Do Shared Barriers When Reporting to Work During an Influenza Pandemic Influence Hospital Workers’ Willingness to Work? A Multilevel Framework Objective Characteristics associated with interventions and barriers that influence health care workers’ willingness to report for duty during an influenza pandemic were identified. Additionally, this study examined whether workers who live in proximal geographic regions shared the same barriers and would respond to the same interventions. Methods Hospital employees (n=2965) recorded changes in willingness to … Continue reading “Do Shared Barriers When Reporting to Work During an Influenza Pandemic Influence Hospital Workers’ Willingness to Work? A Multilevel Framework” Learn More
Would Triage Predictors Perform Better than First-Come-First-Served in Pandemic Ventilator Allocation? In a pandemic, needs for ventilators might overwhelm the limited supply. Outcome predictors have been proposed to guide ventilator triage allocation decisions. However, pandemic triage predictors have not been validated. This quantitative simulation study evaluated outcomes resulting from allocation strategies varying in their performance for selecting short stay survivors as favorable candidates for ventilators. A … Continue reading “Would Triage Predictors Perform Better than First-Come-First-Served in Pandemic Ventilator Allocation?” Learn More
The 1918 influenza pandemic in New York City: age-specific timing, mortality, and transmission dynamics Background: The 1918 influenza pandemic caused disproportionately high mortality among certain age groups. The mechanisms underlying these differences are not fully understood. Objectives: To explore the dynamics of the 1918 pandemic and to identify potential age-specific transmission patterns. Methods: We examined 1915–1923 daily mortality data in New York City (NYC) and estimated the outbreak duration … Continue reading “The 1918 influenza pandemic in New York City: age-specific timing, mortality, and transmission dynamics” Learn More
Broadcasting Flu Messages – Citywide Transmission and Community Reception: An Evaluation of Ready New York’s pandemic influenza outreach campaign Public health risk communication is a central feature of New York City’s pandemic flu preparedness plan. Particularly in the early stages of a pandemic, before effective therapeutic measures are available, non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing, personal protective hygiene, and voluntary isolation are critical strategies for suppressing the spread of a novel viral strain. New … Continue reading “Broadcasting Flu Messages – Citywide Transmission and Community Reception: An Evaluation of Ready New York’s pandemic influenza outreach campaign” Learn More
Pandemic influenza: Studying the lessons of history Next year will mark the 90th anniversary of the great influenza pandemic of 1918, an event widely considered to be one of the greatest natural disasters in human history. Historians estimate that ≥50 million people died worldwide, including >450,000 documented deaths in the United States alone (1). Since then, the 20th century witnessed two more … Continue reading “Pandemic influenza: Studying the lessons of history” Learn More
Unanticipated Consequences of a Pandemic Flu in New York City: A Neighborhood Focus Group Study There is fairly consistent evidence that ethnic and minority communities have historically been more vulnerable to disasters, less trusting of public authority, and often so socially marginalized that it placed them in harm’s way. In an effort to explore some of these issues we conducted a series of community-based focus groups among selected ethnic communities … Continue reading “Unanticipated Consequences of a Pandemic Flu in New York City: A Neighborhood Focus Group Study” Learn More
Unanticipated Consequences of Pandemic Flu: School Related Issues: A Preliminary Literature Review In the event of a pandemic flu outbreak, closing schools would be one of the most likely non pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) considered to contain the outbreak, consistent with social distancing theories (Hodge 2006, Germann 2006). Children in preschool and school-age groups are frequently observed to amplify transmission of many forms of flu (Bell 2006, Germann … Continue reading “Unanticipated Consequences of Pandemic Flu: School Related Issues: A Preliminary Literature Review” Learn More
The US pandemic influenza implementation plan at six months There has been great concern recently about pandemic influenza. The US government developed a National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza in November 2005, followed by an implementation plan in May 2006. A six-month progress report was published in late December. The current strategies are intended to improve preparedness and response for the next influenza pandemic. In … Continue reading “The US pandemic influenza implementation plan at six months” Learn More
Interventions to Mitigate the Reduced Ability and Willingness to Work of Health Care Workers During a Pandemic Influenza Public Health Emergency Several widely publicized articles were released in the past two years which suggest that health care and public health employees may be unable or unwilling to report to work during a public health emergency involving contagion or contamination such as pandemic influenza, SARS, smallpox, or a terrorist attack using disease or radiation: A 2006 study … Continue reading “Interventions to Mitigate the Reduced Ability and Willingness to Work of Health Care Workers During a Pandemic Influenza Public Health Emergency” Learn More
Comparison of Urban Transit Planning Responses to Pandemic Influenza Pandemic influenza and other large scale communicable disease outbreaks pose a unique public safety concern in respect to transit and emergency planning. While local transit agencies, supported by federal funds, have identified disaster planning and response as critical to maintaining continuity of service and quality of life, most plans contend solely with event-based scenarios such … Continue reading “Comparison of Urban Transit Planning Responses to Pandemic Influenza” Learn More
The New York City Principals Pandemic Flu Survey: Are Schools Prepared? It will be only a matter of time before another influenza pandemic occurs. Pandemic flu refers to a novel human influenza virus that causes a global outbreak, or pandemic. Researchers cannot accurately predict the timing, severity, or source of the next pandemic, but are certain it would present a myriad of issues for the public … Continue reading “The New York City Principals Pandemic Flu Survey: Are Schools Prepared?” Learn More
Next Flu Pandemic: What to Do Until the Vaccine Arrives? Most scientists consider another influenza pandemic inevitable, but there is little information on how best to protect the public before a vaccine can be made available. Learn More
Unanticipated Consequences of Pandemic Flu: Transportation Related Issues: A Preliminary Literature Review Broadly speaking, plans for the containment and treatment of pandemic flu lead to a set of circumscribed outcomes, which include process outcomes (e.g., numbers of individuals vaccinated, numbers of health care workers vaccinated, numbers of intensive care beds opened up) as well as health outcomes (e.g., flu-related morbidity and mortality, transmission rates, and attack rates). … Continue reading “Unanticipated Consequences of Pandemic Flu: Transportation Related Issues: A Preliminary Literature Review” Learn More
Epidemiological evidence of an early wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic in New York City The 1918 “Spanish flu” was the fastest spreading and most deadly influenza pandemic in recorded history. Hypotheses of its origin have been based on a limited collection of case and outbreak reports from before its recognized European emergence in the summer of 1918. These anecdotal accounts, however, remain insufficient for determining the early diffusion and … Continue reading “Epidemiological evidence of an early wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic in New York City” Learn More
