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Alvarez E, Bielska IA, Hopkins S, Belal AA, Goldstein DM, Slick J, Pavalagantharajah S, Wynfield A, Dakey S, Gedeon MC, Alam E, Bouzanis K. Limitations of COVID-19 testing and case data for evidence-informed health policy and practice. Health Res Policy Syst 2023; 21:11. [PMID: 36698202 PMCID: PMC9876649 DOI: 10.1186/s12961-023-00963-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2021] [Accepted: 01/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a pandemic within a matter of months. Analysing the first year of the pandemic, data and surveillance gaps have subsequently surfaced. Yet, policy decisions and public trust in their country's strategies in combating COVID-19 rely on case numbers, death numbers and other unfamiliar metrics. There are many limitations on COVID-19 case counts internationally, which make cross-country comparisons of raw data and policy responses difficult. PURPOSE AND CONCLUSIONS This paper presents and describes steps in the testing and reporting process, with examples from a number of countries of barriers encountered in each step, all of which create an undercount of COVID-19 cases. This work raises factors to consider in COVID-19 data and provides recommendations to inform the current situation with COVID-19 as well as issues to be aware of in future pandemics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Alvarez
- grid.25073.330000 0004 1936 8227Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, CRL 2nd Floor, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S4K1 Canada
| | - Iwona A. Bielska
- grid.25073.330000 0004 1936 8227Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, CRL 2nd Floor, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S4K1 Canada
| | - Stephanie Hopkins
- grid.25073.330000 0004 1936 8227Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, CRL 2nd Floor, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S4K1 Canada
| | - Ahmed A. Belal
- grid.25073.330000 0004 1936 8227Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, CRL 2nd Floor, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S4K1 Canada
| | - Donna M. Goldstein
- grid.266190.a0000000096214564Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO USA
| | - Jean Slick
- grid.262714.40000 0001 2180 0902Disaster and Emergency Management, Royal Roads University, British Columbia, Canada
| | | | - Anna Wynfield
- grid.266190.a0000000096214564Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO USA
| | - Shruthi Dakey
- grid.433837.80000 0001 2301 2002Department of Architecture and Planning, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India
| | - Marie-Carmel Gedeon
- grid.459278.50000 0004 4910 4652University Integrated Health Center of the Nord-de-l’île de Montréal (CIUSSS NIM), Montréal, QC Canada
| | - Edris Alam
- Faculty of Resilience, Rabdan Academy, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Katrina Bouzanis
- grid.25073.330000 0004 1936 8227Department of Global Health, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON Canada
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Moreno-Walton L, Slick J. Working With the Community to Teach Professionalism in Difficult Emergency Department Communications. Ann Emerg Med 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2013.06.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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