Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas. Michael Touchton, associate professor of political science in the College of Arts and Sciences, moderated the discussion. The University of Miami was leveraging its “unique geographical advantage to forge research, education, academic exchange, and innovation-driven partnerships throughout the Americas,’’ according to Frenk. “Latin America has become a global hot spot for COVID-19 with more than 5 million confirmed cases,” he added. “Beyond the suffering caused by the pandemic itself, long-standing disparities based on poverty, ethnicity, sex, and gender have been laid bare by the pandemic. In addition to that, health systems in the region face a host of exacerbated challenges including shortages of medicine and staff.” Knaul gave an overview of findings from the COVID-19 Observatory, an interactive platform that the institute established that has analyzed national and subnational policies in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Bolivia. One of the challenges in looking at the region is that every country has reacted to the pandemic in different ways, the experts agreed. Even within countries, individual towns and regions have reacted differently. While Mexico and Brazil continue to be the global hot spots in the pandemic, countries such as Chile are handling the pandemic well, said Knaul. “Chile is the example to follow,” Knaul pointed out. Colombia is also beginning to level the curve as well. The policies toward the mandatory use of masks in the different countries is also measured by the observatory. Although Mexico and Brazil lag in this area, all countries in the region, as of April, began some kind of policy requiring the use of masks. Colombia’s condition that masks be worn has been clear from the very beginning of the pandemic, and that may have played a role in its declining numbers.
“It isn’t enough for the country to say that you have to use a mask, but you have to say when, how it fits, and so on,” Knaul said.
Manuel Lopez Obrador has not issued any public policies to contain the pandemic, even as his country surpassed 17,000 deaths.
Most of the deaths forecasted by Lozano toward the end of this year is expected to take place in Mexico and Brazil, two countries that have not had sound national policies on how to respond to the virus. Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro first mocked the pandemic and often appeared publicly without a mask. Mexican president
“Pandemics should not be politicized,” said Knaul. “It is inappropriate to politicize an issue of public health.”
ORTHOPAEDIC TRAUMA UNITS ACROSS THE GLOBE GREATLY IMPACTED BY COVID-19, STUDY FINDS Written by Amanda Torres Published on June 25, 2020 Category: Student, Research A study led by medical and public health researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine found that orthopaedic trauma departments across the globe have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in a myriad of ways. Among the impacts are reduced caseloads, shortages in equipment, and the implementation of telehealth. The study, published in the journal International Orthopaedics on June 17, includes the largest data set characterizing global COVID-19 situations and responses of orthopaedic trauma practices from around the world. “The goal of this study was to understand the experiences and lessons of
orthopaedic trauma surgeons internationally in combatting COVID-19,” said study lead author Bradley A. Lezak, a candidate in the M.D./M.P.H. program at the Miller School of Medicine and Department of Public Health Sciences. “We hoped to shed light on current practices and challenges in order to help manage the current pandemic in addition to preparing for future global pandemics that may arise.” During April, researchers sent a 20item questionnaire to 150 orthopaedic trauma surgeons representing 42 countries. The study was based on responses from 63 surgeons from 28 countries, including 14 from the U.S. Given the global and regional diversity represented by the sample pool, the researchers said, each participant provided a unique perspective on when and to what extent COVID-19 affected their orthopaedic practice.
87
