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Revisiting COVID-19 policies: 10 evidence-based recommendations for where to go from here.
Halperin, Daniel T; Hearst, Norman; Hodgins, Stephen; Bailey, Robert C; Klausner, Jeffrey D; Jackson, Helen; Wamai, Richard G; Ladapo, Joseph A; Over, Mead; Baral, Stefan; Escandón, Kevin; Gandhi, Monica.
Affiliation
  • Halperin DT; Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
  • Hearst N; Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
  • Hodgins S; School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
  • Bailey RC; School of Public Health, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA.
  • Klausner JD; Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Jackson H; Independent Consultant, Harare, Zimbabwe.
  • Wamai RG; Integrated Initiative for Global Health, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Ladapo JA; School of Public Health, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.
  • Over M; Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Baral S; Center for Global Development, Washington, D.C, USA.
  • Escandón K; Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • Gandhi M; School of Medicine, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia. kevin.escandonvargas@gmail.com.
BMC Public Health ; 21(1): 2084, 2021 11 13.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34774012
BACKGROUND: Strategies to control coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) have often been based on preliminary and limited data and have tended to be slow to evolve as new evidence emerges. Yet knowledge about COVID-19 has grown exponentially, and the expanding rollout of vaccines presents further opportunity to reassess the response to the pandemic more broadly. MAIN TEXT: We review the latest evidence concerning 10 key COVID-19 policy and strategic areas, specifically addressing: 1) the expansion of equitable vaccine distribution, 2) the need to ease restrictions as hospitalization and mortality rates eventually fall, 3) the advantages of emphasizing educational and harm reduction approaches over coercive and punitive measures, 4) the need to encourage outdoor activities, 5) the imperative to reopen schools, 6) the far-reaching and long-term economic and psychosocial consequences of sustained lockdowns, 7) the excessive focus on surface disinfection and other ineffective measures, 8) the importance of reassessing testing policies and practices, 9) the need for increasing access to outpatient therapies and prophylactics, and 10) the necessity to better prepare for future pandemics. CONCLUSIONS: While remarkably effective vaccines have engendered great hope, some widely held assumptions underlying current policy approaches call for an evidence-based reassessment. COVID-19 will require ongoing mitigation for the foreseeable future as it transforms from a pandemic into an endemic infection, but maintaining a constant state of emergency is not viable. A more realistic public health approach is to adjust current mitigation goals to be more data-driven and to minimize unintended harms associated with unfocused or ineffective control efforts. Based on the latest evidence, we therefore present recommendations for refining 10 key policy areas, and for applying lessons learned from COVID-19 to prevent and prepare for future pandemics.
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Full text: 1 Database: MEDLINE Main subject: COVID-19 Type of study: Guideline Limits: Humans Language: En Journal: BMC Public Health Journal subject: SAUDE PUBLICA Year: 2021 Type: Article Affiliation country: United States

Full text: 1 Database: MEDLINE Main subject: COVID-19 Type of study: Guideline Limits: Humans Language: En Journal: BMC Public Health Journal subject: SAUDE PUBLICA Year: 2021 Type: Article Affiliation country: United States