The effect of early-stage public health policies in the transmission of COVID-19 for South American countries

Abstract

Objectives. The analysis of transmission dynamics is crucial to determine whether mitigation or suppression measures reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study sought to estimate the basic (R0) and time-varying (Rt) reproduction number of COVID-19 and contrast the public health measures for ten South American countries. Methods. Data was obtained from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Country-specific R0 values during the first two weeks of the outbreak and Rt values after 90 days were estimated. Results. Countries used a combination of isolation, physical distancing, quarantine, and community-wide containment measures to staunch the spread of COVID-19 at different points in time. R0 ranged from 1.52 (95% confidence interval: 1.13-1.99) in Venezuela to 3.83 (3.04-4.75) in Chile, whereas Rt after 90 days ranged from 0.71 (95% credible interval: 0.39-1.05) in Uruguay to 1.20 (1.19-1.20) in Brazil. Different R0 and Rt values may be related to the testing capacity of each country. Conclusion. R0 in the early phase of the outbreak varied across the South American countries. The public health measures adopted in the initial period of the pandemic appear to have reduced Rt over time in each country, albeit to different levels.

Recurrent dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 through the Uruguayan-Brazilian border

“…South America is actually the second worst affected region in the world, with more than 11 million SARS-CoV-2 cases and nearly 350,000 deaths confirmed as of December, 2020 1 . While the virus exponentially spread during the first half of 2020 in most South American countries, the rapid implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions avoided an exponential growth of SARS-CoV-2 cases in Uruguay 2, 3 . Six months after the first four cases were reported on March 13, 2020, the country registered the lowest total and per capita numbers of SARS-CoV-2 cases (1,808 cases, 520 cases/million inhabitants) and deaths (45 deaths, 13 deaths/million inhabitants) in the region 4 .…”

Evolução da COVID-19 em Santa Catarina: decretos estaduais e indicadores epidemiológicos até agosto de 2020

“…Tais números são consistentes com as taxas nacionais encontradas em estudo sul-americano, que aponta Rt inicial, após 14 dias da primeira infecção no território nacional, de 3,4; e Rt de 1,2 após 90 dias. 23 Um projeto brasileiro, de 'Mapeamento e análise das normas jurídicas de resposta à COVID-19 no Brasil' entre janeiro e dezembro de 2020, revelou Santa Catarina como um dos estados com maior produção de normas relacionadas ao coronavírus até abril de 2020. 24 Contudo, o maior número de normativas não necessariamente refletiu uma coerência com o contexto epidemiológico da COVID-19 no estado.…”

Public risk perception and responsive behaviors in the United States, United Kingdom, and Brazil during the COVID-19 Pandemic: a cross-sectional study

“…Our ndings also indicate that participants' risk perception in the three countries is affected by living environment, responsive behaviors and worried degree towards COVID-19 to a certain extent. The worried degree and risk perception of participants from Brazil were much higher than those from the US and the UK, which might be closely related to Brazil's long-standing lack and uneven distribution of medical resources, the rising number of con rmed cases and deaths, and the inactive national prevention and control policies [12,13]. At the same time, due to relatively complicated political, economic, and geographic factors, Brazil's quarantine measures have not been implemented thoroughly.…”