Preparing for the Next Wave of COVID-19: Resilience in the Face of a Spreading Pandemic

Gerald Steiner, Lukas Zenk and Eva Schernhammer
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Gerald Steiner: Department of Knowledge and Communication Management, Faculty of Business and Globalization, Danube University Krems, 3500 Krems an der Donau, Austria
Lukas Zenk: Department of Knowledge and Communication Management, Faculty of Business and Globalization, Danube University Krems, 3500 Krems an der Donau, Austria
Eva Schernhammer: Complexity Science Hub Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-6

Abstract: COVID-19 painfully demonstrates how little resilience our societies have to novel viruses. Societies, decision makers, and scientists lack (1) a comprehensive understanding of the complexity of viral outbreaks and their impact on society; (2) intervention portfolios; and (3) a global crisis and resilience policy, all of which are required to develop appropriate measures and to improve societal resilience. We highlight COVID-19 immunity as one key benchmark in preparation for the next wave of the pandemic. Specifically, using network scenarios, we demonstrate the substantial advantage of reintegrating health care workers with acquired COVID-19 immunity in epidemic hotspots, which would not only enable their safe contribution to the health care system but also drastically contain further spread.

Keywords: pandemic spread; healthcare workers; COVID-19; network scenarios (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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