Curated public health stories for this week from my reading shelf
I. Success story from New Zealand in eliminating COVID transmission
“There are several lessons from New Zealand’s pandemic response. Rapid, science-based risk assessment linked to early, decisive government action was critical. Implementing intervention at various levels (border-control measures, community-transmission control measures, and case based control measures) was effective. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern provided empathic leadership and effectively communicated key messages to the public — framing combating the pandemic as the work of a unified “team of 5 million” — which resulted in high public confidence and adherence to a suite of relatively burdensome pandemic-control measures.”
Baker, M.G., Wilson, N. and Anglemyer, A., 2020. Successful Elimination of Covid-19 Transmission in New Zealand. New England Journal of Medicine, p.e56.
Article Link
II.
Sadly, but not surprisingly health officials are getting fired or resigning amidst this pandemic. At least 48 state and local health leaders have resigned, retired or been fired since April across 23 states. No prizes for guesses on the primary reason.
Article Link
III.
5 former CDC Directors commenting on where US went wrong with the pandemic response.
News Link
Jina Dcruz 