Effect of Information Disclosure Policy on Control of Infectious Disease: MERS-CoV Outbreak in South Korea

Jin‐Won Noh, Ki-Bong Yoo, Young Dae Kwon, Jin Hwa Hong, Yejin Lee, Kisoo Park

2020International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health20 citationsDOI Open Access PDF

Abstract

This study examined the effect of disclosing a list of hospitals with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) patients on the number of laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV cases in South Korea. MERS-CoV data from 20 May 2015 to 5 July 2015 were from the Korean Ministry of Health & Welfare website and analyzed using segmented linear autoregressive error models for interrupted time series. This study showed that the number of laboratory-confirmed cases was increased by 9.632 on 5 June (p < 0.001). However, this number was significantly decreased following disclosure of a list of hospitals with MERS-CoV cases (Estimate = −0.699; p < 0.001). Disclosing the list of hospitals exposed to MERS-CoV was critical to the prevention of further infection. It reduced the number of confirmed MERS-CoV cases. Thus, providing accurate and timely information is a key to critical care response.

Topics & Concepts

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirusOutbreakChristian ministryMedicineMiddle East respiratory syndromeCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)WelfareDeclaration2019-20 coronavirus outbreakEnvironmental healthDisease controlFamily medicineDemographyMedical emergencyDiseaseEmergency medicineInfectious disease (medical specialty)Internal medicineVirologyTheologyPolitical scienceLawPhilosophySociologyCOVID-19 epidemiological studiesVaccine Coverage and HesitancyCOVID-19 Pandemic Impacts