Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health

Volume 10, Issue 3, September 2020, Pages 194 - 197

The Precious Commodity of Time and Sub-Saharan Africa’s Success in Keeping COVID-19 at Bay

Authors
Janet M. Wojcicki*, ORCID
Department of Epidemiology and Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Corresponding Author
Janet M. Wojcicki
Received 14 May 2020, Accepted 15 July 2020, Available Online 10 August 2020.
DOI
10.2991/jegh.k.200727.001How to use a DOI?
Keywords
sub-Saharan Africa; COVID-19; coronavirus
Abstract

Most sub-Saharan African countries acted early and aggressively in response to the WHO COVID-19 warning by closing schools, international borders, limiting domestic travel and restricting large gatherings. The six most populous sub-Saharan African countries, at the beginning of July 2020 with the exception of Republic of South Africa, all had relatively modest COVID-19 case counts compared with European, North and South American and some Asian countries in spite of access to more limited medical resources and technologies. Shutdowns or shelter-in-places were put in place for 5 out of 6 countries surveyed well before the first reported COVID-19 death. Timely action to enact comprehensive public health measures are irreplaceable and cannot be substituted by later use of medical resources or technologies. In the case of Republic of South Africa, earlier and multiple instances of virus introduction may have made infection control much more difficult compared with other sub-Saharan African countries.

Copyright
© 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press International B.V.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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Journal
Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
Volume-Issue
10 - 3
Pages
194 - 197
Publication Date
2020/08/10
ISSN (Online)
2210-6014
ISSN (Print)
2210-6006
DOI
10.2991/jegh.k.200727.001How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press International B.V.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Janet M. Wojcicki
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/08/10
TI  - The Precious Commodity of Time and Sub-Saharan Africa’s Success in Keeping COVID-19 at Bay
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 194
EP  - 197
VL  - 10
IS  - 3
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jegh.k.200727.001
DO  - 10.2991/jegh.k.200727.001
ID  - Wojcicki2020
ER  -