A human rights-based approach to coercive public health interventions: lessons from the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics

The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak and its impact on countries across the globe has been unprecedented. The lack of pharmaceutical interventions to prevent or treat infection have left States with limited avenues to control the spread of the virus. Many countries have introduced stringent lockdowns along with regulatory regimes that give governments new powers to compel compliance with these regulations and to punish non-compliance. This article investigates the use of compelled public health interventions during both the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics and how these can be aligned to human rights. This includes discussion on the use of interventions such as mandatory quarantine and isolation, compelled testing, criminalisation of HIV and SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Africa. This article also outlines what State obligations are in relation to pandemic responses, both in terms of mandating an effective response and which human rights principles should underscore these responses. Using South Africa as a case study, this article analyses whether the use of these interventions complies with international human rights law. We assess the use of compelled public health interventions in both the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics against established human rights principles applicable to pandemic responses. This article discusses lessons to be learnt about the relationship between human rights and public health interventions across both pandemics so as to guide human rights-based approaches to future pandemics as well as subsequent stages of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Non-pharmaceutical interventions for respiratory virus infection in children and its effect / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

With the emergence of new respiratory virus, it is more apparent for the vulnerability of population to respiratory viral infection.Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) for respiratory virus infection have become the main way to prevent corona virus disease 2019.Some studies had proven its effectiveness.In addition, the NPIs also significantly reduced the incidence and hospitalization rate of other respiratory disease in children.NPIs for respiratory virus infection in children have its particularity and challenge.In daily life, it is important to guide children how to do the NPIs, so as to protect susceptible children and reduce the disease burden in children′s health system.Therefore, the aerosol transmission, the specificity of the NPIs in children, and the impact on childhood respiratory diseases are described in this article, to improve the prevention of common respiratory diseases in children.

The effect of state-level social distancing policy stringency on mobility in the states of Brazil / O efeito da rigidez das políticas de distanciamento social na mobilidade nos estados brasileiros / El efecto de las políticas restrictivas de distanciamiento social en la movilidad a nivel estadual en Brasil

Abstract In Brazil, sub-national governments have played a particularly important role as the key actors implementing non-pharmaceutical interventions to halt the spread of COVID-19. Building on the methodology proposed by the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), we coded the stringency levels of state-level school, commerce, services, industry, public gathering, and private event closure policies and describe these actions' duration at the state-level in Brazil from early February to mid-May 2020. Our results suggest significant heterogeneity across Brazil and across weeks in social distancing policy stringency during this period. We then apply dynamic times-series cross-sectional methods to evaluate the effect of anti-contagion policies on the population's mobility using cell phone location data. We find that anti-contagion policies had a significant effect on producing higher adherence to remaining at home even though social distancing policies were relatively moderate as compared to other countries. Our results also suggest that social distancing policies have a greater impact when a more complete and coherent set of policies were introduced and sustained by state governments.

Resumo No caso brasileiro, os governos subnacionais exerceram um papel particularmente importante na implementação de medidas não farmacológicas para contenção do alastramento do COVID-19. Baseando-se na metodologia do Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), codificamos a rigidez das políticas de fechamento de escolas, comércio e serviços, aglomerações públicas e eventos privados implementadas em nível estadual e descrevemos sua duração nos estados brasileiros entre meados de fevereiro e a metade de maio de 2020. Nossos resultados sugerem alta heterogeneidade ao longo do tempo e entre os estados na rigidez das políticas de distanciamento social durante o período analisado. Aplicamos em seguida métodos dinâmicos de séries temporais em painel com o objetivo de avaliar o efeito da rigidez das políticas sobre a mobilidade da população. Para isso, utilizamos dados de localização provenientes de celulares para mensurar mobilidade. Apesar da adesão relativamente moderada às medidas de distanciamento social pelos estados brasileiros, em comparação a estados em outros países durante o mesmo período, nossos achados sugerem que as políticas de distanciamento social tiveram efeito significativo na produção de níveis mais altos de adesão à permanência em casa pela população. Nossos resultados também sugerem que as políticas de distanciamento social têm maior impacto quando um conjunto mais completo e coerente de políticas é introduzido e sustentado pelos governos estaduais.

Resumen Los gobiernos implementaron una serie de políticas para combatir la pandemia de COVID-19. En el caso brasileño, los gobiernos subnacionales jugaron un papel particularmente importante como actores clave en la implementación de medidas no farmacológicas para contener la propagación del virus. A partir de la metodología del Rastreador de Respuestas Gubernamentales frente a la COVID-19 desarrollado por la Universidad de Oxford (OxCGRT), codificamos las distintas restricciones como el cierre de escuelas, comercios, servicios, industrias y la prohibición de aglomeraciones públicas y eventos privados, implementados en los estados brasileños y describimos su duración entre mediados de febrero y la primera quincena de mayo de 2020. Nuestros resultados sugieren una alta heterogeneidad respecto de la rigidez de las políticas de distanciamiento social, a través de los estados y a lo largo de las semanas de este período. Luego aplicamos la técnica de análisis de series temporales dinámicas del tipo panel para evaluar el efecto de las políticas para evitar contagios sobre la movilidad de la población, empleando datos de la ubicación de teléfonos celulares. Encontramos que a pesar de que las medidas de distanciamiento social implementadas por los estados brasileños fueron relativamente moderadas, en comparación con los estados de otros países durante el mismo período, nuestros hallazgos sugieren que las políticas para combatir los contagios tuvieron un efecto significativo en el logro de mayores niveles de adhesión a la permanencia en el hogar. Asimismo, nuestros resultados indican que las políticas de distanciamiento social tuvieron un mayor impacto cuando los gobiernos estatales introdujeron y mantuvieron un conjunto más amplio de medidas coherentes e integrales.

Impact of Wuhan lockdown on the spread of COVID-19 in China: a study based on the data of population mobility / 浙江大学学报·医学版

This study aimed to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of the Wuhan lockdown measure on controlling the spread of coronavirus diesase 2019 (COVID-19). : Firstly，estimate the daily new infection rate in Wuhan before January 23，2020 when the city went into lockdown by consulting the data of Wuhan population mobility and the number of cases imported from Wuhan in 217 cities of Mainland China. Then estimate what the daily new infection rate would have been in Wuhan from January 24 to January 30th if the lockdown measure had been delayed for 7 days，assuming that the daily new infection in Wuhan after January 23 increased in a high，moderate and low trend respectively (using exponential, linear and logarithm growth models). Based on that，calculate the number of infection cases imported from Wuhan during this period. Finally，predict the possible impact of 7-day delayed lockdown in Wuhan on the epidemic situation in China using the susceptible-exposed-infectious-removed (SEIR) model. : The daily new infection rate in Wuhan was estimated to be 0.021%，0.026%，0.029%，0.033% and 0.070% respectively from January 19 to January 23. And there were at least 20 066 infection cases in Wuhan by January 23，2020. If Wuhan lockdown measure had been delayed for 7 days，the daily new infection rate on January 30 would have been 0.335% in the exponential growth model，0.129% in the linear growth model，and 0.070% in the logarithm growth model. Correspondingly，there would have been 32 075，24 819 and 20 334 infection cases travelling from Wuhan to other areas of Mainland China，and the number of cumulative confirmed cases as of March 19 in Mainland China would have been 3.3-3.9 times of the officially reported number. Conclusions: Timely taking city-level lockdown measure in Wuhan in the early stage of COVID-19 outbreak is essential in containing the spread of the disease in China.