Dataset Information

Rethinking the COVID-19 Pandemic: Back to Public Health.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted vast differences across countries in their responses to the emergency and their capacities to implement public health measures that could slow the progression of the disease. As public health systems are the first line of defense during pandemics, it has become clear that sustained investment in strengthening public health infrastructure is a major need in all countries, irrespective of income levels. Drawing on the successful experiences of Switzerland, Georgia, and New Zealand in dealing with COVID-19, we suggest prioritizing core public health capacities with links to the International Health Regulations, improving international cooperation, coordination, and multisectoral action, addressing health inequities by targeting vulnerable groups, and enhancing health literacy, including through sophisticated and sustained communication campaigns to build resilience. These measures will ensure that health systems and communities will be better prepared for the disruptions that future disease outbreaks will inevitably bring.

SUBMITTER: Collins T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7546103 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rethinking the COVID-19 Pandemic: Back to Public Health.

Collins Téa T Akselrod Svetlana S Bloomfield Ashley A Gamkrelidze Amiran A Jakab Zsuzsanna Z Placella Erika E

Annals of global health 20201008 1

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted vast differences across countries in their responses to the emergency and their capacities to implement public health measures that could slow the progression of the disease. As public health systems are the first line of defense during pandemics, it has become clear that sustained investment in strengthening public health infrastructure is a major need in all countries, irrespective of income levels. Drawing on the successful experiences of Switzerland, Geo ...[more]

PMID: 33102153

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Project description:BackgroundUnprecedented public health measures have been used during this coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is a challenge to implement timely and appropriate public health interventions.Methods and findingsPopulation and COVID-19 epidemiological data between 21st January 2020 to 15th November 2020 from 216 countries and territories were included with the implemented public health interventions. We used deep reinforcement learning, and the algorithm was trained to enable agents to try to find optimal public health strategies that maximized total reward on controlling the spread of COVID-19. The results suggested by the algorithm were analyzed against the actual timing and intensity of lockdown and travel restrictions. Early implementations of the actual lockdown and travel restriction policies, usually at the time of local index case were associated with less burden of COVID-19. In contrast, our agent suggested to initiate at least minimal intensity of lockdown or travel restriction even before or on the day of the index case in each country and territory. In addition, the agent mostly recommended a combination of lockdown and travel restrictions and higher intensity policies than the policies implemented by governments, but did not always encourage rapid full lockdown and full border closures. The limitation of this study was that it was done with incomplete data due to the emerging COVID-19 epidemic, inconsistent testing and reporting. In addition, our research focuses only on population health benefits by controlling the spread of COVID-19 without balancing the negative impacts of economic and social consequences.InterpretationCompared to actual government implementation, our algorithm mostly recommended earlier intensity of lockdown and travel restrictions. Reinforcement learning may be used as a decision support tool for implementation of public health interventions during COVID-19 and future pandemics.

Dataset Information

Rethinking the COVID-19 Pandemic: Back to Public Health.

Publications

Rethinking the COVID-19 Pandemic: Back to Public Health.

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