Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
Medical Education Development Center, Nagasaki University Hospital, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8501, Japan.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr 19;19(9):4930. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19094930.
Nonpharmaceutical and pharmaceutical public health interventions are important to mitigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. However, it is still unclear how the effectiveness of these interventions changes with the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) novel variants. This simulation study utilized data from Japan and investigated how the characteristic properties of the Omicron variant, which emerged in late 2021, influence the effectiveness of public health interventions, including vaccination, the reduction of interpersonal contact, and the early isolation of infectious people. Although the short generation time of the Omicron variant increases the effectiveness of vaccination and the reduction of interpersonal contact, it decreases the effectiveness of early isolation. The latter feature may make the containment of case clusters difficult. The increase of infected children during the Omicron-dominant epidemic diminishes the effects of previously adult-targeted interventions. These findings underscore the importance of monitoring viral evolution and consequent changes in epidemiological characteristics. An assessment and adaptation of public health measures against COVID-19 are required as SARS-CoV-2 novel variants continue to emerge.
非药物和药物公共卫生干预措施对于减轻 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）疫情非常重要。然而，对于这些干预措施的效果如何随着严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）新型变体的出现而变化，目前仍不清楚。本模拟研究利用来自日本的数据，研究了于 2021 年末出现的奥密克戎变体的特征属性如何影响公共卫生干预措施的效果，包括疫苗接种、减少人际接触和早期隔离感染人群。虽然奥密克戎变体的短代际时间增加了疫苗接种和减少人际接触的效果，但降低了早期隔离的效果。后者的特征可能使病例集群的控制变得困难。奥密克戎主导流行期间感染儿童的增加削弱了之前针对成年人的干预措施的效果。这些发现强调了监测病毒进化和随之而来的流行病学特征变化的重要性。随着 SARS-CoV-2 新型变体的不断出现，需要对 COVID-19 的公共卫生措施进行评估和调整。
