Free Paper Example on The Role of Public Health

Introduction

Public health promotes the well-being of the entire population and ensures its security by protecting it from the spread of infectious disease and environmental hazards. It also ensures that the public accesses safe and quality care to enhance its safety and welfare. According to Hartley & Perencevich (2020), government responsibility for public health has increased beyond voluntary services and activities to meet additional mandatory immunization laws, quarantine, and regulatory authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, public health encourages the community to adopt healthy lifestyles (e.g., physical activity and a balanced diet) to promote good health.

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Core Public Health Functions

• Investigating and diagnosing health problems and hazards in the community.
• Educating, informing and empowering people about health issues – for example, it encourages the pubic to wear face masks, and wash hands or sanitize to stay safe from COVID-19.
• Mobilizing community action and partnership to identify and address health problems.
• Developing plans and policies that enhance community and individual health efforts – for example, encourage remote learning and working to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
• Enforcing laws and regulations to protect people from health problems and ensure safety – for example, the government implemented travel restrictions and social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Case Definition

Case definition is a set of criteria used in decision-making regarding determining whether an individual has a heath event or disease of interest. Hartley & Perencevich (2020) suggest that establishing a case definition is a proactive step in quantifying a particular disease's magnitude in a population. For instance, case definition is used in current public health surveillance to track the spread of COVID-19.

Public Health Disease Reporting Requirements

Public health workers should notify the health authority that a communicable of a specific disease exists within a particular jurisdiction, without delay. Administrative regulation that determines communicable disease to be reported may vary significantly from one region to another because of various conditions (Grennan, 2019). Each local health authority should determine disease that needs to be reported routinely. In this case, procedures must be developed to indicate reporting responsibilities, requirements, and the process of forwarding reports to the next superior jurisdiction. Most importantly, any unusual disease that might be a crucial public concern should immediately be reported to health authorities.

COVID-19 Cases in My County

Washington has reported over 300 thousand COVID-19 cases and 10,000 deaths by 15th September 2020, according to the data collected by Johns Hopkins University, and the cases and deaths continue to record daily. The health department, the county has reported ranks the second on the list of US COVID-19 cases. Though the Washington outbreak has increased over the past several weeks, the daily case count tends to decrease recently. The cases and deaths represent thirteen percent and six percent, respectively, of U.S. totals. Deaths and hospitalizations rates are steadily rising, as the county reports an average of 120 daily deaths, an increase of twenty-one percent.

Population density is a crucial factor for the rapid COVID-19 spread in the U.S. Population density refers to the number of people per square kilometer area. According to Connors & Levy (2020), the relationship between high population density and the spread of pandemics has been reported earlier. While pandemic management heavily relies on the country's health capacity, the U.S. might experience significant challenges in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Conclusion

Another factor contributing to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. is behavior. Connors & Levy (2020) argue that culture is a critical concern in shaping people's lives. People are both biological and cultural beings. Although the world has provided various behavioral restrictions that can help prevent the spread of COVID-19, American culture might not align with the efforts. Thus, the U.S. may continue recording a high number of COVID-19 cases.

References

Connors, J. M., & Levy, J. H. (2020). COVID-19 and its implications for thrombosis and anticoagulation. Blood, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology, 135(23), 2033-2040. https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/coronavirus/article244811787.html

Grennan, D. (2019). What Is a Pandemic?. Jama, 321(9), 910-910. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2726986

Hartley, D. M., & Perencevich, E. N. (2020). Public health interventions for COVID-19: emerging evidence and implications for an evolving public health crisis. Jama, 323(19), 1908-1909. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2764656.