Multi-disciplinary Leadership to Mitigate COVID-19 in an Austere West African Military Environment

ABSTRACT Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for forward-deployed military units to Western Africa. Austere military environments afford multiple avenues to transmit COVID-19 amongst service members. Materials and Methods A COVID-19 outbreak on a military base in Western Africa spa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Military medicine 2023-07, Vol.188 (7-8), p.e1525-e1528
Main Authors: Mitchell, Stephanie L, Mitchell, Thomas A, Horwitz-Willis, Nathaniel, Alptunaer, Timur N, Gipson, Jeffrey A, Shackelford, Stacy A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
COVID-19
COVID-19 diagnostic tests
Disease transmission
Public health
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Summary:ABSTRACT Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for forward-deployed military units to Western Africa. Austere military environments afford multiple avenues to transmit COVID-19 amongst service members. Materials and Methods A COVID-19 outbreak on a military base in Western Africa spanning over 100 days is statistically analyzed using a Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Furthermore, a COVID-19 reproductive number (R0) is evaluated to examine the relationship between specific command-directed policies to mitigate COVID-19 transmission. Results The multidisciplinary partnership of military command, medical, and public health leadership implemented evidence-based and epidemiologically informed COVID-19 preventive base-wide policies, including appropriate isolation/quarantine policies. The R0 for the outbreak was 0.03 and remained
ISSN:0026-4075
1930-613X
DOI:10.1093/milmed/usac045