RESUMEN
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the world in an unprecedented way, causing enormous loss of life. Time and again, public health authorities have urged people to become vaccinated to protect themselves and mitigate the spread of the disease. However, vaccine hesitancy has stalled vaccination levels in the United States. This study explores the effect of vaccine hesitancy on the spread of disease by introducing an SIRS-V, model, with compartments of susceptible (S), infected (I), recovered (R), and vaccinated (V). We leverage the concept of carrying capacity to account for vaccine hesitancy by defining a vaccine confidence level n, which is the maximum number of people that will become vaccinated during the course of a disease. The inverse of vaccine confidence is vaccine hesitance, W. We explore the equilibria of the SIRSV, model and their stability, and illustrate the impact of vaccine hesitance on epidemic spread analytically and via simulations.
RESUMEN
Background: SARS-CoV-2 infection initially occurred in December 2019 and spread rapidly into a pandemic. The aims of this study were to assess the efficacy of measures taken to minimize intra-hospital transmission of COVID-19 at our hospital. Methods: An outdoor fever screening station and outdoor COVID-19 screening station were initially set up to isolate people with suspected COVID-19 infection from those within the hospital. Another outdoor outpatient department (OPD) was set up later in the pandemic for people visiting the hospital following 14 days of quarantine, during the next 15 to 30 days, or residents from high incidence areas. Rogers' model of diffusion of innovations was applied to the promotion of COVID-19 vaccination. Results: From 18 March 2020 to 17 April 2020,10 newly confirmed cases at our hospital were detected at the outdoor COVID-19 screening station, and no health care workers (HCWs) in the hospital contracted COVID-19. From May 2021 to November 2021 during the outbreak in Taiwan, there were 191 confirmed cases and 2 HCWs had COVID-19. Promoting COVID-19 vaccination led to 98.2% of employees receiving two doses by November 2021 and zero COVID-19 infection in HCWs from June to the end of November 2021. Conclusion: Having outdoor fever and COVID-19 screening stations and an "outdoor OPD" service to isolate patients suspected of or at risk of COVID-19 were effective strategies to minimize the risk of intra-hospital transmission. Promotion using Rogers' model resulted in nearly all employees receiving two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Copyright (c) 2022, Taiwan Society of Geriatric Emergency & Critical Care Medicine.
RESUMEN
Purpose: The rates of emotional distress have risen in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study assessed the emotional distress of adolescents and young adults in Hong Kong and mainland China in the first year of the pandemic and tested whether spirituality was a protective factor against this emotional distress. Design/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional data were collected in two samples of students aged 17–25 in Hong Kong (N = 503) and 13–20 in mainland China (N = 649). Participants completed the Spiritual Health and Life Orientation Measure (SHALOM) to evaluate their spiritual health (personal-communal, environmental and transcendental domains) and the short form of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) to assess their emotional distress. Findings: Based on the DASS-21 scores, there was a high rate of adolescents and young adults categorized as showing extremely severe symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in both Hong Kong and mainland China. Structural equation modeling showed that in both the Hong Kong and mainland China samples the personal and communal and environmental domains of spiritual health were significantly and negatively correlated with all three forms of emotional distress. However, transcendental spiritual health was uncorrelated with psychological distress in Hong Kong and positively correlated with psychological distress in mainland China. Research limitations/implications: The high rate of severe emotional distress in this sample of adolescents and young adults under COVID-19, and the fact that not all aspects of spiritual health protected again psychological distress are cause for concern, with implications for government, education systems and students. Originality/value: Healthy spirituality can be found among youths who are upbeat, self-confident, optimistic and constructive and have also been shown to have a higher quality of life in the form of mental, physical and psychological health. The present study is the first study to examine the spiritual and mental health of high school and university students under the impact of COVID-19 in mainland China and in Hong Kong. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.