Telepidemiology in the fight against COVID-19 in Santiago de Cuba province

Authors

Keywords:

COVID-19, telepidemiology, systems of geographical information, spatial analysis, social mobility, demographic concentration

Abstract

Introduction: Cuba early started its preparations to face the emergency due to COVID-19 and it has made a deployment of several scientific-technical capacities for it, among them the management of geographical information’s systems by GEOCUBA company.

Objective: Identify posible sites of geospatial risk related with the transmission of COVID-19 in Santiago de Cuba province.

Methods: It was developed an ecologic study. There were identified groups of COVID-19 transmission and epidemiological risks. Epidemiological, social and spatial variables were resumed. Also there were made spatial analyses and overflights of drones as teleepidemiology techniques.

Results: There were identified five spatial groups of transmission: one in Palma Soriano municipality, one in Contramaestre municipality and three in Santiago de Cuba municipality. The spatial distances among the cases and confirmed cases were related with the form of transmission of COVID-19. There were identified low incidence rates. It was noticed low mobility, accomplishment of the social distancing rules and social protection.

Conclusions: The creation of a multidisciplinary group in Santiago de Cuba province, as a proposal of the highest level of the Communist Party and the Government, secured the deployment of technologic resources for the use of telepidemiology, and this allowed the spatial identification and further comprehensive management of ecoepidemiologic risks related with the transmission of COVID-19 in Santiago de Cuba. The different governmental actions, the perception of risk of the population, and the community response impacted in the low rates of transmission and spatial spreading of the disease, which shows the importance of worthing health as a social product.

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Author Biography

Adrián Palú Orozco, Centro Provincial de Higiene y Epidemiología, Santiago de Cuba

Médico epidemiólogo, especialista de segundo grado. Máster en enfermedades infecciosas. Profesor auxiliar de la Universidad Médica de Santiago de Cuba. Investigador agregado.

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Published

2021-01-18

How to Cite

1.
Palú Orozco A, Texidor Garzón MC, Portuondo Pujol C, Miranda Reyes SC, Manet Lahera LR. Telepidemiology in the fight against COVID-19 in Santiago de Cuba province. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [Internet]. 2021 Jan. 18 [cited 2025 Apr. 16];47(1). Available from: https://revsaludpublica.sld.cu/index.php/spu/article/view/2672

Issue

Vol. 47 No. 1 (2021): enero-marzo

Section

Research

License

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