Public health surveillance for the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games

Abstract

Background: Public health surveillance for previous Olympic and Paralympic Games have been described in the literature, but surveillance for regional, multisport events on a smaller scale have rarely been explored.

Comparing Twitter data to routine data sources in public health surveillance for the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games: an ecological study

“…The Twitter syndromes were compared against other surveillance data sources over the P/PAG period. There were no communicable disease outbreaks during the P/PAG time period, and the only public health incidents that occurred during this period were several heat alerts (Chan et al 2017). In this study, we demonstrate that the Twitter syndromes were sensitive to the heat alerts, as Twitter data were correlated with the telephone health helpline (Telehealth) data for heat syndrome and also correlated with maximum daily temperature.…”

A public health enhanced surveillance system for a mass gathering event

“…In preparation for this event, experts in emergency management were consulted, and the literature (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9), including lessons learned from the Summit of the Americas in 2001 (10), was reviewed. A number of monitoring initiatives previously applied during sporting (3,(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19), religious (5,20,21) and artistic events (22,23) have been described previously. However, there was less detailed information available about surveillance during political events, especially those that are at risk for violent demonstrations or acts of terrorism (24,25).…”

“…In advance of the event, a number of potential public health threats were identified and prioritized for monitoring: rapid spread of certain infectious diseases; violence associated with demonstrations and use of crowd-control agents; potential for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive (CBRNE) terrorist threats; and presence of suspicious packages (26). Although the probability of these threats was considered low (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)27), an enhanced surveillance system was needed to quickly detect potential public health threats (28-31), as well as a rapid intervention plan for each of these threats.…”