Modeling and Evaluation of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism for Curbing COVID-19 in Wuhan.

The spread of COVID-19 in Wuhan was successfully curbed under the strategy of "Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism." To understand how this measure stopped the epidemics in Wuhan, we establish a compartmental model with time-varying parameters over different stages. In the early stage of the epidemic, due to resource limitations, the number of daily reported cases may lower than the actual number. We employ a dynamic-based approach to calibrate the accumulated clinically diagnosed data with a sudden jump on February 12 and 13. The model simulation shows reasonably good match with the adjusted data which allows the prediction of the cumulative confirmed cases. Numerical results reveal that the "Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism" played a significant role on the containment of COVID-19. The spread of COVID-19 cannot be inhibited if any of the measures was not effectively implemented. Our analysis also illustrates that the Fangcang Shelter Hospitals are very helpful when the beds in the designated hospitals are insufficient. Comprised with Fangcang Shelter Hospitals, the designated hospitals can contain the transmission of COVID-19 more effectively. Our findings suggest that the combined multiple measures are essential to curb an ongoing epidemic if the prevention and control measures can be fully implemented.

Thought on Establishing the Joint Prevention, Control and Disposal Mechanism of Medical Waste under the COVID-19 Epidemic

A range of shortcomings was exposed in China's medical waste disposal capabilities in responding to public health emergencies under outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) epidemic. Especially, the traditional medical waste disposal capacity allocation and the prevention and control mechanism oriented to 'a single city' have been far from meeting the needs of medical waste disposal and management during the emergency period. Therefore, suggestions on establishing the regional joint prevention, control and disposal mechanism of medical waste were put forward in this paper with reference to the ideas of China's existing regional joint prevention and control mechanism for air and water pollution, which covered the aspects of establishment of coordinating agencies, cross-regional collaborative disposal, cross-regional joint response to emergencies, cross-regional collaborative management and effectiveness evaluation. © 2021 The authors and IOS Press.

The impact of COVID-19 on urban PM2.5 -taking Hubei Province as an example.

In January 2020, China implemented strict lockdown measures due to the invasion of the new coronavirus, which led to a sharp decline in the contribution of anthropogenic fine particulate matter (PM2.5). The special period of COVID-19, especially in Hubei where the epidemic was the most severe, provides excellent research conditions for studying the contribution of anthropogenic activities to PM2.5 concentrations. We used an optimized deep learning model to predict PM2.5 concentration during the epidemic period in the cities of Hubei Province. The contributions of local anthropogenic activities to PM2.5 pollution were obtained by contrasting the predicted results with actual site observations. However, a strange phenomenon was revealed that Yichang, a city with low local anthropogenic contribution to PM2.5, was found to have severe haze in winter conflicting with our previous expectations. After further research, we found that an increased conversion of secondary aerosols caused by long-distance transport of pollutant gases from the northern region is the main cause of winter haze pollution in this city. This finding highlights the importance of joint regional prevention and control of air pollution.

Prevention schemes for future pandemic cases: mathematical model and experience of interurban multi-agent COVID-19 epidemic prevention.

To enhance the effectiveness of epidemic prevention (EP) in urban sustainability transformation, joint prevention and control mechanism should be established to prevent and control the COVID-19 epidemic. The interurban multi-agent EP strategy, as a key component of this mechanism, includes the spontaneous EP model, the superior leading EP model, and the collaborative EP model. In this study, firstly, the theoretical mechanism of the interurban multi-agent EP strategy was analyzed. Then, we proposed a three-party differential game model including factors such as the risk coefficient for the virus infection and EP experience teaching. Finally, prevention strategies, prevention efficiency, and prevention losses were compared under the three models based on theoretical analysis and numerical analysis. The results of this study are as follows. COVID-19 EP should be guided by a model of central government (CG) leadership, interurban collaboration, and social participation. The CG and urban governments (UGs) should comprehensively carry out COVID-19 EP from various aspects, including EP experience teaching, mass EP comfort, the utilization rate of EP funds, and the ability to implement strategies. During the course of the COVID-19 EP, when the CG and UGs transition from spontaneous EP model to a higher-level EP model, the UG's EP efforts will be enhanced. Under the collaborative EP model, the CG and UGs undergo the highest levels of EP effort. Compared with spontaneous EP model, the superior leading EP model can promote a Pareto improvement for all parties. From the perspective of total loss, the collaborative EP model is superior to the other two EP models. This study not only provides practical guidance for coordinating interurban relationships and enabling multi-agents to fully form joint forces, but also provides theoretical support for the establishment of an interurban joint EP mechanism under unified leadership.