Articles: coronavirus.
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Environmental research · Dec 2020
An index to quantify environmental risk of exposure to future epidemics of the COVID-19 and similar viral agents: Theory and practice.
In the presence of the novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and other new viral agents, one of the fundamental problems in science is the evaluation of environmental and social weaknesses of cities/regions to the exposure of infectious diseases for preventing and/or containing new COVID-19 outbreaks and the diffusion of other viral agents that generate a negative impact on public health and economy of countries. The current monitoring of transmission dynamics of infectious diseases is mainly based on reproduction number (R0) and fatality rates. However, this approach is a real-time monitoring of transmission dynamics for mitigating the numbers of COVID-19 related infected individuals and deaths. ⋯ Index c has a range from 1 (environmental and social weakness of urban areas leading to high levels of exposure to infectious diseases) to 0 (environment that reduces the risk of exposure to infectious diseases in society). The statistical evidence here, applied on case study of Italy, seems in general to support the predictive capacity of the Index c as a particularly simple but superior indicator in detecting the global correlation between potential risk of exposure of cities/regions to infectious diseases and actual risk given by infected individuals and deaths of the COVID-19. The Index c can support a proactive environmental strategy to help policymakers to prevent future pandemics similar to the COVID-19.
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Emergency departments (EDs) need to be prepared to manage crises and disasters in both the short term and the long term. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated a rapid overhaul of several aspects of ED operations in preparation for a sustained response. ⋯ A crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic requires careful planning to facilitate urgent restructuring of many aspects of an ED. By sharing our departments' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope other departments can better prepare for this crisis and the next.
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Since its original report in January 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has rapidly become one of the deadliest global pandemics. Early reports indicate possible neurological manifestations associated with COVID-19, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe, highly variable prevalence rates, and uncertainty regarding causal or coincidental occurrence of symptoms. As neurological involvement of any systemic disease is frequently associated with adverse effects on morbidity and mortality, obtaining accurate and consistent global data on the extent to which COVID-19 may impact the nervous system is urgently needed. ⋯ In this manuscript, we share the specific data elements, definitions, and rationale for the adult and pediatric CDEs for Tier 1 of the GCS-NeuroCOVID consortium, as well as the translated versions adapted for use in Latin America. Global efforts are underway to further harmonize CDEs with other large consortia studying neurological and general aspects of COVID-19 infections. Ultimately, the GCS-NeuroCOVID consortium network provides a critical infrastructure to systematically capture data in current and future unanticipated disasters and disease outbreaks.
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Observational Study
How COVID-19 has affected emergent visits to a Latin-American trauma department: Experience at a Peruvian national trauma referral center.
By May 2020, Peru was the country with the third most COVID-19 cases in the Americas. The current study's overall aim was to examine the impact of the current COVID-19 outbreak on the number of non-COVID-related patient presentations to a major national emergency traumatology/orthopedics referral center in Latin America. ⋯ At our hospital, not all indications for traumatology/orthopedics service utilization declined despite the national government's directive to reduce non-COVID-related consultations and admissions. Some disorders presented with even greater frequency, which must be considered when developing contingencies for the reallocation of healthcare resources during a pandemic.
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Historical Article
Plagues, pandemics and epidemics in Irish history prior to COVID-19 (coronavirus): what can we learn?
This paper seeks to provide a brief overview of epidemics and pandemics in Irish history and to identify any lessons that might be useful in relation to psychiatry in the context of COVID-19. ⋯ Even today, a full century after the Spanish flu pandemic, people with mental illness remain at increased risk of poor physical health, so it is imperative that multi-disciplinary care continues during the current outbreak of COVID-19, despite the manifest difficulties involved. The histories of previous epidemics and pandemics clearly demonstrate that good communication and solidarity matter, now more than ever, especially for people with mental illness.