According to the model, these measures can delay the peak of the epidemic, limiting the overload for hospitals and intensive care units.
Craig Dalton, an epidemiologist at the University of Newcastle, recently published a preprint of the scientific paper on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). The study was carried out by Dalton and his two colleagues, Dr Stephen Corbett at the University of Sydney and Anthea Katelaris at the Australian National University.
In particular, the trio of scientists analyzed the strategies to prevent the SARS epidemic in 2003, the reality and experience of fighting the Covid-19 epidemic in China and also the annual seasonal flu prevention campaigns to come up with more than 40 measures. Cheap and timely solutions to help the world prevent the spread of the current epidemic.
It is worth mentioning that although Dalton's study was not peer-reviewed, these measures were immediately adopted by the US government and edited into a set of guidelines for the United States.
Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, and Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases described the set of guidelines during Monday's press conference.
Birx said the new guidelines emphasize common sense, with practical measures in place to keep workplaces, schools and homes safe. It builds on a scientific paper by Australian epidemiologist Dalton.
Dr. Fauci said these measures are very simple, cheap and anyone can practice. "There is nothing complicated. These measures are presented very clearly, everyone can understand them," he said.
According to research by Dalton and colleagues, governments and countries can have a lot of strong measures to intervene and prevent the spread of Covid-19 including: quarantine isolation, blockade of cities , closing schools, canceling mass gatherings...
However, these measures are often implemented late, as they need to assess their economic and social impacts. Taking advantage of this period, Covid-19 may have broken out and spread widely, making subsequent measures ineffective.
Unlike the SARS virus in 2003, infected people are most contagious only after 10 days of symptom onset – when viral loads in their nose and throat secretions are highest, this Covid-19 seems to such as having a stronger and earlier transmission dynamic, when there are also cases of infection from asymptomatic people identified.
That means preventive measures need to be taken as quickly as possible. The aim is to slow the spread of the disease, reduce the
c infection, reducing the severity of cases.
Dalton's measures are designed around two principles: Social distancing and improved hygiene. According to the model he built, these measures could delay the peak of the epidemic, limiting the overload for hospitals and intensive care units.
It allows medical staff to have better time to care for patients, or when they themselves are infected with Covid-19 to be able to recover and return to work. Delaying the peak could also help hold out until we have a vaccine to deal with Covid-19.
"We suggest implementing low-cost interventions even before an outbreak occurs and in anticipation of community transmission. These interventions should be considered as they can help reduce both the total number of infections and severity of cases," Dalton and colleagues wrote.
The following is a summary of the measures in his research published on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN):
MEASURES AT WORKSHOP
1. Don't shake hands
2. Promote proper cough and sneeze practices (but still ask sick employees to stay at home)
3. Make online meetings the default standard
4. Postpone big meetings
5. Mandatory hand hygiene at the entrance
6. Remind employees to wash their hands frequently via email
7. Employees eat lunch at their tables, not at the canteen
8. Turn hygiene rules into a fun game (Gamifying), for example [challenging staff] not to touch your face
9. Make sure those who are sick must stay at home, if sick people still come to the company, they will have to be isolated immediately
10. Hold necessary meetings outdoors, if possible
11. Employees whose family members are sick should stay at home
12. Regularly disinfect high-touch, high-touch surfaces
13.Work from home if possible and consider working from home shifts if employees don't lose their productivity working remotely
14. Consider opening windows and adjusting air conditioning [increasing heat]
15. Limit food processing and cooking activities at work, do not share or distribute food at work
16. Risk assessment in the working process of employees
17. Increased hygiene and disease screening among food handlers (canteens) and their close contacts
18. Root cause analysis of events that can generate crowds. Prevent them through rescheduling, shift placement, or outright cancellation
MEASURES AT SCHOOL
1. Monitor hand hygiene at the entrance and wash hands regularly throughout the day
2. Delay activities that require multi-layered and multi-block concentration
3. Propagating the correct cough and sneeze practice (but still giving priority to preventing sick teachers and students from going to school, recommending them to stay at home to isolate)
4. Have a strict policy to force sick teachers, students, and school staff to stay home
5. Turn hygiene rules into fun games (Gamifying), for example [challenging students] not to touch their faces
6. Have a regular hand washing schedule
7. Regularly disinfect high-touch, high-touch surfaces
8. Study outdoors if possible
9. Consider opening windows and adjusting air conditioning [increasing heat]
10. Increased hygiene and disease screening among food handlers (canteens) and their close contacts
11. Consider after-school activities that have the potential to bring together children from different grades and ages
MEASURES AT HOUSEHOLD
For all households:
1. Enhance hygiene and hand washing
2. Turn hygiene rules into fun games (Gamifying), for example [challenging students] not to touch their faces
3. Regularly disinfect high-touch surfaces
4. Hang a sign "Invite in if you are healthy" in front of the door
5. Speed up indoor ventilation by opening windows or adjusting the air conditioning
6. Propagating the right cough and sneeze practice
For households with sick members, in addition to the above measures, additionally:
7. Sick family members are given their own room if possible and only one person is assigned to take care of them
8. The door to the patient's room is closed
9. Wear a medical/regular mask for both the infected person and the caregiver
10. Consider stronger protections or relocate for people over 65 in the family or people with underlying medical conditions.
MEASURES AT TRADE, ENTERTAINMENT, TRAFFIC CENTER
1. Encourage hand hygiene at the entrance
2. Use electronic payments to limit cash use dùng
3. Regularly disinfect high-touch surfaces
4. Minimize crowding by adjusting and scheduling reservations, encouraging online shopping, and limiting the number of attendees
5. Improve hygiene and disease screening for food handlers and their close contacts
6. Increase ventilation and adjust air conditioning
7. Public transport/taxi/ride-sharing personnel: open car windows whenever possible, increase air flow in vehicle, disinfect high-touch surfaces
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