Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Air Pollutant Levels And Asthma Emergency Room Visits In A Highly Populous Us Urban County During 2018-19, Osaremhen Ikhile, Jingjing Yin, Atin Adhikari

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Objective: Air pollutants are linked to asthma exacerbation. The study purpose was to demonstrate an association between air pollutants levels and asthma emergency room (ER) visit trends in a highly populated US urban county in Georgia during 2018-2019.

Methods: Time series analyses were conducted for the variations in daily numbers of children and adult asthma emergency room visits and changes in daily mean PM_2.5, daily mean PM₁₀ concentrations, daily max 1-hour SO₂ concentrations, daily max 1-hour NO₂ concentrations, daily max 8-hour ozone concentrations, and airborne pollen loads for 2018 to 2019 and potential trends were …

Epidemiological Models, Parameters, And Prediction Of The Covid-19 Outbreak In A Southwest Georgia Hotspot, Daniel F. Linder, William M. Sewell Iii, Jack D. Owens, Jim Franklin, Mark Miller, Casey Newton, Priyank Shah

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: We investigate epidemiological models, their parameters, and the models’ predictive performance of daily new cases during the first three weeks of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in a southwest Georgia hotspot.

Methods: We fit stochastic versions of the classical SIR, a network-based SIR, an SEIR model with two different priors on the latent period rate parameter, and a simple doubling time model to SARS-CoV-2 patients’ date of hospital admission and length of symptoms data from the Phoebe Putney Health System.

Results: The estimated basic reproductive numbers and 95% Bayesian credible intervals for each of the models were: 1.98 (1.63, 2.45) for …

Improving Access To Hepatitis C Treatment For Uninsured Patients In Southeast Georgia, Bonzo K. Reddick, Marianna O'Ree

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: In this brief report, we discuss enhancing access to hepatitis C treatment for uninsured patients in Southeast Georgia.

Methods: Through our screening program for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in a local safety net emergency department, the Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Initiative studied the rates of linkage to care for newly diagnosed patients with HCV and sought ways to improve linkage to care for those who did not have health insurance.

Results: Our multidisciplinary team partnered with a local federally qualified health center (FQHC) and a wholesale laboratory service to offer affordable care options, thus increasing the percent …