This literature-based article found that on 08 June 2020, New Zealand claimed victory over coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mainly because of effective non-pharmaceutical strategies and interventions that included a hard lockdown. The response was informed by the country's Influenza Pandemic Plan (although without criticism), which was updated in 2017, and the swift responses from political leadership and other key stakeholders. Strategies instituted included the proclamation of urgent precautionary measures leading to border closures, issuing of a 3-month-long COVID-19 notice under the 2006, the proclamation of the COVID-19 Elimination Strategy and the Initial COVID-19 Māori Response Action Plan, which incorporated COVID-19 Alert Levels that facilitated stepwise easing of the hard lockdown. The non-pharmaceutical strategies seem to have worked again, even as the second wave of COVID-19 infections returned in August 2020 through an Auckland cluster. Hence, the New Zealand case remains one that the world can draw lessons from, although not perfect.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v12i1.1010 | DOI Listing |
Viruses
December 2024
State Public Health Laboratory, Zapopan 45170, Jalisco, Mexico.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic profoundly disrupted the epidemiology of respiratory viruses, driven primarily by widespread non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as social distancing and masking. This eight-year retrospective study examines the seasonal patterns and incidence of influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and other respiratory viruses across pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic phases in Jalisco, Mexico. Weekly case counts were analyzed using an interrupted time series (ITS) model, segmenting the timeline into these three distinct phases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntioxidants (Basel)
December 2024
Medical Innovation Research Center, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu 520-2192, Shiga, Japan.
Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is characterized by deterioration in cognitive function and neuronal death, is the most prevalent age-related progressive neurodegenerative disease. Clinical and experimental research has revealed that gut microbiota dysbiosis may be present in AD patients. The changed gut microbiota affects brain function and behavior through several mechanisms, including tau phosphorylation and increased amyloid deposits, neuroinflammation, metabolic abnormalities, and persistent oxidative stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Microbiol Immunol Infect
December 2024
Department of Internal Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan. Electronic address:
Background: This study analyzed the epidemiological trends of three significant respiratory infectious diseases in Taiwan: invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), influenza with severe complications, and tuberculosis during post-COVID-19 pandemic period.
Methods: We utilized data from Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website and classified the COVID-19 prevention policies into three phases for the year 2021, 2022, and 2023. We then performed a statistical analysis of reported case numbers for the three respiratory diseases during the 3-year period using the Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by joinpoint regression model for the identification of seasonal distribution and variation.
Inj Prev
January 2025
Traffic Injury Research Foundation, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Introduction: Understanding the impact of non-pharmaceutical COVID-19 interventions (NPIs) on road safety has become increasingly important to uncover the unintended consequences of the pandemic. This study explores how NPIs influenced alcohol-related and speed-related traffic collisions, including fatalities and serious injuries, in five cities of the province of Québec, Canada: Montréal, Québec, Laval, Longueuil and Sherbrooke.
Methods: We performed Poisson interrupted time-series analyses using daily traffic fatality and injury data from 2015 to 2022, to assess the change in rate expressed per 10 000 population.
Sci Rep
December 2024
DIME, University of Genova, via all'Opera Pia 15, 16145, Genova, Italy.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, effective public policy interventions have been crucial in combating virus transmission, sparking extensive debate on crisis management strategies and emphasizing the necessity for reliable models to inform governmental decisions, particularly at the local level. Leveraging disaggregated socio-demographic microdata, including social determinants, age-specific strata, and mobility patterns, we design a comprehensive network model of Catalonia's population and, through numerical simulation, assess its response to the outbreak of COVID-19 over the two-year period 2020-21. Our findings underscore the critical importance of timely implementation of broad non-pharmaceutical measures and effective vaccination campaigns in curbing virus spread; in addition, the identification of high-risk groups and their corresponding maps of connections within the network paves the way for tailored and more impactful interventions.
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