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Public Health’s Response to Healing the Public

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Public Health’s Response to Healing the Public

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Every pandemic exposed a “weakness” that was present in aspects to public health. For an example, the cholera outbreak in London worsened as a result of negligence in regard to hygiene and maintaining sanitary conditions (Films Media Group, 2007). In response, new sanitation methods (such as boiling drinking water) were introduced and still used in modern society. I feel that the pandemic we are currently facing with COVID-19 revealed a weakness as well, one being in how the public responded to the threat.

2020 was initially deemed as the year for change. However, I’m sure the pandemic was not the change that we were expecting. I believe lack of preparedness and insensitivity led to the inability to control the pandemic. As I recall the early stages of the pandemic, the U.S. president stated numerous times that the virus was under control and one day it was going to “disappear” (Parker & Stern, 2022). However, with every passing holiday, the number of cases and deaths were steadily increasing. I began seeing people in my community, making a joke of the health crisis we were facing. Some deemed it as a hoax, while others protested in wearing a mask or social distancing.

Though public health is responsible for studying diseases and how they behave, they have little control over how the public decides to follow advised procedures (Johns Hopkins University of Medicine). For an example, it was advised to wear a face covering inside stores and restaurants. However, it’s often advised to not enforce it in causal settings in order to avoid conflict. I feel that experiences throughout the pandemic could be used as “study guide” for approaching situations where a health crisis is involved. There’s always room to learn and improve on efforts in disease control. We would know when efforts are successful when we gain possession of effective treatments and vaccines as well as a stabilized outbreak (Johns Hopkins University of Medicine).

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Classification of COVID-19 as a Pandemic

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Classification of COVID-19 as a Pandemic

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On March 11th of 2020, The World Health Organization declared a COVID-19 as a pandemic (Cucinotta,2007). The disease earned its title when the uncontrollable virus was detected in a growing number of countries. WHO's director stated in a briefing that cases were growing at an alarming rate in countries outside of China, where the virus was originated (Cucinotta,2007).

COVID's classification as a pandemic led to enacting safety precautions, such as social distancing (Cucinotta,2007). People that had the listed risk factors were advised to take extra precaution. High risk individuals included those that were of older age, had a chronic illness, or a compromised immune system (Cucinotta,2007).

Pregnant women were also high-risk, being that their body would have a hard time fighting the illness (Unicef,2022). I became pregnant during the summer of the pandemic and took extra precaution to ensure that I wouldn't get sick. I was already at risk of delivering early, which also becomes a risk with COVID-19 (Unicef,2022). It was interesting to experience doctor's appointments full of masked patients, but I'm happy my baby is here and healthy.

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To successfully fight off a disease, we must first gain an understanding of the microbe responsible for the illness. First, the source of the illness should be determined. The SARS-Cov-02 virus was traced back to wild bats that were in the area of the Wuhan Market, causing transmission via natural spillover (Morens et al., 2020).

I believe transmission of diseases between wild animals and humans could be due to an increase in activity, such as deforestation. Deforestation results in a forced integration of both the animal and human community. Being that we don't know the exact risk of diseases wild animals carry, we should study their microbes in efforts to prepare for future  pandemics.

Isolation was often acknowledged as a form of treatment in those that were ill. Isolation took place in public and private environments. Due to how easily the COVID virus was spread, isolation maintained an importance in a number of healthcare facilities, including those that were working on the development of a vaccine (Zamora-Ledezma et al., 2020). It remained a priority for healthcare workers to care for themselves while caring and working to heal others (Zamora-Ledezma et al., 2020).

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Mechanisms of Transmission and Population Trends 

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Mechanisms of Transmission and Population Trends 

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Studies show that SARS-Cov-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, is transmitted by common social behaviors such as laughing or even simply talking (Katella, 2022). These behaviors commonly took place within close proximity of one another, which became a risk at the arrival of Coronavirus.

The spread of COVID-19 spread rapidly in the first months of the pandemic, with the death toll reaching one million in May 2022 (Katella, 2022). As I recall, CDC and other public health organizations discouraged gathering in groups larger than a given amount and advised the use of masks. There was a shortage of masks for a period of time, which seemed to be an aspect showing unpreparedness due to lack of materials. The rise in cases also led to an increase in hand washing as well as using sanitizer (Katella, 2022).

My experience working during the pandemic was one to remember. In a small restaurant I worked for, we were required to wash and sanitize our hands every 30 minutes. We also had to report any symptoms of illness, which often resulted in not being able to work. Some employees used this to an advantage, that created disadvantages such as staff shortage.

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"Covering COVID-19": The 2020 Change We Didn't See Coming

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"Covering COVID-19": The 2020 Change We Didn't See Coming

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Journals of Discussion
Week 2: Mechanisms of Spread and Population Trends

Week 3: Biomedicine in Treatments and Vaccines

Week 4: Epidemiology and the Spread of COVID-19

Week 5: Societal Impact of Public Health in Response to COVID-19

References
Cucinotta, D., & Vanelli, M. (2020). WHO Declares COVID-19 a Pandemic. Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis, 91(1), 157–160. https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v91i1.9397

Films Media Group. (2007). TedTalks: Steven Johnson—a guided tour of the ghost map. Films

On Demand. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from

https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=99165&xtid=48069.

Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. (n.d.). Module 5: Public health responses to Covid-19 - Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/covid-19-basics/understanding-covid-19/module-5-public-health-responses-to-covid-19#/lessons/vmms25aIPrjLJ2eBv8tZgoXH-Bme75kQ

Katella, K. (2022, October 20). 9 things everyone should know about the coronavirus outbreak. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/2019-novel-coronavirus

Morens, D., Breman, J., Calisher, C., Doherty, P., Hahn, B., Keusch, G., . . . Taubenberger, J.

(2020, September). The origin of covid-19 and why it matters. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7470595/

Parker, C. F., & Stern, E. K. (2022, March 29). The trump administration and the COVID-19

crisis: Exploring the warning-response problems and missed opportunities of a public health emergency. Public administration. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9115435/

Unicef. (2022, October 21). Navigating pregnancy during the covid-19 pandemic. UNICEF. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/navigating-pregnancy-during-coronavirus-disease-covid-19-pandemic

Zamora-Ledezma, C., C, D., Medina, E., Sinche, F., Santiago Vispo, N., Dahoumane, S., &

Alexis, F. (2020, October 11). Biomedical science to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic: Current status and future perspectives. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7587204/

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It looks like we are both on the same path. I also obtained my associates in culinary in 2016 and I am also in the Foodservice Management program. I agree this course is a tool to get through the food service industry. I wish you well this semester. Nice meeting you, virtually.

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Hi! My name is Kaylah McCants and I am from Fayetteville, North Carolina. I love to cook and engage in artistic hobbies, such as painting. My passion for cooking inspired me to study Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales. I earned my Associate's in 2016 and decided to return to achieve my Bachelor's in Foodservice Management. This course is one this not only a requirement, but a tool that will educate and guide me along my career in the foodservice industry. There's many topics that pique my interest, but the ones that I'm the most curious about are "Diseases of Plants and Animals and Their Effects on Humans" and "The Nature of Disease" (focusing on infectious diseases and epidemics. I'm curious whether there's a connection amongst the two.