PoliMap: A taxonomy proposal for mapping and understanding the global policy response to COVID-19

Abstract

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is challenging societies, governments and economies at an unprecedented scale. Policy responses to face the epidemic virus had varied greatly among countries, from massive testing, large scale lockdowns to more voluntary approaches for social distancing. The analysis of such policies has been framed mainly with the sole aim of reducing virus transmission (“Flatten the curve” strategies), such as suppression and mitigation approaches. In this article, we argue that the overarching goal of the policy response should not be reducing the viral spread but to ultimately reduce the negative impacts on health and wellbeing of the COVID-19 pandemic. This requires not only interventions to reduce virus transmission, but also policies aimed at increasing the capacity of the health system’s response (“Raising the line” strategies), mitigating the negative consequences of the epidemic and potential adverse effects of interventions to tackle the outbreak (Mitigation strategies) and increasing governmental capacities to respond to the crisis (Strengthening Governance strategies). We propose PoliMap, a comprehensive taxonomy addressing these four policy domains. We present an overview of potential policies in each domain and discuss cross-cutting dimensions of policy responses as the dynamic nature of policymaking, alignment of policy responses at different levels, types of policy instruments, coverage of interventions and gendered-impact of policies. This taxonomy could be used to systematically map, monitor and compare policy responses across countries and over time, in conjunction with morbidity, mortality and demographic data, used to obtain a broad view of the societal effects of COVID-19 pandemic.

Epidemic trends, public health response and health system capacity: the Chilean experience in four months of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The compliance with quarantines was verified, controlling the entry and exit of quarantined areas in sanitary cords. In general terms, a relative but fragile stabilization was achieved in the number of daily cases in ranges that allow an adequate response from the health care system, with case fatality rates converging to those estimates reported in the international literature (15,5). Early evidence suggests that this small-area lockdowns were effective in reducing human mobility and the effective reproductive number at this stage (29).…”

“…The responses of countries to the pandemic range over a diversity of strategies ( 2 - 5 ) and the current evidence on those strategies still relies mostly on modelling studies based on developing knowledge and available public data ( 6 ). From the experience of countries with large-scale community transmission such as China, Italy or Spain, it has been learned that COVID-19 requires unprecedented mobilization of health systems ( 7 ).…”

Os primeiros 80 dias da pandemia da COVID-19 em Belo Horizonte: da contenção à flexibilização

“…O segundo conjunto de fatores diz respeito à política de enfrentamento da pandemia. A análise realizada no presente artigo das medidas implementadas em BH evidencia uma gestão com planejamento e articulação estratégica entre as várias dimensões (Peña et al, 2020), diferente da abordagem adotada em nível federal. Conforme analisado por Cimini et al (2020), o governo federal não adotou nenhum critério técnico para orientar a adoção das medidas de distanciamento social em nível subnacional, tampouco coordenou o timing das ações de achatamento da curva e aumento da capacidade de sistema de saúde, fundamental para evitar o colapso.…”

“…Concentramos as buscas em quatros eixos principais: prevenção à exposição viral; medidas de expansão da capacidade do sistema de saúde; estratégias de mitigação com foco nas medidas econômicas e governança. Essa classifi cação é baseada na tipologia proposta por Peña et al (2020). A eventual ausência de alguma medida pode ocorrer devido à natureza manual da busca e dos graus de disponibilidade e clareza em relação às medidas adotadas ao enfrentamento da pandemia em seus canais ofi ciais.…”

An Exit Strategy for Resuming Nonemergency Neurosurgery after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2: A United Kingdom Perspective

“…2,3 A second, closely linked strategy was "raising the line" to increase the capacity of the National Health Service, including building a 4000-bed "Nightingale" super-hospital in London using the armed forces and volunteers and mobilizing clinical academic faculty and retired staff. 4,5 An upheaval occurred in the provision of neurosurgical services, 6 with reallocation of healthcare resources to increase the capacity of the National Health Service (Figure 1).…”