CMAAO
CORONA FACTS and MYTH BUSTER 46
Dr K K Aggarwal
President Confederation of Medical
Associations of Asia and Oceania
471: Is there a link with long term pollution and
COVID mortality
A new study was
made public this week that sheds light on the connection between COVID-19
health impacts and air pollution.
Dr. Francesca
Dominici, author and Director of the Data Science Initiative at Harvard’s T.H.
Chan School of Public Health : People living in counties in the US that have
experienced a higher level of air pollution over the past 15–17 years have a
substantially higher COVID-19 mortality rate. One unit increase in long-term
average exposure to fine particulate matter is associated with a 15% increase
in COVID-19 mortality rate on average in the analysis.
A one unit increase in long-term exposure to PM2.5 leads to a 15%
increase in COVID-19 mortality rate with a magnitude that is 20 times that of
PM2.5 and all-cause mortality (which is 0.7%).
So, in the Medicare study [Di et al, 2017], we report that a one
unit increase in long-term exposure to PM2.5 is associated with a 0.7% increase
in all-cause mortality. In this study, we have that one unit associated with a
15% increase in COVID-19 mortality so the relationship between PM2.5 and COVID
mortality is 20 times stronger than the relationship between PM2.5 and
all-cause mortality.
472: What is the mortality in India
3.4%
473: Can this be linked to high pollution
ratews in the air
One can only postulate
474: when will social distancing end
When the following conditions are met:
- When the number of new infections in states and regions start go
down over time
- When we have a massive ability to diagnose cases through testing
- When proper equipment, like masks and other personal protective
equipment are fully available for doctors, nurses, and hospital staff so
that the sick can be cared for safely and effectively
- When hospitals have all of the equipment they need like beds,
ventilators, and are fully prepared for new cases
- When a robust public health infrastructure is in place to identify
new cases and trace contacts to prevent spread and contain new outbreaks
475: Are there phases of social distancing
Yes there
are four phases
476: What is
phase 1
Social distancing is the Phase One, to buy us time
to accomplish the conditions described above.
477: What is
phase 2
Phase 2: If cases do not increase over a 2-week
period.
478: What are the
components of phase 2
Phase 2 allows businesses and schools to reopen
with appropriate physical distancing measures and increasing disinfecting and
cleaning of public spaces. Large gatherings will likely still need to be
limited. High risk people like the elderly and those with medical problems may
still need to limit time outside of the home until there are validated treatments
available. They stress, however, that if at any time cases go up in an
unmanageable way, we would probably need to go back to social distancing.
479: What is
phase 3
Phase 3: Would be a time when we can lift almost
all physical distancing restrictions. This would depend on whether or not our
country has a strong COVID-19 surveillance infrastructure in place to stamp out
any new cases quickly, readily available drug treatments, and potentially a
safe and effective vaccine.
480: What is
phase 4
Phase 4: Is a time when we use all of the lessons
learned from this pandemic to expand public health and health care
infrastructure, along with developing strong emergency preparedness plans to
“rebuild our readiness.” This will help protect us from future threats without
the same severe conditions we have faced during this pandemic.
481: how to
tackle future pandemics
Aggressively implementing Phase Four would probably
allow us to respond to future threats similar to the way South Korea responded
to COVID-19.
482: What is the
time line for each phase
It’s not clear what the timeline would be to move
from one stage to another, some stages could take weeks – others make take
months to years.
483: what is happening in Italy
It is now being estimated that they will have virtually
eliminated new COVID-19 cases by May 16th, 10 weeks after the entire
country went into lockdown.
It took them 4 weeks after lockdown to reach their peak and then show a
sustained decline in the number of cases. It’s still not clear when they
will start easing up their restrictions.
484: what is circuit breaker
Its term sued by Singapore for lock down.
in Singapore On Apr 3,
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced significantly stricter measures to
curb the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore. He likened this to a “circuit breaker”.
485: What is Janta Karphew
India used this term for
lock down on 22nd March
486: What is Movement Control
Order (MCO)”
This is a term
sued by Malaysia for lock down
487:
What is Shelter-in-Place and Stay-at-Home Orders
These are the US terms for lock down
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