Association between time of onset and Omicron BA.2 RNA clearance time in children: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: The association between the time of onset [time from the date of detection of a positive real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to the date of detection of a positive RT-PCR in the first child] and viral RNA clearance time (time from first positive RT-PCR to two consecutive negative RT-PCR) remains unclear. Our study aimed to evaluate their association. That can provide a reference for the number of nucleic acid tests. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of children diagnosed with Omicron BA.2 infection at Fujian Medical University Affiliated First Quanzhou Hospital between March 14, 2022 (date the first child in the outbreak was found positive for RT-PCR) and April 9, 2022 (date the last child was found positive for RT-PCR). We used the electronic medical record to extract demographic data, symptoms, radiology and laboratory findings, treatments, and viral RNA clearance time. The 282 children were divided equally into 3 groups according to the time of onset. We calculated the factors affecting viral RNA clearance time by univariate and multivariate analysis. We used the generalized additive model to investigate the relationship between the time of onset and viral RNA clearance time. Results: 46.45% of children were female. Fever (62.06%) and cough (15.60%) were the dominant onset symptoms. We found no serious cases and all children were cured. The median time to viral RNA clearance was 14 days (IQR 12-17 days), with a range of 5 to 35 days. After adjustment for potential confounders, the viral RNA clearance time was reduced by 2.45 (95% CI: 0.85, 4.04) days in the 7-10 days group and by 4.62 (95% CI: 2.38, 6.14) days in > 10 days group compared to the ≤6 days group. There was a non-linear association between the time of onset and viral RNA clearance time. Conclusions: Time of onset was non-linearly associated with Omicron BA.2 RNA clearance time. During the first 10 days of the outbreak, viral RNA clearance time decreased with increasing onset date. After 10 days of the outbreak, viral RNA clearance time did not decrease with increasing onset date.

Intersectionality of race, ethnicity, and culture in neglect, abuse, and violence against older persons: Human rights, global health, and systems approaches in pandemics

Although prevalent in the 1990s, research on social and economic determinants of elder abuse, including race, ethnicity, and culture, has lagged in recent years, compromising understanding of elder abuse as a public health problem calling for systems responses. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the tragic impact of substantial disruptions in access to care across fragmented health systems and community-based settings on vulnerable older adults and, in such crisis conditions, the persistence of both violations of older adults' human rights and historical inequities in their treatment. Older adults have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, particularly older Black/African Americans and Latinx and those living in congregate settings such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and prisons, as reflected in reporting of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. American Indian reservations and indigenous and tribal communities are also struggling with the effects of the pandemic on the health and economic security of their members. The pandemic is exposing challenges that have heretofore been ignored or covered up, or have remained otherwise invisible, such as institutional neglect, poverty, deprivation, and isolation, yet have deepened suffering of older adults. However, little is yet known about older persons' experience of abuse, neglect, and violence during pandemic crisis conditions, such as sheltering-in-place, quarantines or lockdowns, or situations of scarce resources including intensive care unit beds, medical equipment, and personal protective equipment. The risks created by these conditions and their palpable urgency call for critical examination of the contribution of structural inequities to older adults' heightened risk in disaster and post-disaster environments and the disproportionate impact of crisis conditions (Institute of Medicine [IOM], Crisis standards of care: A systems framework for catastrophic disaster response: Volume 1: Introduction and CSC framework. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2012. https://doi.org/10.17226/13351) upon the human rights of diverse older adult populations and communities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

A 14+7 day quarantine period and a dual nucleic acid testing reagent strategy detect potentially indiscoverable Coronavirus disease 2019 infections in Xiamen, China.

BACKGROUND: Determining what quarantine period and detection strategy are more effective and sustainable remains a challenge for further prevention and social stability. METHODS: From October 2020 to December 2021, 290,547 inbound overseas travelers were subject to government quarantine in Xiamen, China. The detection rate of COVID-19 during different quarantine periods using dual or single nucleic acid testing reagents. RESULTS: The COVID-19 positive rate was 1.79% (519/290,547). The detection rates during the 7-day, 14-day and 14+7-day quarantine periods using the dual reagents were 78.4%, 91.7%, and 100%, respectively. The detection rate of the 7-day, 14-day and 14+7-day quarantine periods were 73.99%, 86.51%, and 94.22%, respectively, using the Liferiver reagent and 72.25%, 84.59%, and 91.91%, respectively, using the Daan reagent. Based on the 14+7 day strategy, dual nucleic acid testing reagent strategy detected all imported cases, but 30 cases (5.78%) were not detected via Liferiver reagent and 42 (8.09%) cases not detected via Daan reagent. CONCLUSION: A 14+7-day quarantine period and dual nucleic acid testing reagent strategy are effective screening methods for COVID-19 among inbound overseas travelers. The superior detection rate of these strategies reduce the risk of secondary transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

COVID-19 Public Health Strategy Implementation for the Hospitality Industry in Taiwan

This study attempts to explore the public health strategies that hotels in Taiwan have applied during the covid-19 pandemic crisis. This empirical study develops a list of public health strategy practices from a pilot study using in-depth interviews, followed by a questionnaire survey. The research samples are 4-star and 5-star hotels in Taiwan, which are the most popular hotel choices for domestic and international travellers. Out of 127 hotels, 76 hotel owners, general managers, or executive managers participated in the survey. The findings illustrate the frequency of public health strategies that hotels have used during the coronavirus crisis. It shows that the most popular strategy is strengthening hygiene and cleanliness in hotel operations to offer reassuring lodging services and accommodation products. The results also show there is no significance difference in implementation of the various public health practices regarding hotel location, nationality of main customers, hotel performance, annual f&b revenue, or annual room sales. This study suggests hotels implement public health strategies to limit the spread of disease, regain customers’ trust and promote the hotel during and after the covid-19 pandemic. The paper concludes with recommendations for crisis management and crisis preparation for the hospitality industry.

A Review of COVID-19 Mass Testing in the United Arab Emirates.

Appropriate diagnostic testing to identify persons infected with SARS-COV-2 is a vital part of a health system's ability to control the global pandemic of COVID-19 disease. The primary purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the mass testing strategy implemented throughout the UAE and the overall impact it has made on containing and controlling the spread of the disease. This study describes the mass testing strategy and capacity of the UAE during the pandemic of the new coronavirus SARS-COV-2. The UAE has conducted 15 million polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to SARS-COV-2, as of 15 November 2020. The number of tests per day varied from 10,000 by the end of March to 120,000 tests per day in November 2020. The mass testing initiative across the entire UAE forms an integral part of a bigger strategy focusing on testing, tracing contacts and isolating positive cases.

Employing medical anthropology approach as an additional public health strategy in promoting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Bhutan.

Bhutan has been commended for their COVID-19 vaccination campaign, in which the country became the fastest in the world to inoculate nearly all of its adult population in just a few weeks. As a profoundly religious Buddhist kingdom in South Asia, the country successfully utilized a very unique strategy in promoting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance nationwide. Bhutan incorporated religion, culture, and tradition in their campaign wherein the royal government collaborated with the Zhung Dratsang, the country's central monastic body, in deciding the most auspicious day for the launch of their vaccination rollout by avoiding the one-month long Dana, selecting the first person to be vaccinated in accordance to the Buddhist astrology, and leading the country in chanting the Sangay Menlha, a mantra believed by many as a powerful prayer in warding off diseases. The launch turned out as a feast for all Bhutanese since it seemingly marked the beginning of the last phase of their COVID-19 struggle. Incorporating medical anthropology in public health approaches can greatly influence the public, especially when the people are deeply rooted in folk beliefs. This unique strategy can be emulated by many localities with strong influence of cultural traditions and folk beliefs.

A comparison of COVID-19 epidemiological indicators in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland.

Aims: To compare the early impact of COVID-19 infections and mortality from February to July 2020 across the Nordic nations of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland through available public data sources and conduct a descriptive analysis of the potential factors that drove different epidemiological outcomes, with a focus on Sweden's response. Methods: COVID-19 cases, deaths, tests, case age distribution, and the difference between 2020 all-cause mortality and the average mortality of the previous 5 years were compared across nations. Patterns in cell phone mobility data, testing strategies, and seniors' care home deaths were also compared. Data for each nation were based on publicly available sources as of July 31, 2020. Results: Compared with its Nordic peers, Sweden had a higher incidence rate across all ages, a higher COVID-19-related death rate only partially explained by population demographics, a higher death rate in seniors' care, and higher all-cause mortality. Sweden had approximately half as much mobility change as its Nordic neighbours until April and followed similar rates as its neighbours from April to July. Denmark led its Nordic peers in testing rates, while Sweden had the highest cumulative test-positivity rate continuously from mid-March. Conclusions: COVID-19 pushed Sweden's health system to its capacity, exposed systemic weaknesses in the seniors' care system, and revealed challenges with implementing effective contact tracing and testing strategies while experiencing a high case burden. Looser government restrictions at the beginning of the outbreak are likely to have played a role in the impact of COVID-19 in Sweden. In an effort to improve epidemic control, Sweden has increased testing rates, implemented more restrictive prevention measures, and increased their intensive care unit bed capacity.

A Look Behind the Scenes at COVID-19: National Strategies of Infection Control and Their Impact on Mortality.

(1) Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began spreading across the globe in December and, as of 9 July 2020, had inflicted more than 550,000 deaths. Public health measures implemented to control the outbreak caused socio-economic havoc in many countries. The pandemic highlighted the quality of health care systems, responses of policymakers in harmony with the population, and socio-economic resilience factors. We suggest that different national strategies had an impact on mortality and case count. (2) Methods: We collected fatality data for 17 countries until 2 June 2020 from public data and associated these with implemented containment measures. (3) Results: The outcomes present the effectiveness of control mechanisms in mitigating the virus for selected countries and the UAE as a special case. Pre-existing conditions defined the needed public health strategies and fatality numbers. Other pre-existing conditions, such as temperature, humidity, median age, and low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations played minor roles and may have had no direct impact on fatality rates. (4) Conclusions: Prevention, fast containment, adequate public health strategies, and importance of indoor environments were determining factors in mitigating the pandemic. Development of public health strategies adapted to pre-existing conditions for each country and community compliance with implemented policies ensure the successful control of pandemics.