The best way to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 at USF and the sufficiency of the measures already taken by USF.           

The best way to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 at USF and the sufficiency of the measures already taken by USF.

Background information

COVID-19 is defined as an infectious illness that is caused by a coronavirus that has been newly discovered. When the virus infects a person, they experience moderate to mild respiratory problems and recover without having to be administered any special treatment. As of Sunday, 22, March 2020 in the mid-morning, the total number of people who have been infected was 318,000. The total number of deaths globally was 13,600 people. This, in return, causes a health problem in USF as anyone from students, workers, lecturers, and the surrounding community can get infected.

COVID-19 is associated with a health issue, and it is also related to the rise of harmful stereotypes and stigmatization, which can become a severe health problem. Stigmatization might contribute to ongoing transmission, critical health issues, and it becomes difficult to control diseases that are infectious in an epidemic. COVID-19 is making people labeled, separated, lose their status, stereotyped, and discriminated against. As such, people in USF might fear coming up when infected and end up transmitting the virus to others (World Health Organization. 2020).

Explanation of the problem

Infected cases in the United States increased to 27,004 in the afternoon, where the number of deaths was 347. Around the globe, 94,700 people have recovered from diseases, where 176 people are from the United States. In Florida State, 830 people have tested positive of the disease and 13 deaths (Center for disease control and prevention. 2020). One of the students have tested positive of coronavirus and is being taken care of in the Florida health department and self-isolating. The student has not been in the school facility since the end of February. According to an assessment done by the health department, there is no need for contact-tracing in the University (University of Florida. 2020).

Coronaviruses are defined as a group of viruses that causes illnesses like severe acute respiratory syndrome, common cold, and Middle East respiratory syndrome. At the end of 2019, there was a new coronavirus that was recognized as the cause of an outbreak of disease and came from China (World Health Organization et al., 2020). Cases of COVID-19 have increased in many counties around the globe.  Signs and symptoms of the disease include cough, fever, breathing difficulties, aches, sore throat, tiredness, and runny nose. The disease has significantly posed a severe public health risk. The virus is likely to develop into a severe illness to the aged and those who have medical conditions such as diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and lung problems (World Health Organization. 2020). All the 50 states have reported cases of the coronavirus, most claims being from travelers coming to America, and the people they came into contact with and the other 27 cases from the community-acquired from unknown sources.

The greatest danger with this virus is that it affects all people and have severe illness mostly in older adults and people with health conditions; in other cases, it causes death (Layne, Hyman, Morens, & Taubenberger, 2020). There are preventive measures that have been put in place by the University, which I feel are not long term. USF has transformed learning from lecture rooms to classes, which is aimed at reducing social contact, but I think that people have contact in their area of residence. On top of online learning, the students should be restricted to meet in dining areas and other joints. I feel that the unUniversityhould have educated the community that the virus is something not to be ashamed of and that they need to not spreading fear or force information.

Causes of the problem

It is yet to be known how contagious the new virus is, but it happens to spread from a person to the other if they are in close contact. The virus spreads by droplets of mucus or saliva when a sick person sneezes or coughs. Therefore, people should exercise respiratory etiquette, for example, covering your mouth when coughing (Layne et al., 2020). The virus also spreads when an individual gets in contact with a surface that has the virus on it and then touches his/her eyes, nose, or mouth. Most cases in the United States have been caused by people from other countries of those who have traveled to other nations. There have been safety measures put in place by the state government and the national government. Unfortunately, most people are not following these measures and are acting ignorant (Thienemann et al., 2020). This is the main reason why the number has increased with a high speed all over the world.

Impacted population

The population that is mostly affected by the problem are the lecturer, students, surrounding community, and staff members. We have staff, lecturers, and even some Ph.D. and Doctorate students whose life might be at high risk if they get infected due to them being aged. We also have students and staff members and lecturers who have chronic diseases, and if infected, their survival rate will be low. When students and subordinate staff go home, if the school is closed indefinitely, not all people have medical covers, and they might not be lucky to get access to any medical assistance. The trauma, fear, and traumatization caused by COVID-19 may also affect the families and friends of the people infected. As a community, the University should ensure its members will not go through this by preventing the spread of coronavirus.

References

World Health Organization. (2020). Coronavirus.

Center for disease control and prevention. (2020). Coronavirus (COVID-19) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html

The University of Florida. (2020). Coronavirus (COVID-2019). https://www.usf.edu/coronavirus/

Layne, S. P., Hyman, J. M., Morens, D. M., & Taubenberger, J. K. (2020). New coronavirus outbreak: Framing questions for pandemic prevention.

World Health Organization. (2020). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report – 35. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200224-sitrep-35-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=1ac4218d_2

Thienemann, F., Pinto, F., Grobbee, D. E., Boehm, M., Bazargani, N., Ge, J., & Sliwa, K. (2020). World Heart Federation Briefing on Prevention: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in low-income countries. World Heart Journal, 15(1), 23.

Supplementary Deliverables

MEMORANDUM

To: All members of the University of South Florida

From:

Date:

Subject: The best way to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 at USF and the sufficiency of the measures already taken by USF.

Research plan

My project is going to determine the best measures that the UnUniversityhould take to prevent further cases of the outbreak at the University of South Florida. The project will also determine whether the current preventive measures that the compass has put in place are sufficient. The expected outcome of my research is that it will serve as a solution to prevent people University from getting infected. From the results that I will get, I will be able to avoid possible deaths and fear among the population. When people are aware of what they are expected to do, they are likely to observe the measures, and thus we shall not have any additional cases of the illness. Additionally, as a result, will come directly from the people to be affected by the problem, the implementation process of the solution will be easy as they are likely to identify with the process. The specific objective of the study is to make our UnUniversityave the least number of infections.

The projects aim at learning from others’ experiences who are suffering due to a lack of suitable preventive measures. My research methods will include participant observation and surveying. The survey will be conducted through computer-assisted web interviewing, where I will use a questionnaire. I will also be a participant observer as I am part of the group that is being observed. The potential source of the background information, explanation of the problem will be from the internet, especially the health provider’s sites, government pages, the world health organization, and the official page of the UnUniversityThe impacted population sources will be through the survey done by the school’s community and through what I will observe.

Research Process Report

Through participative observation, I have managed to get the views of the people on the preventive measures in general that they would want to put in place. These results have also come from observing what they talk about in online platforms. The first recommendation involves measures that ensure we keep social distancing of on meter at all society levels. Secondly, older people and those with health conditions and should take extra precautions as they are at a higher risk of getting COVID-19 severe illness. Thirdly, for health care providers taking care of COVID-19, patients should take care of themselves and follow health recommendations and procedures. Fourth, the UnUniversityas suspended studies, and classes will be done remotely. Fifth, those who think that might have been exposed to the virus should limit their movement, get tested, and those who test positive should isolate at home as COVID-19 does not have a treatment yet. I’m again to gather information on the significance of the measures put in place by the UnUniversitywhich I will get through analyzing the questionnaire.

MEMORANDUM

To: All members of the University of South Florida

From:

Date:

Subject: The best way to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 at USF and the sufficiency of the measures taken by USF.

The goal of the questionnaire

The primary purpose of the survey is to gather the necessary information that will be used in the study from the respondent. A quiz consists of questions that are not bias or corrupted. It can be seen as a written interview. A questionnaire, in most cases, uses both closed and open items for data collection. I will use the poll because they are comparatively easy to analyze and simple in administration. Most respondents are familiar with the format used in the survey. A questionnaire can be used in a large population, which relatively low cost.

Target audience

The target population will include members from the administration, lecturers, support staff, surrounding community, and students. I will select 20 random respondents from the member in each category, making my sample size be of 100 participants.  I will distribute a prototype to 10 members of my target population, two members from each group. My target population will be chosen from the said categories as the problem affects them, causing a direct impact.

How the survey was conducted

Online research methods help one to collect and analyze data collected through the internet. I will use an online platform to do my study through the use of an online questionnaire. This method involves an interview in a written format that is a computer-assisted. One of the main reasons is that we should follow all protective measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.  People have been asked to take protective measures and to maintain social distance so face to face methods cannot be applicable.

Potential problem

One of the issues that I am anticipating is that not everybody can access the internet, and thus the response maybe low. Again, the majority of the people are reluctant to complete online questionnaires fully. The population will mainly be biased to young people, and as such, I may not hit my target population.

Questionnaire

This is a questionnaire on a study that we are doing. On how to determine the best way to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 at USF and the sufficiency of the measures taken USF.

1. Kindly indicate in which category of participant you belong in
2. Student
3. Lecturer
4. Support staff
5. Management
6. Community
7. Do you think the outbreak of the Corona Virus will reshape the education system?
8. Yes
9. No
10. Does the pandemic directly affect you?
11. Yes
12. No
13. Do you think the school is exercising the best preventive measures? Why?
14. Yes
15. No
16. How to cope with stress and anxiety about Coronavirus Contamination and transmission?
17. Briefly explain some measures that you would want to put in place to stop the spread of the virus in USF.
18. Briefly explain how the virus can spread in the UnUniversity

Responses

The response rate of the questionnaire is, in some cases, shallow, and they may continue to decrease as a result of over surveying by web users. To determine whether the poll I will use is successful and the probability of getting efficient data, I will observe the following factors. I will look at the motivational levels of the respondent, their ability, and the design of my questionnaire. Below are some of how online surveys are responded. First, there is a complete respondent who will read and answer all questions. Second, we have unit non-responders who will not take part in the survey entirely. Third, there are drop-outs who stop answering the questions mid-way as they explain the displayed ones. Fourth, we have lurkers who pass through the issues without attempting any. Five, there are lurker drop-out views some of the questions and fail to answer any. Six, are item non-responders who view all the questions but only answer some. Lastly, we have item non-responding drop-outs, who see some issues and only answer some of the problems they have viewed.