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PANDEMIC
Kenia Lopez

A pandemic is a widespread infectious disease within a community, spreading to large

regions worldwide, all occurring at the same time, the number of infected people is not stable.

Most confuse epidemic and pandemic, but an epidemic is a widespread infectious disease within

a community occurring simultaneously just with stable numbers and not being global. There are

stages to track the process of the pandemic, and there is management that works to contain the

outbreak. Pandemics have always occurred, and we are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Peer review reflection: I took into consideration my peer's suggestions and split my phases into

smaller sections so they won't be cluttered and rephrased some sentences they pointed out that

were confusing or too wordy. We can see that in explaining why a pandemic is hard to control.

Also, I explained what my image is portraying and added peer-reviewed sources.

Table of Contents

1) Pandemic

2) Stages

3) Control

4) Post-Peak

5) Post-Pandemic

6) Current Pandemic

7) Works Cited
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Stages

A pandemic has different stages of tracking how the pandemic is doing. The World

Health Organization (WHO) uses a six-phased approach to easily incorporate new

recommendations and approaches into already existing national preparedness and response plans

[1]. The first three phases, 1-3, correspond with preparedness in the pre-pandemic interval.

While the following three phases, 4-6, evidently signal the need for response and relief efforts

during the pandemic.

Phase 1

In the first phase, no virus is circulating among animals. None have been reported to

cause disease in humans.

Phase 2

In phase two, an animal with the virus circulating with domesticated/wild animals is

known to have caused the infection in humans, therefore, posing a threat of a potential pandemic.

Phase 3

In phase three, an animal or human-animal virus caused small disease clusters in people

but not yet human-to-human transmission, enough to sustain community-level outbreaks, an

epidemic.

Phase 4

During the pandemic interval, phase four is distinguished by the human-to-human

transmission of an animal/human-animal virus which causes community-level outbreaks.

However, the capability to cause sustainable disease outbreaks signifies a shift upwards,
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signaling the risk of a pandemic [1]. In other words, phase four hints that there may be a

pandemic but no certain "yes" of a pandemic yet since transmission is being sustained.

Phase 5

There is human to human spread of the virus into at least two other countries in the WHO

region in phase five. Though most countries will not be affected, it gives a strong indicator that a

pandemic might occur and the relief plans are not working.

Phase 6

In phase six, there are community-level outbreaks in other countries outside the ones

experiencing the outbreaks. This will point out that a global pandemic is occurring.

Control

A pandemic can be very challenging to control. Controlling a pandemic is reducing the

spread of the disease. The best strategies to help control are containment and mitigation.

Containment can be used in the early stages, while mitigation is used to alleviate current events.

Containment
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Containment is the act of keeping something within limits. Containment can be put into

action in the earlier stages of an outbreak. For example, isolating infected individuals to stop the

disease from spreading to the rest of the population and another method used is the tracing of

who may have contact with the infected individual, which is called "contact tracing" and testing

them for infection. Other types of control are the usage of vaccinations if available. When the

containment is no longer available to reach, then the process is moved to mitigation.

Mitigation

Mitigation is the action of reducing the severity of something. The goal is to slow down

the spread of the disease and relieve effects on society and the healthcare system. Once a

pandemic has started, a response should be applied, focusing on situational awareness, public

health messaging, and reducing transmission and care for and treating the ill [2]. The main goal

of control is to flatten the curve and decrease the epidemic peak. It helps decrease the risk of

overwhelmed health services and provides more time for a vaccine to be made or treatment.

*Image shows what a

pandemic is. Many infected
orange circles around the
globe.
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Post-Peak

Post-peak is when infection rates drop, but it is not certain that they will keep dropping, so

countries need to be prepared if a second wave occurs. Previous pandemics have experienced

multiple waves, and in some cases, the second wave is larger. For example, the (H1N1) influenza

pandemic experienced a larger second wave in 2009 [3].

Post-Pandemic

Post-pandemic is when infection rates are or have returned to regular rates. Its approach is meant

to evaluate response, revise plans, and recover [1]. An example of a post-pandemic approach is

the (H1N1) influenza virus. It was expected to be around as a seasonal virus for some years.

Even though rates have gone back to normal, vigilance is critical in the post-pandemic phase

since the (H1N1) influenza virus is not predictable [4].

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Current Pandemic

A current pandemic that we are experiencing is the COVID-19 pandemic. A new strain of

coronavirus was detected in China, where a group of patients experienced shortness of breath

and fever. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic [5]. A usage of

mitigation to reduce the number of infected people and the time for a vaccine to be developed

was the CDC announcing guidelines and recommendations of using face masks when outside of

their home [5]. This helped reduce rates and had enough time for three vaccines to be created.

An example of how containment was used in the early stages was South Korea testing about

10,000 people on a daily basis, contact tracing, and quarantine. Since then, they have had no

more than 53 new cases daily [6]. The COVID-19 pandemic has experienced phases 1-6,

post-peak, and hopes to reach post-pandemic soon.

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Works Cited

1) Pandemic influenza preparedness and response a WHO guidance document.(2009).

World Health Organization. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK143061/

2) Jamison. (2018). Disease control priorities. Volume 9 : Improving health and reducing

poverty (Third edition.). World Bank Group.

3) Helferty, Vachon, J., Tarasuk, J., Rodin, R., Spika, J., & Pelletier, L. (2010). Incidence of

hospital admissions and severe outcomes during the first and second waves of pandemic

(H1N1) 2009. Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), 182(18), 1981–1987.

https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.100746

4) Leite, P. (n.d.). PAHO/WHO: 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic - who recommendations for the

post-pandemic period. Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization.

https://www3.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3328%3A2

009-h1n1-influenza-pandemic-who-recommendations-for-the-post-pandemic-period&Ite

mid=569&lang=en

5) CDC Museum COVID-19 Timeline

6) Walensky, & del Rio, C. (2020). From mitigation to containment of the COVID-19 pandemic:

Putting the SARS-CoV-2 genie back in the bottle. JAMA : The Journal of the American

Medical Association, 323(19), 1889–1890. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.6572