The onslaught of C.N.C.P. has shaken the world, and the number of confirmed cases and deaths continues to rise, creating tension, anxiety, and uncertainty.
Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow issued an open letter to students, faculty, and the world, emphasizing that C.P.A. is a test of humanity's goodness and caring in times of trouble, and that he hopes that we can show our best character by helping those who have been diagnosed, by supporting those who have been quarantined, and by caring for those who are less fortunate than others in our society.
Liao Junzhi, President of Academia Sinica, also posted a message on Facebook at the beginning of the epidemic, saying that he believes that there is a blind spot in revealing or hiding the diagnosis, and that he hopes to show the light and sincerity of human nature and be patient with dissenting or opposing views, to communicate, coordinate, and explain, and that the diagnosed patients should be given the greatest care, support, and tolerance.
According to the Central Healthcare Administration's big data statistics, the top 20 diseases in outpatient clinics from January to June this year are acute upper respiratory infections such as colds and flu, with 3.83 million fewer cases than in the same period last year, a decline of 31.7%, and a rapid surge in anxiety and insomnia. According to expert analysis, this year's epidemic has made the public y anxious, and anxiety can be divided into two waves, the first wave is the early stage of the epidemic, people are afraid of being infected by the new crown of the epidemic or can not buy masks, alcohol, and excessive worry, resulting in anxiety; the second wave is the fear that the epidemic will seriously affect the development of the economy, resulting in layoffs or pay cuts, also resulting in the public's anxiety. It can be seen that before the epidemic is lifted, people's anxiety and tension are bound to linger.
In addition, home quarantine or isolation will also cause severe psychological impact. Other disadvantaged groups, such as the poor, the diagnosed, young children, the elderly, and frontline healthcare workers are suffering from psychological impacts that are more severe than normal. A recent article in the special issue of the renowned medical journal Lancet (Lancet) Mental Disease called for the urgent need to provide timely mental health care during the epidemic, and the following is aimed at the new coronary pneumonia in the epidemic has not yet slowed down, plunged into a stalemate during the chaos, how to pay attention to the human nature of the care, how to take into account the human rights and prevention of the epidemic, how to protect the privacy of the readers, respectively, with the **** with the discussion.
(1) The psychological impact of quarantine
Quarantine, in English, is called "quarantine", which is derived from the 17th-century Italian word "quarantina", which means "40", when the plague was spreading in Italy, and ships entering Venice were required to be quarantined for 40 days before they could be released, thus giving the name to the quarantine.
According to a retrospective article in the journal Tickle, Brookset et al. at King's College London, 24 surveys of quarantined people in the context of the SARS, H1N1, Ebola, and MERS epidemics have been collected.
The report found that most of them had negative psychological effects, with post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) being the most common, with symptoms such as depressed or unstable mood, depression, anxiety, irritability, and insomnia.
In addition, there may be isolation, fear of going home and infecting family members, and fear of judgment, rejection, and stigmatization by neighbors or close friends. In some cases of long-term follow-up of isolates, post-traumatic stress, depression and alcohol abuse persisted even after 3 years.
From a ***, medical, and public health perspective, quarantine can stop the spread of an epidemic, protect people's health, and prevent the depletion of medical resources.
1. First, minimize the duration of the quarantine
The first step in the process is to provide a more efficient and effective quarantine system.
2. Provide the right information
3. Immediately replenish daily necessities
4. Minimize boredom and increase goodwill communication
5. Provide adequate communication tools such as cell phones, charging cables, electrical outlets, etc.
6.
6. Establish a 24-hour online service line.
All in all, it is important to let the quarantined people feel the care of the people, the support of the society, the protection of the ***, and to let them realize that the love from all directions is the biggest "self-healing ability" and "spiritual support" for them.
(2) Psychological impact on children
According to Prof. Li Si-xian of National Taiwan Normal University, an online survey on the epidemic found that 47% of the population could remain calm about the epidemic, while 22% to 27% felt nervous and worried about the epidemic, and the psychological state of children in particular is not the same as that of adults. They want to play, but they can't.
According to the "SARS Handbook" published by the Chinese Mental Health Association in 2003, the same applies to the new coronary artery disease, and it is important to pay attention to the following points:
◎ Keep calm, and let the children think that it is safe to do so.
◎ Be empathetic, don't avoid talking about the current situation, but when the epidemic is expanding, restrict them from watching TV, etc.
This is the first time I've ever seen a child in the world who has been in the hospital.
Make them feel like they can keep themselves healthy.
And for those who are isolated at home, encourage your classmates to take turns calling or writing cards, rather than mocking or avoiding them.
If the situation worsens, seek professional or psychiatric help.
(3) Care for the high-risk, vulnerable groups
According to statistics, the higher the age, the higher the mortality rate, the mortality rate of over 70 years old is more than 8%, while the mortality rate of the healthy group, only 0.9%. In addition, patients with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer have higher mortality rates, ranging from 5.6% to 10.5% on average. Before these patients are infected, we have to pay more attention and care than before, and we have to be more rigorous in preventing epidemics, and try not to let them go out or go to places where people gather, and regular checkups and medications should not be interrupted. （
In addition, we should pay special attention to vulnerable groups such as the poor, the unemployed, migrant workers, and people with disabilities, who generally have low incomes, fewer job opportunities, poor diets, poor intake of nutrients, and poor health. We should pay special attention to this group of vulnerable people and show empathy, and not pursue illegal immigrants for the time being, in order to ensure that they do not panic and dare not report the outbreak, but also to give due care, which in turn will help to control the outbreak, and in the midst of the dangerous predicament, will also allow people with a better economic base to have the opportunity to learn to dedicate themselves to help them with empathy. At the moment, the domestic immigration department is actively promoting the "expansion of the self-referral program", upholding the law and humane care, to provide assistance, *** this kind of good policy, really helped the new immigrants and migrant workers.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, also emphasized that the research and development of vaccines is a public good, and should be used for those who are most in need of vaccines, not for those who have the resources, or those who are rich, so as to show the universal value of the highest humanistic concern.
(4) Concern for healthcare workers
The first line of healthcare workers facing the outbreak, they are tired and irritable due to the increase in workload and being in a high-risk area, and they are looking forward to support and encouragement from their colleagues in charge of the hospitals and hope that they will not be subjected to unnecessary criticisms or interruptions in their work, and hope that there will be no shortage of all the supplies and equipment needed for the prevention of epidemic. They also hope that there will be no unnecessary criticism or disturbance at work, and that all medical supplies and equipment will not be in short supply, and of course, they urgently need to have adequate security in the workplace. In the journal The Lancet, it is pointed out that these front-line workers, in the face of a brutal epidemic, are more likely to give play to their love and passion, and actively engage in saving lives with their professionalism in the workplace. Instead, they hope that psychiatrists or social workers should spend more time and energy dealing with the patients' anxiety, fear, and other emotional problems.
In addition, the World Psychiatric Association has some advice for healthcare professionals:
Recognize that mental health is just as important as physical health Need to be relieved of stress and take appropriate breaks? Support your peers and stay in touch with your friends and family
These three things are just as true for the general public as they are for the general public.
(5) Preventing and combating epidemics, privacy and human rights protection
During the spread of C pneumonia, apart from isolation, other preventive measures, including the 3T model: Test, Trace, and Treat, are also very important. The so-called tracking, mainly to track infected patients past contacts to be quarantine and isolation, in order to cut off the path of contagion of the disease and reduce the chances of contagion, so that the R0 value (the number of basic contagion) down to less than 1. The traditional way of tracking epidemics is "epidemic investigation", that is, by epidemic prevention personnel through questionnaires and interviews to find or locate past contacts of the patient, which is often a time-consuming process, and has the disadvantage of unclear or hidden records of epidemics, and so on.
Nowadays, because everyone has a cell phone, you can use cell phone location tracking technology to find people's past activities. Currently, the main cell phone signal base station model used in Taiwan's epidemic prevention, and the entry quarantine system is also equipped with an electronic fence system, which makes it easy for epidemic prevention personnel to carry out 14 days of home care use.
But technology still has to be based on human nature, and it has to be regulated in detail by the personal information law to protect personal privacy. At present, there is a special regulation for the prevention and relief of severe and special infectious diseases and revitalization of human rights to make the regulation of personal privacy and human rights more elastic, but it should be considered that the means of preventing epidemics have to comply with the principle of proportionality, and should not do excessive infringement of the personal information privacy of the people, or else, even though the prevention of epidemics is very successful, the privacy protection will be infringed. The first step is to make sure that the system is not overloaded, and the second step is to make sure that the system is not overloaded, and that the system is not overloaded.
(6) Ethical considerations for vaccine development and vaccination
Countries all over the world have invested a great deal of manpower, money and resources in accelerating vaccine research and development, and so far, 27 vaccines have been put into clinical trials, and 6 are in phase 3 of clinical trials, and research and development is accelerating all over the world in the context of appropriately loosened regulations. Of course, it is expected that a sufficient number of vaccines will be available at a reasonable price to ensure that they can be applied to the most needy populations.
The efficacy and safety of the vaccine should be a top priority and the most rigorous consideration.
◎ Is it well established that the vaccine induces effective antibodies and triggers T-cell immunity? Is it suitable for all age groups? Also, the duration of the vaccine's continued effectiveness should be taken seriously.
◎ Are there strong, even fatal, side effects, such as Antibody-Dependent Enhancement (ADE) or Vaccine-Associated Enhanced Respiratory Disease (VACED)? Respiratory Disease (VAERD), should be handled with extreme caution.
Vaccines are the world's public ****treasury, and there should be equitable access (e.g., vaccine distribution and order of vaccination) and affordability.
Conclusion
The new coronary heart disease has been spreading since the end of last year, and it's hard to hide the fact that when humans face a major epidemic, they can't help but feel panicked and uneasy; so it's especially important to reassure people, and to provide psychological counseling and treatment when appropriate.
Generally speaking, the stress and worry caused during an epidemic include: fear of getting sick, fear of infecting others, change in sleeping and eating habits, fear of worsening of one's chronic illnesses, developing bad habits of smoking or drinking, and increasing the dosage of sleeping or sedative drugs.
(1) Do away with utilitarianism, replace suspicion, selfishness, and self-interest with trust, care, and altruism, and recognize the importance of ***existing*** glory.
(2) Using self-isolation or reducing the number of people going out to participate in public **** activities at the same time, self-learning, self-reflection, and a better understanding of tolerance and respect.
(3) Utilize Compassion, Cooperation, Communication, Coordination and Care.
(4) Actively utilize self-relief techniques, such as stress reduction, breathing, exercise, and reading.
In conjunction with the *** implementation and practice of PEACE
P atient: cultivate patience and empathy
Enhancement: strengthen the sense of security, and understand the correct information about the epidemic
Acceptance: accept the ups and downs of the emotions, and find ways to calm yourself
C hange: Improve bad habits and build a new life to prevent the epidemic
E ngage: Return to normal life, and invest in a variety of physically and mentally beneficial ways of rest and relaxation
At present, in Taiwan, the epidemic of C.pneumonia has gradually slowed down, but it is still in a state of treacherous and uncertainty, as long as we always keep the crisis awareness and alertness. As long as we always maintain a sense of crisis awareness and alertness, pay attention to human nature, pay attention to care, and work together in solidarity, I believe that the fight against the epidemic will be successful.