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. 2020 Sep:98:18-20.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.06.062. Epub 2020 Jun 23.

COVID-19 preventive measures showing an unintended decline in infectious diseases in Taiwan

Cooper J Galvin  1 , Yu-Chuan Jack Li  2 , Shwetambara Malwade  3 , Shabbir Syed-Abdul  4
Affiliations

COVID-19 preventive measures showing an unintended decline in infectious diseases in Taiwan

Cooper J Galvin et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Most of the communicable diseases have contact, airborne and/or droplet mode of transsmission. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the Taiwan government implemented the use of masks and sanitizer, as well as other preventive measures like social distancing for prevention. This public response likely contributed significantly to the decline in the outbreak of other infectious diseases.

Keywords: COVID-19; Communicable diseases; Coronavirus; Face masks; Sanitizers.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relationship between public awareness of COVID-19 prevention and communicable disease incidence tracked in real-time. Infectious disease rates were provided by the notification system of the Centers for Disease Control of Taiwan (Taiwan’s CDC). For a conservative estimate of the decrease in communicable diseases seen this year, pending cases were included with confirmed cases in the incidence presented. Weekly averages are reported with standard errors from the mean. We chose Google searches for the mandarin Chinese translation of “face masks” (口罩) and “hand sanitizer” (乾洗手) as our indicators of public interest in COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Search data for individual days was provided in relative units (out of 100 maximum).
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