ABSTRACT
Innovation is becoming a fundamental part of many sectors and environments, including universities, not only regarding their research but also how education is approached. In this line, one of the ways to achieve these objectives is based on a collaboration between society, which presents a need to be solved, and the University. This society-university integration is achievable via the Service-Learning methodology (SLM), which has always been based on establishing strong links between the educational world and society. This paper presents a SLM-based project linked to technological development for the health sector during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Specifically, undergraduate chemistry students, and Ph.D. students led by professors have presented part of their technological developments to people in society who are at risk of exclusion to help them understand aspects of infection as well as diagnosis of diseases. In short, the objective is to transfer in an enjoyable fashion, a set of technological developments and knowledge that can help society understand aspects related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Objective. To describe the behavior of SARS- CoV-2 epidemic among workers affiliated to the Mexican Social Security Institute. Materials and methods.We analyzed Short Term Disability Claims due to Respiratory Diseases (RD-STDC), associated hospitalizations and deaths (March 1 - December 31, 2020).We estimated the attack rate (AR) for SARS-CoV-2, and relative risks (RR) of TWD-RD, hospitalization and deaths. Results. 1 730 334 workers received at least one RD-STDC. AR was higher in women and in both sexes it was lower in >60 years old. RR of hospitalization and death were higher in men and increased with age. Compared with RD-STDC of 2015-2019, the states of Durango, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon had a higher RR of RD-STDC than the rest of the country. Conclusions. The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic impacted IMSS-affiliated workers significantly. We observed a 4.6 fold excess in RD-STDC compared to the expected frequency and nearly 1 million SARS-CoV-2 cases in this population. Our data suggest that the RD-STDC system can be used as an additional resource for epidemiological surveillance of emerging diseases.