Risk management and communication plans from SARS to COVID‐19 and beyond

Abstract

Objective Nowadays, due to globalisation, the likelihood that infectious diseases spread rapidly is extraordinarily high. SARS and COVID‐19 are two diseases of the Coronavirus family, which developed in China and then spread internationally, causing global public health emergencies. This study investigates the role that risk management and communication systems played in mitigating these emergencies, to establish how they should be improved in the future. Methods A narrative review was carried out to investigate different knowledge domains, such as risk management and communication, risk assessment and indicators, epidemiological and clinical data, diagnostic methods, vaccines, public health and social measures. Results On one side, risk management systems assess the main data, knowledge, and indicators on epidemiology, diagnostics, and vaccines (science‐based); on the other side, they apply public health and social measures (socially‐based). Decision‐makers, in fact, implement their actions by constantly balancing these two sides (policy‐based). Conclusions A correct crisis management approach should support the governance of pandemics, by harmonising the actual risks assessed by experts with those perceived by the general population. It should incorporate not only the biological, but even the environmental, social and economic aspects of virus emergencies, towards establishing a suitable framework to deal with possible future pandemics.

Factors Associated with Pneumonia in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19 and the Role of Vaccination

“…Nor did we assess some potential confounding factors, such as previous SARS-CoV-2 infection or time between the data of vaccination and the onset of disease. Moreover, it would have been interesting to consider the effects of the restrictive measures, the risk management, and the communication plans implemented by the government during the pandemic [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ].…”