PANDEMIC CONTAINMENT

Pandemics and Best Practices for Containment

Introduction

Since the earliest moments of civilization, humanity has been plagued by disease. However, it would be prudent to note that although man has been afflicted by various diseases, very few disease outbreaks have achieved the pandemic status. Some of the worst pandemics known to man have been inclusive of, but they are not limited to; Black Death (1346-1353), Plague of Justinian (541-442), Smallpox (1500), Antonine Plague (165 AD), Spanish Flu Pandemic (1918), the Asian Flu (1956-1958), Hong Kong Flu Pandemic (1968), etc. Over the last three years, the world has been battling the Novel Coronavirus. So far, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than 5 million people across the world. Given that various jurisdictions continue to struggle with the disease, there is need to highlight some of the best practices for pandemic containment.

Discussion

From the onset, it would be prudent to note that a pandemic does not have a standard definition. This is to say that scientists have not assigned a single definition to the term. However, some of the definitions that have been floated in the past could offer great insight into the nature and properties of a pandemic. Thus, a pandemic, according to Grennan (2019) could be defined as an epidemic that ends up spreading across the world. Thus, in seeking to understand what a pandemic is, there is need to first assign meaning to the term epidemic. In the words of Grennan (2019), an epidemic is an outbreak that spreads over a larger geographical area (57). With this in mind, when a disease affecting a small number of persons ends up spreading beyond the original area in which it was first reported, and affects persons in a wider geographical area, then this could be described as an epidemic. Some of the more recent epidemics which could be highlighted on this front are inclusive of; the Ebola outbreak and the Zika virus. In this case, the diseases impacted larger geographical regions i.e. the Latin America and Brazil respectively but never got to spread across the world. In contrast, the present COVID-19 pandemic, which was first report in the Wuhan city of China, has spread across all continents. Yet another famous example of a pandemic that spread across multiple global locations was the Spanish influenza (1918) which caused the death of close to 50 million people.

The relevance of implementing the most effective strategies in efforts to contain a pandemic cannot be overstated. This is more so the case given that cost that humanity pays following a pandemic is often massive. The cost could even be greater or more severe, in terms of fatalities and other associated impacts, if the pandemic is poorly managed or if the response and containment measures are ineffective. Today, the world is more interconnected that it has ever been in the past. This is especially the case given that modes of transport have become even faster and more convenient. Thus, an infection that starts in one corner of the world could be spread to another corner within a couple or hours. All these considerations are crucial indicators of the need to embrace best practices for pandemic containment. According to Kucharski (2020), there are numerous lessons we can learn from the way past pandemics have been contained.

An Assessment of Best Practices for Pandemic Containment

In basic terms, containment strategies, as Barry (2005) points out, seek to reduce transmission risk, i.e. from persons who are infected to those who are not infected. In so doing, the author indicates that the outbreak can be halted.

a) Contract Tracing

One of the most viable...

…properly coordinated efforts, the deployment of certain skillsets, allocation of various resources, etc. No single agency can effectively fulfill all these roles. Further, as has been pointed out elsewhere in this text, unlike an epidemic, a pandemic has a global impact. For this reason, some of the key stakeholders on this front could be inclusive of, but they are not limited to; international health organizations (such as WHO, CDC, FDA, etc.), public health agencies (such as ministries of health), healthcare professionals (i.e. nurses, physicians, pharmacists, etc.), social workers, patients, nongovernmental organizations, etc. Effective containment of a pandemic requires close collaboration between the said stakeholders in the realms of knowledge-sharing, crucial dataexchange, etc.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, it would be prudent to note that going forward, we are likely to witness many more pandemics as a consequence of the interconnectedness of our modern world. With the world having morphed into a global village, and with the continued enhancement of modes of transportation, an infectious disease can be spread across multiple locations of the world within a matter of hours. As has been witnessed in the past, pandemics often have a devastating effect. In addition to loss of life, pandemics trigger massive social and economic disruption. For this reason, the relevance of familiarity with the various pandemic containment measures cannot be overstated. However, as has been indicated in this write-up, the effectiveness of the containment measures deployed largely depends on surveillance activities, effective communication, as well as stakeholder joint efforts. It should also be noted that some of the containment measures highlighted above could have certain negative or unintended outcomes. Examples of such outcomes are inclusive of; downturn in economic activity, increased cases of depression and/or anxiety, etc. Thus, there is need for the relevant authorities to chart and be aware of the…