Ošetřovatelské perspektivy 2022, 5(1):117-126 | DOI: 10.25142/osp.2022.008
PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
- 1 Katedra ošetrovateľstva, Fakulta zdravotníctva SZU so sídlom Banskej Bystrici
- 2 Vysoká škola zdravotníctva a sociálnej práce sv. Alžbety v Bratislave
The world has experienced a COVID-19 pandemic in the last two years 2020–2021. It is associated with massive morbidity and mortality and radical measures to eliminate them. Different countries implement several preventive measures with different intensi- ties and different
outcomes. Most often it is a strategy of restricting movement, social distance, wearing face masks and a ban on meeting in large groups. The last of the me- asures in place was vaccination.
Aim: The aim of the article is to verify, through literary sources, the evaluation of the ef- fectiveness of specific measures taken to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: A narrative review study method was used.
The results: As part of the measures against the transmission of the corona virus, a lo- ckdown strategy has been confirmed as the most effective measure. However, such mea- sures have brought a sudden, negative change in people's lives and in society in general. Measures including increased personal hygiene (washing and disinfecting hands, wearing a face mask/respirator), social distancing, early detection of corona virus positive people (testing, tracing), patient isolation and quarantine have also been confirmed as effective in protecting public health. The potency of vaccination as a precautionary measure has not yet been demonstrated in existing studies due to its
short duration of action.
Discussion and conclusion: The findings consistently suggest that in reducing the inci- dence and mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic, a movement restriction strategy is important, despite the negative impact on humans. Existing studies have also confir- med the effectiveness of other measures used, hand disinfection, wearing a facial respi- rator, and social distance. In order to ensure the effectiveness of preventive measures in the field of public health protection in the fight against a pandemic, the timely imple- mentation of a combination of individual measures is important. In order to maintain the best possible balance of measures, it is important to constantly monitor the outbreak and the impact of the measures taken.
Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus, pandemic, preventive actions
Received: February 2, 2022; Revised: February 2, 2022; Accepted: February 14, 2022; Published: June 9, 2022 Show citation
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