Dr. Chaccour identifies responses for Asia (China and South Korea), Europe (Italy and Spain and United Kingdom), and Africa (South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Botswana). He and his coauthors do not discuss the U.S. was evolving at the time of his review. He identifies five basic public health responses to contain the virus:
Early Lockdown and Forced Quarantine: CHINA (enforcing quarantine on a major population center and source of outbreak, deploying QR code on PDAs for personal health tracking, and isolating suspected cases).
Trace, Test and Treat: SOUTH KOREA (deploying massive, free, and rapid testing programs, employing few, if any, restrictions on population movements, and implementing public health measures).
Less Restrictions and Lockdowns: ITALY and SPAIN (employing limited controls (e.g., school closings), increasing restrictive measures following delayed containment and little or no contact tracing, and incurring high fatalities and strain on their health systems).
Contain, Delay, Research, Mitigate: UNITED KINGDOM (employing selective restrictive measures, delaying containment, and limiting economic and health system impacts).
Strong Border Protection: SOUTH AFRICA, GHANA, KENYA and BOTSWANA (enforcing border restrictive measures, closings, and limiting personal contact).
Based on their observations and assessments, countries opted for different approaches. Factors considered in their choices were: (1) health system capacities, (2) economic resources and infrastructure, and (3) individual and collective responsibility for compliance with recommendations from authorities.
Please respond to the questions below by writing a short Op-Ed-like response explaining the topic’s importance to public health and public health managers (< 500 words, Times New Roman 11). Based on what you learned on this course:
(1) Did the U.S. adopt one of these responses or was its response a combination of the above. Your response requires the following:
Outline or Diagram the sequential public health steps or levels you believe the US followed in its response to COVID-19 beginning 1 January - 27 April 2020. This approach is based on systems thinking paradigms, such as diagrams and feedback loops. It represents a high-level view of the US process).
(2) Which factors cited above do you believe informed the U.S.’s response different federal and state public health authorities? Factors may include public health science and policy, epidemiology, politics or other factors. Yes, the US had a "pandemic plan," but outline the factors you believe informed federal public health response. Remember, the US is based on a federated system, where states are primarily responsible for the health, public health and safety of their citizens.
(3) Was the US emergency plan and response effective or not and why?
(4) Can you identify one or more management, leadership, or governance skills discussed in this course that might assist you, as public health professional and manager, with choosing a response and implementing it effectively at the different levels?
