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Public Health Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic Reduce the Spread of Other Respiratory Infectious Diseases.

ABSTRACT: Background: Public health measures (such as wearing masks, physical distancing, and isolation) have significantly reduced the spread of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), but the impact of public health measures on other respiratory infectious diseases is unclear. Objective: To assess the correlation between public health measures and the incidence of respiratory infectious diseases in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We collected the data from the National Health and Construction Commission in China on the number of patients with six respiratory infectious diseases (measles, tuberculosis, pertussis, scarlet fever, influenza, and mumps) from 2017 to 2020 and assessed the correlation between public health measures and the incidence of respiratory infectious diseases. Finally, we used the data of the six respiratory infectious diseases in 2021 to verify our results. Results: We found public health measures significantly reduced the incidence of measles (p = 0.002), tuberculosis (p = 0.002), pertussis (p = 0.004), scarlet fever (p = 0.002), influenza (p = 0.034), and mumps (p = 0.002) in 2020, and prevented seasonal peaks. Moreover, the effects of public health measures were most marked during the peak seasons for these infections. Of the six respiratory infectious diseases considered, tuberculosis was least affected by public health measures. Conclusion: Public health measures were very effective in reducing the incidence of respiratory infectious diseases, especially when the respiratory infectious diseases would normally have been at their peak.

SUBMITTER: Hu CY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8631357 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Public Health Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic Reduce the Spread of Other Respiratory Infectious Diseases.

Hu Cheng-Yi CY Tang Yu-Wen YW Su Qi-Min QM Lei Yi Y Cui Wen-Shuai WS Zhang Yan-Yan YY Zhou Yan Y Li Xin-Yan XY Wang Zhong-Fang ZF Zhao Zhu-Xiang ZX

Frontiers in public health 20211110

Background: Public health measures (such as wearing masks, physical distancing, and isolation) have significantly reduced the spread of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), but the impact of public health measures on other respiratory infectious diseases is unclear. Objective: To assess the correlation between public health measures and the incidence of respiratory infectious diseases in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We collected the data from the National ...[more]

PMID: 34858936

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Project description:ImportanceInfectious conjunctivitis is highly transmissible and a public health concern. While mitigation strategies have been successful on a local level, population-wide decreases in spread are rare.ObjectiveTo evaluate whether internet search interest and emergency department visits for infectious conjunctivitis were associated with public health interventions adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design, setting, and participantsInternet search data from the US and emergency department data from a single academic center in the US were used in this study. Publicly available smartphone mobility data were temporally aligned to quantify social distancing. Internet search term trends for nonallergic conjunctivitis, corneal abrasions, and posterior vitreous detachments were obtained. Additionally, all patients who presented to a single emergency department from February 2015 to February 2021 were included in a review. Physician notes for emergency department visits at a single academic center with the same diagnoses were extracted. Causal inference was performed using a bayesian structural time-series model. Data were compared from before and after April 2020, when the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended members of the public wear masks, stay at least 6 feet from others who did not reside in the same home, avoid crowds, and quarantine if experiencing flulike symptoms or exposure to persons with COVID-19 symptoms.ExposuresSymptoms of or interest in conjunctivitis in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.Main outcome and measuresThe hypothesis was that there would be a decrease in internet search interest and emergency department visits for infectious conjunctivitis after the adaptation of public health measures targeted to curb COVID-19.ResultsA total of 1156 emergency department encounters with a diagnosis of conjunctivitis were noted from January 2015 to February 2021. Emergency department encounters for nonallergic conjunctivitis decreased by 37.3% (95% CI, -12.9% to -60.6%; P < .001). In contrast, encounters for corneal abrasion (1.1% [95% CI, -29.3% to 29.1%]; P = .47) and posterior vitreous detachments (7.9% [95% CI, -46.9% to 66.6%]; P = .39) remained stable after adjusting for total emergency department encounters. Search interest in conjunctivitis decreased by 34.2% (95% CI, -30.6% to -37.6%; P < .001) after widespread implementation of public health interventions to mitigate COVID-19.Conclusions and relevancePublic health interventions, such as social distancing, increased emphasis on hygiene, and travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, were associated with decreased search interest in nonallergic conjunctivitis and conjunctivitis-associated emergency department encounters. Mobility data may provide novel metrics of social distancing. These data provide evidence of a sustained population-wide decrease in infectious conjunctivitis.

Project description:With the rapid development of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are trying to cope with increasing medical demands, and, at the same time, to reduce the increase of infected numbers by implementing a number of public health measures, namely non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). These public health measures can include social distancing, frequent handwashing, and personal protective equipment (PPE) at the personal level; at the community and the government level, these measures can range from canceling activities, avoiding mass gatherings, closing facilities, and, at the extreme, enacting national or provincial lockdowns. Rather than completely stopping the infectious disease, the major purpose of these NPIs in facing an emerging infectious disease is to reduce the contact rate within the population, and reduce the spread of the virus until the time a vaccine or reliable medications become available. The idea is to avoid a surge of patients with severe symptoms beyond the capacity of the hospitals' medical resources, which would lead to more mortality and morbidity. While many countries have experienced steep curves in new cases, some, including Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, New Zealand, and Taiwan, seem to have controlled or even eliminated the infection locally. From its first case of COVID-19 on the 21 January until the 12 May, Taiwan had 440 cases, including just 55 local infections, and seven deaths in total, representing 1.85 cases per 100,000 population and a 1.5% death rate (based on the Worldometer 2020 statistics of Taiwan's population of 23.8 million). This paper presents evidence that spread prevention involving mass masking and universal hygiene at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a 50% decline of infectious respiratory diseases, based on historical data during the influenza season in Taiwan. These outcomes provide potential support for the effectiveness of widely implementing public health precaution measures in controlling COVID-19 without a lockdown policy.

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Public Health Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic Reduce the Spread of Other Respiratory Infectious Diseases.

Publications

Public Health Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic Reduce the Spread of Other Respiratory Infectious Diseases.

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