdowns were necessarily implemented in countries around the globe. Public health risk communication about the justification and scope of a lockdown was challenging as it involved a conflict between solidarity and individual liberty and a trade-off between various values across groups with different socioeconomic statuses. In the study, we examined public responses to the government-announced “circuit breaker” (a local term for lockdown) at four-time points in Singapore: (1) entry, (2) extension, (3) exit of lockdown ‘phase 1’ and (4) entry of lockdown ‘phase 2’. Methods We randomly collected 100 comments from the relevant articles on new organisations’ Facebook and Instagram pages and conducted preliminary coding. Later, additional random 20 comments were collected to check the data saturation. Content analysis was focused on identifying themes that emerged from the responses across the four-time points. Results At the entry, public support for the lockdown was prevalent; yet most responses were abstract with uncertainty. At six weeks of lockdown, initial public responses with uncertainty turned into salient narratives of their lived experiences and hardship with lockdown and unmasking of societal weaknesses caused by COVID-19. At the entry to phase 2, responses were centred on social-economic impact, disparity, and lockdown burnout with the contested notion of continuing solidarity. A temporal pattern was seen in the rationalisation of the lockdown experience from trust, anxiety, attribution of pandemic and lockdown, blaming of non-compliant behaviours, and confusion. Conclusions The findings indicated a temporal evolution of public responses from solidarity, attribution of the sustained pandemic, increasing ambiguity towards strong precautionary measures, concerns about economic hardship and mental well-being to worsened social vulnerability, where the government’s restrictive policies were questioned with anxiety and confusion. Public health risk communication in response to COVID-19 should be transparent and address health equity and social justice to enhance individual and collective responsibility in protecting the public from the pandemic.

Principles of public health emergency response for acute environmental, chemical, and radiation incidents

In recent years there have been many environmental, chemical, and radiation disasters that have challenged the emergency preparedness of countries around the globe. This chapter on the principles of public health emergency response for acute environmental, chemical, and radiation incidents summarizes the stages of response to emergencies using a generic ‘all hazards’ framework and a ‘source–pathway–receptor’ risk assessment model which is adaptable to any situation and conforms with international obligations. The stages identified address incident management arrangements for emergency response including international obligations; public health risk assessment; public health risk management techniques and countermeasures; public reassurance in emergencies and incidents and finally the need to identify and publish the lessons from incidents Remembering that before any response can be mounted, the event has to be detected and identified as requiring special action. Detection requires early warning and forecasting to clinical awareness, timely surveillance, and intelligence. A significant number of evidence gaps remain and so detailed documentation and follow-up of future incidents will continue to be needed to fill those gaps and improve emergency preparedness and response in the future. By the use of case studies of some significant environmental, chemical, and radiological incidents and processes the stages of the emergency response are illustrated to facilitate an all hazards approach.

Transcriptomic and rRNA:rDNA Signatures of Environmental versus Enteric Enterococcus faecalis Isolates under Oligotrophic Freshwater Conditions

Enterococci are commonly used worldwide to monitor environmental fecal contamination and public health risk for waterborne diseases. However, closely related enterococci strains adapted to living in the extraenteric environment may represent a lower public health risk and confound water quality estimates.

Public health risk of Giardia and Cryptosporidium infection from urban wildlife

Introduction/Objective The dedication of large areas in Anchorage for urban park environments encouraged increased interaction between migrating Canadian geese, approximately 1500 moose and humans. Urban wildlife inhabiting public establishments such as parking lots, creeks, playgrounds, and suburban backyards results in significant environmental fecal contamination. Previous studies found varying potential for zoonotic transmission of parasites through direct fecal contact or water contamination. With a significant number of vulnerable unsheltered individuals in Anchorage using public green belts, there is risk of asymptomatic, under diagnosed, parasitic infection due to exposure to fecal contamination. Methods/Case Report To assess environmental risk of parasitic zoonosis from urban wildlife, we surveyed fourteen high impact exposure areas including waterways and green spaces throughout Anchorage with ground collection of 106 fecal samples from moose (n=76) and geese (n=30). Using standard rapid antigen immunoassay detection method, we identified preserved samples for the presence of Cryptosporidium or Giardia. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) Overall evaluation of fecal samples found 23.6% positive for parasitic colonization in 87% of collection sites. Giardia was identified in 10.4% and Cryptosporidium in 13.2%. Comparative evaluation of each species found geese with a higher percentage of Cryptosporidium isolated (30%) when compared to moose (6%). Giardia was predominately found in moose (13%) with very few geese colonized. Conclusion Considering the high population of outdoor enthusiasts and a significant number of unsheltered individuals in Anchorage, discovering nearly a quarter of urban moose and geese colonized with Giardia and/or Cryptosporidium identifies a significant public health risk. Often using creeks and lagoons as their water source Anchorage’s vulnerable population includes a large number of immunocompromised HIV positive individuals in which parasitic infection, especially Cryptosporidium, can cause overall poor health and reduced quality of life. Therefore, active surveillance of parasitic colonization in urban wildlife is essential and continued evaluation necessary to determine public health risk.

Risky business: COVAX and the financialization of global vaccine equity

Background During the first year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic, COVAX has been the world’s most prominent effort to ensure equitable access to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Launched as part of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (Act-A) in June 2020, COVAX suggested to serve as a vaccine buyers’ and distribution club for countries around the world. It also aimed to support the pharmaceutical industry in speeding up and broadening vaccine development. While COVAX has recently come under critique for failing to bring about global vaccine equity, influential politicians and public health advocates insist that future iterations of it will improve pandemic preparedness. So far COVAX’s role in the ongoing financialization of global health, i.e. in the rise of financial concepts, motives, practices and institutions has not been analyzed. Methods This article describes and critically assesses COVAX’s financial logics, i.e. the concepts, arguments and financing flows on which COVAX relies. It is based on a review of over 109 COVAX related reports, ten in-depth interviews with global health experts working either in or with COVAX, as well as participant observation in 18 webinars and online meetings concerned with global pandemic financing, between September 2020 and August 2021. Results The article finds that COVAX expands the scale and scope of financial instruments in global health governance, and that this is done by conflating different understandings of risk. Specifically, COVAX conflates public health risk and corporate financial risk, leading it to privilege concerns of pharmaceutical companies over those of most participating countries – especially low and lower-middle income countries (LICs and LMICs). COVAX thus drives the financialization of global health and ends up constituting a risk itself - that of perpetuating the downsides of financialization (e.g. heightened inequality, secrecy, complexity in governance, an ineffective and slow use of aid), whilst insufficiently realising its potential benefits (pandemic risk reduction, increased public access to emergency funding, indirect price control over essential goods and services). Conclusion Future iterations of vaccine buyers’ and distribution clubs as well as public vaccine development efforts should work towards reducing all aspects of public health risk rather than privileging its corporate financial aspects. This will include reassessing the interplay of aid and corporate subsidies in global health.

Biosecurity at the Border: How the Federal Government can Fulfill Its Duty and Ensure Its Citizens’ Rights by Minimizing the Public Health Risk Posed by Foreign Entrants

The Federal Government has an obligation to protect its citizens from the biosecurity threat posed by foreign entrants. Similarly, American citizens have a constitutional right to be protected. This article identifies the specific public health threats posed by foreign entrants, analyzes the relevant law, and then proposes specific solutions to ameliorate the problem.

Assessment of Risk Associated with the Quiet Nature of Electric Vehicle: A Perception of EV Drivers and Pedestrians at Mumbai Metropolitan Region-India

The key features of the electric vehicle (EV) from urban area emphasizes on clean air as well as quiet running nature to preserve atmospheric pollution conditions in the city, however, the new public health risk is arising due to calm running environment of electric vehicles. Since the electric vehicles run at low noise levels, pedestrians being troubled in road traffic accidents which tend to focus on the safety of the pedestrian. The aim of the present study is to analyze the perception of pedestrian’s and driver’s with the quiet nature of electric vehicles by evaluating the data obtained through a questionnaire survey and interviews conducted at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), India. A total of 398 drivers of various driving experiences and 401 pedestrians from various locations of MMR had been responded to acquire technical data. A hypothesis is evaluated for public health risk associated with the quiet nature of electric vehicles from the driver’s gender and age perspective. In addition, the ANOVA study was carried out to test the statistical significance of risk with respect to age, gender, vehicle usage, driving experience. The results illustrate that moderate risk is associated with the quiet nature of EV and more attention is required by road users as well as drivers, nevertheless gender (P=0.3321), profession (P=0.6537), driving experience (P=0.8888), vehicle use (P=0.3819) are not significant based on driver’s perception (P value greater than 0.05), whereas driver age group (P=0.0000) is accountable for perceived risk. Similarly, considering pedestrian’s perception, gender (P=0.7954), profession (P=0.8188), distance walk (P=0.2313), location (P=0.3896) are not significant. The outcome of this study recommends the foremost need for the advanced control system in electric vehicles.