Recommendations for mitigation:
Short term:
- Divert resources from contact tracing and surveillance to case management and restoration of routine services
- Enforce physical distancing, consistent use of masks/ PPE, hygiene measures
- Implement compliance-linked permissions to operate businesses and services
- Consider scheduling services/ businesses on specific days of the week to minimize crowding
- Enforce mobility restrictions in public spaces (limit the number of people permitted outside at the same time)
- Resume transport services with restrictions on number of passengers
- Stagger the reopening of educational institutions
- Defer sports and entertainment events (or conduct them fully online- advertising revenue will be available; viewers may be charged an access fee as well)
Long term (preparedness):
- Invest in developing public health systems and primary health care
- Establish surveillance systems designed to deal with a pandemic situation
- Test pandemic preparedness from time to time
- Establish norms for businesses, services and education that require pandemic planning
Attributions:
Figures 1 and 2 have been sourced from:
‘Pandemics: Risks, Impacts, and Mitigation’ by Nita Madhav and others in ‘Disease control priorities, 3rd Edition’, available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK525289/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK525289.pdf
The featured image has been sourced from https://www.ghsindex.org and represents pandemic preparedness of various countries in October 2019.
Useful Links and further reading:
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1471-2458-13-211
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04795.pdf
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1471-2458-13-211
https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(20)30567-5.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6352812/pdf/bmjgh-2018-001157.pdf
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