Sanitary Aspects of Countering the Spread of COVID-19 in Russia

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-11, Vol.18 (23), p.12456
• Main Authors: Belova, Elena, Shashina, Ekaterina, Shcherbakov, Denis, Zhernov, Yury, Sukhov, Vitaly, Zabroda, Nadezhda, Makarova, Valentina, Isiutina-Fedotkova, Tatiana, Mishina, Svetlana, Simanovsky, Anton, Mitrokhin, Oleg
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cluster analysis; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Decision making; Disease control; Disease prevention; Epidemics; Health care; Health risks; Health services; Infections; Infectious diseases; Medical equipment; Medical personnel; Pandemics; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Risk levels; Viruses
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182312456

Due to the conditions that cause the spread of COVID-19, national health systems worldwide are under severe strain. Most countries face similar difficulties such as a lack of medical personnel and equipment and tools for diagnosis and treatment, overrun hospitals, and forced restriction of planned medical care. Public authorities in healthcare take the following measures due to increased pressure: limiting the transmission and spread of the virus (social distancing and quarantine), mobilizing medical personnel, ensuring the availability of diagnostic and treatment tools, and providing a sufficient number of premises, which are not always suitable for the provision of medical care (buildings and structures). To date, the stages of management decision-making to counter coronavirus infection and the risk of COVID-19 transmission at various facilities have not been analyzed. The authors propose a methodology for assessing the COVID-19 transmission risk at various social and transport facilities. A survey of 1325 respondents from Moscow demonstrated the most significant risk factors, such as visitation avoidance, infection risk, and facemask wearing. Risk categories were determined and objects classified according to high, medium, and low-risk levels.