ABSTRACT
Like many countries, the US government-imposed travel restriction policies on selected countries with a high spread of COVID-19 airports to prevent the introduction and spread of COVID-19. Between March 2020 and October 2021, travellers from China, Iran, European Schengen countries, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Brazil, South Africa and India were restricted with some exceptions. The main objective with this study was to explore the associations between COVID-19 cases and death rates, and the proximity to airports, train stations and time of public transportation. To address the study objective, the authors used the most recent JHU COVID-19 database, the American Community Survey and Airport and Amtrak data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics from 3,132 US counties. The authors categorised the counties into three groups according to their distance from an airport: less than 25 miles, between 25 and 50 miles and more than 50 miles. The authors then ran negative binomial regressions and Cox regression models, adjusted for population density, population race/ethnicity, travel time, being close to an international airport and the main sources of commutes. The findings showed that the number of airports, the number of train station and the length of commuting time were predictors for the number of deaths and cases in a county. The authors found that counties within 25 miles of an airport had 1.372 times the rate of COVID-19 cases and 1.338 times the rate of COVID-19 deaths compared to the counties that were more than 50 miles from an airport. To prevent the introduction and spread of COVID-19 and any similar pandemic that transfers by air, the timing of the travel restriction policy is a crucial element. Policymakers and officials in transportation and public health should collaborate to promulgate policies and procedures to prevent the spread of airborne infectious diseases. © 2022 by Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Implementation of stringent infection prevention and control measures, including social distancing, created a significant challenge for laboratories to maintain an on-going programme of training, education and continuing professional development for professionals working in blood transfusion during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) Patient Blood Management (PBM) team developed a remote, free at the point of access education group, open to newly qualified biomedical scientists and those new to transfusion science. Meeting monthly, an industry expert speaker is invited to deliver a lecture on a specialist area of blood transfusion before opening the session for discussion between delegates and speakers. The curriculum is flexible and reactive to feedback from delegates and considers key industry recommendations, such as those published in the 2019 SHOT annual report. We have received 650 registrations to join the Biomedical Scientist Empowerment and Discussion Group. The membership spans the whole United Kingdom, as well as Ireland and overseas. We invited the delegates that attended the sixth meeting of the group to respond to a short survey. 72 delegates responded. 62.5% (n = 45) respondents felt that blood transfusion training time been reduced or difficult to facilitate during the last 12 months, due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. 98.61% (n = 71) respondents felt that the education provided during these sessions enabled them to provide a better service to patients and service-users. By operating remotely, we were able to maintain a continuous programme of support and education for hospital transfusion laboratory professionals during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. As a result, delegates felt empowered to provide a better service to patients and serviceusers. This accessible, cost-effective, and successful model should be considered by other organisations working within other pathology specialisms to enhance individual and service performance.