Outbreak of Norovirus Illness Among Wildfire Evacuation Shelter Populations — Butte and Glenn Counties, California, November 2018

Karmarkar, Ellora; Jain, Seema; Higa, Jeff; Fontenot, Jazmin; Bertolucci, Regina; Huynh, Thalia; Hammer, Gwendolyn P.; Brodkin, Alice; Thao, May; Brousseau, Blake; Hopkins, Danielle; Kelly, Emily; Sheffield, Madison; Henley, Sandy; Whittaker, H. A.; Herrick, Robert; Pan, Chao-Yang; Chen, Alice; Kim, Janice; Schaumleffel, Lori; Khwaja, Zenith; Epson, Erin; Chai, Shua J.; Wadford, Debra A.; Vugia, Duc J.; Lewis, Linda S.

doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6920a1

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…There was just one study from Europe and Central Asia, during a Norovirus outbreak in a refugee camp in Germany [48]. The four studies in North America all took place in the United States of America (USA), all following natural disasters [43,50,58,63].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Approximately one-third of studies focussed on water-borne diseases (N=52, 32.9%) and vector-borne diseases (N=46, 29.1%), with roughly one quarter (N = 40, 25.3%) focussed on air-borne and sexually transmitted infections (STIs; Table 2). Ten studies were on blood-borne diseases (all Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in DRC and Uganda) [64–66,72,78,107] and just three on vehicle-borne diseases (tetanus, norovirus, and intestinal parasites) [30,58,71].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Feasibility, Acceptability, and Effectiveness of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control in Crisis-Affected Settings and Informal Settlements: A Scoping Review

Polonsky

Bhatia

Fraser

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Introduction Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are a crucial suite of measures to prevent and control infectious disease outbreaks. They are particularly important for crisis-affected populations that typically reside in settings characterised by overcrowding, inadequate access to healthcare and resource limitations. To describe the landscape of research and identify evidence gaps concerning the acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of NPIs among crisis-affected populations and informal settings, we conducted a systematic scoping review of the published evidence. Methods We systematically reviewed peer-reviewed articles published between 1970 and 2020 to collate available evidence on the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of NPIs in crisis-affected populations and informal settlements. We performed quality assessments of each study using a standardised questionnaire. Results Our review included 158 studies published in 85 peer-reviewed articles. Most research used low quality study designs. The acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of NPIs was highly context dependent. In general, simple and cost-effective interventions such as community-level environmental cleaning and provision of water, sanitation and hygiene services, and distribution of items for personal protection such as insecticide-treated nets, were both highly feasible and acceptable. Logistical, financial, and human resource constraints affected both the implementation and sustainability of measures. Community engagement emerged as a strong factor contributing to the effectiveness of NPIs. Conversely, measures that involve potential restriction on personal liberty such as case isolation were found to be less acceptable to the community. Conclusion Overall, the evidence base was patchy, with substantial knowledge gaps between differing between settings and pathogens. Although implementation of NPIs presents unique practical challenges, it is critical that the lessons learned are shared with the wider community to build a robust evidence base.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Effectiveness of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control in Crisis-Affected Settings and Informal Settlements: A Scoping Review

Polonsky

Bhatia

Fraser

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There was just one study from Europe and Central Asia, during a Norovirus outbreak in a refugee camp in Germany [52]. The four studies in North America all took place in the United States of America (USA), all following natural disasters [47,54,62,67]. Over half of the studies (n = 50, 58.8%) were in camp or camp-like settings (Table 1, Fig.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Publications and Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions against infectious diseases among crisis-affected populations: a scoping review

et al. 2022

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Background Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are a crucial suite of measures to prevent and control infectious disease outbreaks. Despite being particularly important for crisis-affected populations and those living in informal settlements, who typically reside in overcrowded and resource limited settings with inadequate access to healthcare, guidance on NPI implementation rarely takes the specific needs of such populations into account. We therefore conducted a systematic scoping review of the published evidence to describe the landscape of research and identify evidence gaps concerning the acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of NPIs among crisis-affected populations and informal settlements. Methods We systematically reviewed peer-reviewed articles published between 1970 and 2020 to collate available evidence on the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of NPIs in crisis-affected populations and informal settlements. We performed quality assessments of each study using a standardised questionnaire. We analysed the data to produce descriptive summaries according to a number of categories: date of publication; geographical region of intervention; typology of crisis, shelter, modes of transmission, NPI, research design; study design; and study quality. Results Our review included 158 studies published in 85 peer-reviewed articles. Most research used low quality study designs. The acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of NPIs was highly context dependent. In general, simple and cost-effective interventions such as community-level environmental cleaning and provision of water, sanitation and hygiene services, and distribution of items for personal protection such as insecticide-treated nets, were both highly feasible and acceptable. Logistical, financial, and human resource constraints affected both the implementation and sustainability of measures. Community engagement emerged as a strong factor contributing to the effectiveness of NPIs. Conversely, measures that involve potential restriction on personal liberty such as case isolation and patient care and burial restrictions were found to be less acceptable, despite apparent effectiveness. Conclusions Overall, the evidence base was variable, with substantial knowledge gaps which varied between settings and pathogens. Based on the current landscape, robust evidence-based guidance is not possible, and a research agenda is urgently required that focusses on these specific vulnerable populations. Although implementation of NPIs presents unique practical challenges in these settings, it is critical that such an agenda is put in place, and that the lessons learned from historical and present experiences are documented to build a firm evidence base. Graphical Abstract

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“…With the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted healthcare services for months and is expected to continue to do so for the near future, a rising concern is safe evacuation of hospitals where COVID-19 patients are hospitalized [ [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] ]. Past experience has shown the health risks associated with evacuation shelters during outbreaks [ 18 ]. The COVID-19 pandemic has already complicated evacuation management during disasters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-hazard hospital evacuation planning during disease outbreaks using agent-based modeling

Haghpanah

Ghobadi

Schafer

2021

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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As different types of hazards, including natural and man-made, can occur simultaneously, to implement an integrated and holistic risk management, a multi-hazard perspective on disaster risk management, including preparedness and planning, must be taken for a safer and more resilient society. Considering the emerging challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has been introducing to regular hospital operations, there is a need to adapt emergency plans with the changing conditions, as well. Evacuation of patients with different mobility disabilities is a complicated process that needs planning, training, and efficient decision-making. These protocols need to be revisited for multi-hazard scenarios such as an ongoing disease outbreak during which additional infection control protocols might be in place to prevent transmission. Computational models can provide insights on optimal emergency evacuation strategies, such as the location of isolation units or alternative evacuation prioritization strategies. This study introduces a non-ICU patient classification framework developed based on available patient mobility data. An agent-based model was developed to simulate the evacuation of the emergency department at the Johns Hopkins Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a fire emergency. The results show a larger nursing team can reduce the median and upper bound of the 95% confidence interval of the evacuation time by 36% and 33%, respectively. A dedicated exit door for COVID-19 patients is relatively less effective in reducing the median time, while it can reduce the upper bound by more than 50%.

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Outbreak of Norovirus Illness Among Wildfire Evacuation Shelter Populations — Butte and Glenn Counties, California, November 2018

Cited by 9 publications

References 4 publications

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Effectiveness of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control in Crisis-Affected Settings and Informal Settlements: A Scoping Review

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Effectiveness of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control in Crisis-Affected Settings and Informal Settlements: A Scoping Review

Feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions against infectious diseases among crisis-affected populations: a scoping review

Multi-hazard hospital evacuation planning during disease outbreaks using agent-based modeling

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