519 Results

  • New modelling on the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks in NZ associated with arriving travellers

    … “Scientific Reports”, a peer-reviewed open access journal. 1 In this work we aimed to estimate the risk of COVID-19 … of 2.5 months (95% range of simulation results: 3 days to 1.1 years). This risk was equivalent to an average of 110 …
    Briefing

  • Dementia: Update on causes and prevention, including the role of COVID-19

    … by changes in mood, emotional control, and behaviour [ 1] . It is a consequence of a variety of brain disorders and … is the seventh leading cause of death among all diseases [ 1] .   The best known form of dementia – Alzheimer’s – was … but is generally described as developing in three stages [ 1] . The first can be missed and is characterised by: …
    Briefing

  • Weekly deaths declined in NZ’s lockdown – but we still don’t know exactly why

    … Preliminary data on weekly deaths were from Statistics NZ [1]. The data suggest 548 fewer deaths in NZ for this 23-week … the end of the Alert Level 4 phase of the lockdown (Figure 1). The 2020 weekly deaths were also generally lower than for … proportionately highest in the under 30-year age-group (83.1% of the 2019 level, 72 fewer deaths), then the 30-59 year …
    Briefing

  • A single shot to prevent cancer? HPV vaccine can!

    … 75% target. The World Health Organization now recommends a 1-dose vaccine schedule for 9-20-year-olds. Forty countries, … Year 8 HPV immunisation programme from a 2-dose to a 1-dose schedule. A barrier is the manufacturer datasheet that … over 80% of USA adults were infected by age 45 years. 1 HPV spreads through skin-to-skin contact, including …
    Briefing

  • Five lessons for Aotearoa NZ from the current COVID-19 outbreak in New South Wales

    … on 16 June with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing ( 1, 2 ). A household contact subsequently tested positive ( 3 ) and case numbers quickly began to increase (see Figure 1). Genome sequencing revealed that the outbreak was driven … later extended until at least 28 August ( 10, 11 ). Figure 1: Epidemic curve of daily notified confirmed and probable …
    Briefing

  • NZ’s “Team of 5 million” has achieved the lowest COVID-19 death rate in the OECD – but there are still gaps in our pandemic response

    … domestic cases for over two weeks (ie, none since 2 July [1], as per 17 July).   The next most important pandemic … the OECD at 4 deaths per million population (see Appendix 1, data for 17 July). This was 49 times lower than the OECD … 4740 for Japan and 28,300 for South Korea – see Appendix 1). Figure 1: Death rate from COVID-19 (per million …
    Briefing

  • Protecting fresh waterways in Aotearoa/NZ: The strong Public Health case

    … Protecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising … document, titled “Action for healthy waterways” [1]. As part of developing a submission on this document, we … this blog the public health case for waterways protection. 1) Protecting water from hazardous microbial contamination …
    Briefing

  • When can COVID-19 be Declared Eliminated from NZ? New Modelling Study

    … for the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic virus that causes COVID-19. 1 In Australia, such a goal has been discussed as a potential … effective reproduction numbers (Re) in the range of 0.5 to 1.0, combined with effective case isolation (Table 1, Figure 1). This range was 37 to 44 days (around 5 to 6 …
    Briefing

  • Can oral tobacco and nicotine products help people to stop smoking?

    … that contains tobacco, is widely used in Sweden [ Figure 1 ]. People place the pouch between their gum and lip, and … is likely to be less physically harmful than cigarettes. 1 2 However, evidence for the efficacy of snus as a smoking … snus as a smoking cessation aid was ‘weak’ 3 (see Box 1 for detail). Box 1: Evidence for snus as a smoking …
    Briefing

  • Poor ventilation in public transport settings in Aotearoa NZ: New data for buses and trains

    … this reduces the risk of spreading airborne pathogens 1 and ensures a comfortable and healthy environment for … poor indoor air quality dominates in these settings (Table 1). In buses and trains with ≥50% of seats occupied, … and lower occupancy bus groups [1600 vs 937 ppm] in Table 1, p < 0.0001). For all settings the estimated passenger mask …
    Briefing

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Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)