L25 Principles of Poplhlth : COVID-19 response

Question 1

What are the 10 principles to population health?

Answer 1

1. Sizing-up pandemics
2. Choosing a response strategy
3. Choosing interventions
4. Vaccinating against COVID-19
5. Measuring the impact of the strategy & equity
6. Protecting people from getting COVID-19
7. Testing for COVID-19
8. Using information & combating misinformation
9. Planning for future scenarios
10. Applying lessons to improve public health

Question 2

How can you size-up pandemics?

Answer 2

1. How transmissible
   - reproduction number
2. How severe and unequal
   - case fatality risk and infection fatality risk
   - inequalities of pandemic & response
3. How controllable
4. How certain is the information and how stable is the threat

Question 3

What are the 3 main strategic options for responding to a strategy?

Answer 3

Mitigation: reduce to avoid overwhelming the healthcare system

Suppression: reduce to minimise negative health impacts

Eradication: reduce to zero at a global level permanently

Question 4

What is basic reproductive number?

Answer 4

The mean number of infections directly generated by 1 case in a population where all individuals are susceptible to infection

Question 5

What is effective reproduction number?

Answer 5

Mean number of additional infections cases by an initial infection at a specific time

Question 6

What are the 3 factors that influence reproduction rate?

Answer 6

Transmissibility
Contact rate
Duration of infectivity

Question 7

What are interventions for elimination of COVID-19?

Answer 7

1. Exclusion of cases - border management
2. Case and outbreak management - testing, contact tracing, isolation
3. Preventing community transmission - hygiene measures, physical distancing, vaccination
4. Social safety net - wage subsidy scheme

Question 8

What is the herd immunity threshold?

Answer 8

1 - (1/Ro)

percentage of vaccination required to eliminate disease determined by reproduction rate

Question 9

What are the factors that can be used to measure the impact of the response?

Answer 9

Deaths
Life expectancy
Economy
Freedom
Equity

Question 10

What is the epidemiological triad?

Answer 10

Environment
Organism
Host

Question 11

What are the 3Cs?

Answer 11

Description of settings where virus spreads more easily

• crowed places
• close-contact settings
• confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation

Question 12

What is misinformation?

Answer 12

False information that is spread, regardless of intent to mislead

Question 13

What is disinformation?

Answer 13

Deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated narrative or facts; propaganda