Disaster preparedness has focussed on acute impact, mass casualty incidents. In early 2020 CALHNs largest hospital the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) was appointed as the state primary COVID-19 adult receiving hospital. Between the period of 1st February 2020 when the first COVID-19 positive patient was admitted, through to 31st December 2020 the RAH had admitted 146 inpatients with COVID-19, 118 admitted to our hospital in the home service, 18 patients admitted to Intensive Care and four patients died whilst inpatients. During this time CALHN has sustained an active (physical and virtual) Network Incident Command Centre (NICC) supported by a Network Incident Management Team (NIMT).

This paper describes our key lessons learnt in relation to the management of a campaign style disaster response including the importance of disaster preparedness, fatigue management and communication. Also described were the challenges of operating in a command model and the role of exercising and education and an overview of our operating rhythm, how we built capability and lessons management.

Undertaking a longer duration disaster response, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that whilst traditional disaster principles still are important there are many nuances that need to be considered to retain a proportionate response. Our key lessons have revolved around the key tenants of disaster management, communication, capability, and governance.

The COVID-19 second wave badly affected India. This study assessed public preparedness and attitude towards a new lockdown in the state of West Bengal (WB) along with perception about the COVID pandemic situation.

An anonymous questionnaire was administered to all willing adult attendees of a COVID vaccination centre in Kolkata, capital city of WB. Logistic regression was applied to find the relationship between attitude towards lockdown and other selected independent variables.

Of 839 persons analysed, 72.0% were non-health workers; 55.4% thought that available vaccines reduce COVID-19 risk. Among them, 54.4% wanted stricter guidelines for imposition. For preparedness, 42.6% and 28.8% said they would stock additional food and medicines respectively. On multiple logistic regression, being female, having elderly family members, perceiving the second wave as worse and favouring stricter restrictions all had odds of favourable attitude towards the new, proposed lockdown.

A new lockdown was favoured by the majority. However, a well-planned and phased approach for this is needed in the light of many concerns about the previous lockdown. Mental health issues, financial security, medical help at hand and ease of travel to workplace are important issues that need to be addressed in case of future lockdown(s).

obesity is a risk factor for various diseases and can affect the disease course. Studies have shown detrimental effects of obesity on patients affected with SARS-CoV-2 including increased hospitalization and more severe disease. This study aims to investigate effects of obesity on symptom duration in patients with COVID-19 and investigate possibility of using BMI as a predictor of symptom duration in outpatient settings.

patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between June and October 2020 who had no other comorbidities and were planned to receive treatment in the outpatient setting were enrolled in the study. Duration of the symptoms was determined based on participants’ self-report of their symptoms. Linear regression was used to create predictive models based on participants’ BMI, age, sex, disease presentation, and their self-reported symptom duration.

210 patients were included in the final analysis. Patients with higher BMI had significantly longer symptom duration. Linear regression models showed highest correlation between BMI and symptom duration compared to other covariates.

low error in predictions and high coverage of data variability showed BMI can be used as a predictive factor for symptom duration in COVID-19 patients treated in outpatient settings.

Food security during public health emergencies relies on situational awareness of needs and resources. Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized situational awareness during crises, allowing the allocation of resources to needs through machine learning algorithms. Limited research exists monitoring Twitter for changes in the food security-related public discourse during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to address that gap with AI by classifying food security topics on Twitter and showing topic frequency per day.

Tweets were scraped from Twitter from January 2020 through December 2021 using food security keywords. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling was performed, followed by time-series analyses on topic frequency per day.

237,107 tweets were scraped and classified into topics, including food needs and resources, emergency preparedness and response, and mental/physical health. After the WHO’s pandemic declaration, there were relative increases in topic density per day regarding food pantries, food banks, economic and food security crises, essential services, and emergency preparedness advice. Threats to food security in Tigray emerged in 2021.

AI is a powerful yet underused tool to monitor food insecurity on social media. Machine learning tools to improve emergency response should be prioritized, along with measurement of impact. Further food insecurity word patterns testing, as generated by this research, with supervised machine learning models can accelerate the uptake of these tools by policymakers and aid organizations.

We aimed to examine how public health policies influenced the dynamics of COVID-19 time-varying reproductive number (Rt) in South Carolina from February 26, 2020 to January 1, 2021.

COVID-19 case series (March 6, 2020 - January 10, 2021) were shifted by 9 days to approximate the infection date. We analyzed the effects of state and county policies on Rt using EpiEstim. We performed linear regression to evaluate if per-capita cumulative case count varies across counties with different population size.

Rt shifted from 2-3 in March to <1 during April and May. Rt rose over the summer and stayed between 1.4 and 0.7. The introduction of statewide mask mandates was associated with a decline in Rt (-15.3%; 95% CrI, -13.6%, -16.8%), and school re-opening, an increase by 12.3% (95% CrI, 10.1%, 14.4%). Less densely populated counties had higher attack rate (p<0.0001).

The Rt dynamics over time indicated that public health interventions substantially slowed COVID-19 transmission in South Carolina, while their relaxation may have promoted further transmission. Policies encouraging people to stay home, such as closing non-essential businesses, were associated with Rt reduction, while policies that encouraged more movement, such as re-opening schools, were associated with Rt increase.

The objective of this research is to identify sociodemographic predictors of depression for a rural population in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to enhance mental health disaster preparedness.

This study uses t-tests to differentiate between gender and ethnicity groups regarding depression status; binary logistic regression to identify socio-demographic characteristics that predict depression status; and t-test to differentiate between average depression scores, measured by the PHQ-9, pre-COVID-19 pandemic (2019) and after it’s start (2020).

Results indicate men were less likely than women to report depression. Clients who identified as Latinx/Hispanic were 2.8 times more likely than non-Hispanics to report depression and clients who did not reside in public housing were 19.9% less likely to report depression. There was a statistically significant difference between mean PHQ-9 scores pre- and post-pandemic, with pre-pandemic scores lower on average, with a small effect size.

Building on findings from this study, we propose ways to increase rural access to mental health services, through equitable access to telemedicine, to meet the needs of rural clients to increase disaster preparedness.

To assess feasibility and acceptability of implementing non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) reserved for influenza pandemics (voluntary home quarantine; use of face masks by ill persons; childcare facility closures; school closures; and social distancing at schools, workplaces, and mass gatherings).

Public health officials in all 50 states, Washington, DC, and 8 territories, and a random sample of 822 local health departments (LHDs) were surveyed in 2019.

The response rates for the states/territories and LHDs were 75% (44/59) and 25% (206/822), respectively. The majority of the state/territorial respondents stated that the feasibility and acceptability of implementing NPIs were high, except for K-12 school closures lasting up to 6 weeks or 6 months. The LHD respondents also indicated that feasibility and acceptability were lowest for prolonged school closures. Compared to LHD respondents in suburban or urban areas, those in rural areas expressed lower feasibility and acceptability. Barriers to implementing NPIs included financial impact, compliance and difficulty in enforcement, perceived level of disease threat, and concerns regarding political implications.

Proactive strategies to systematically address perceived barriers and promote disease prevention ahead of a new pandemic are needed to increase receptivity and consistent adoption of NPIs and other evidence-based countermeasures.

Literature investigating the change in psychological problems of the healthcare workers (HCWs) throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is lacking. We aimed at comparing the psychological problems and attitudes towards work among them over two waves of the COVID 19 pandemic in India.

A survey was conducted involving HCWs (n=305, first-wave, 2020; n=325, second wave, 2021). Participants’ demographic- and professional- and psychological characteristics (using attitude towards COVID-19 questionnaire [ATCQ]; Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale – 21 Items and impact of event scale-22) were recorded. The unpaired ‘t-test/chi-square test was used for comparison.

A significant improvement in level of depression (42.2% vs 9.6%), anxiety (41.3% vs 16.3%), stress (30.1% vs 6.7%), event-related stress symptoms (31.2% vs 27%), work-related stress (89.8% vs 76.8%), and stigma (25.9% vs 22.8, though marginally significant) (χ2(1) =7.3 to 45.6, p<0.05) were found among the participants of the second wave (vs. first wave). However, on subgroup analysis, allied-HCWs (housekeeping staff, and security personnel) reported lesser concerns over the domains of the KAQ vis-a-viz frontline-HCWs [doctors and nurses].

This improvement could be attributed to greater awareness about the illness, better coping skills, vaccination, etc, however, more research is warranted to investigate these determinants.

The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and carry out epidemiology using sociodemographic data from patients with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) in three bordering Brazilian municipalities.

An epidemiological survey of positive cases of COVID-19 through RT-PCR was carried out in 1874 patients, seen in the Unified Health System (SUS), aged between 0-99 years, who had symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, from the cities of Assis Chateaubriand, Tupãssi, and Formosa do Oeste.

It was possible to observe that of the 1874 patients seen in the public health network of the three municipalities, 354 were diagnosed as positive. The predominance of cases was in female patients (51.97%) and in patients who lived in urban areas (93.50%), and the predominant age group was 20-29 years (19.78%).

The result of this study demonstrated the epidemiological profile of patients with respiratory and flu-like symptoms, positive for COVID-19, in three municipalities bordering Paraguay and Argentina. It was evident that the age group has its specificities regarding the susceptibility of the infection. Although the borders are closed, there was probably a spread of the virus in this region, due to the diversion, which showed an increase during the pandemic period.

During the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), individuals’ compliance with protective behaviors remains the most effective strategy to break the infection chain and prevent disease, even with vaccines’ availability and usage. Understanding protective behaviors within the Jordanian context will shape health promotion campaigns and guide decision-makers to facilitate required resources and support Jordanian citizens.

Identify personal protective (preventive and avoidant) measures used by the Jordanian population during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect themselves from infection.

A cross-sectional study with an exploratory, descriptive design was used to collect data using an online self-reported questionnaire from Jordanian people. The survey included the Protection from Infection Scale and the Infection Avoidance Scale.

A total sample of 1053 Jordanian citizens were included in the study. The participants exhibited a moderate level of self-care behaviors and high levels of protective and infection avoidance behaviors. Their most common behaviors were getting enough sleep, wearing masks, washing hands, and avoiding travel to infected areas. Contrariwise, the least adopted behaviors were exercising, wearing gloves, and leaving their jobs or schools.

During pandemics, policymakers must understand public concerns and protective behaviors, then provide them with tailored education through health promotion campaigns to enhance healthy behaviors.

The front-line nurses are at risk of physical and psychological damage during an epidemic. This study aimed to investigate the level of nurses’ fear in COVID-19 Central Hospitals in Iran.

The study is cross-sectional. The questionnaire was designed in two parts (demographic and the level of fear). The sampling method was quota and random. The questionnaires were completed by the same nurses after four weeks.

A total of 345 questionnaires were distributed (the response rate was 89.27%). 121 nurses (39.3%) were female. Most participants were in the 26-30 years group. paired t-test showed the mean fear of COVID-19 in the first and the fourth weeks was significant (P <0.001). There was a statistical relationship between demographic variables of gender, age, marriage, number of working shifts, having children, and work experience of nurses with the level of fear.

Healthcare providers have shown resilience and a spirit of professional sacrifice to overcome problems. The nurses experienced a level of disease-related fear in close contact with COVID-19 patients. It is essential to apply strategies to optimize safe working conditions and minimize psychological harm and provide regular and intensive training to all health care providers to improve preparedness.

To compare injury patterns of different types of explosions.

A retrospective study of 4,508 patients hospitalized due to explosions recorded in the Israeli National Trauma Registry between January 1997 and December 2018. The events were divided into four groups: terror-related, war-related, civilian intentional and civilian unintentional explosions. The groups were compared in terms of injuries sustained, utilization of hospital resources and clinical outcomes.

Civilian intentional and terror-related explosions were found to be similar in most aspects except for factors directly influencing mortality and a larger volume of severely injured body regions among terror-victims. Comparisons between other groups produced some parallels, albeit less consistent. Civilian intentional and civilian unintentional explosions were different from each other in most aspects. The latter group also differed from others by its high volume of life-threatening burns and a higher proportion of children casualties.

While consistent similarities between explosion casualties exist, especially between victims of intentional civilian and terror-related explosions, the general rule is that clinical experience with on type of explosions cannot be directly transferred to other types.