"Salus Populi Suprema Lex": Considerations on the Initial Response of the United Kingdom to the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic.

Evaldo Favi,Yousof Alalawi,Tommaso Maria Manzia,Carlo Alfieri,Francesca Leonardis,Roberta Angelico,Roberto Cacciola

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.646285

Abstract

In several countries worldwide, the initial response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been heavily criticized by general public, media, and healthcare professionals, as well as being an acrimonious topic in the political debate. The present article elaborates on some aspects of the United Kingdom (UK) primary reaction to SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; specifically, from February to July 2020. The fact that the UK showed the highest mortality rate in Western Europe following the first wave of COVID-19 certainly has many contributing causes; each deserves an accurate analysis. We focused on three specific points that have been insofar not fully discussed in the UK and not very well known outside the British border: clinical governance, access to hospital care or intensive care unit, and implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions. The considerations herein presented on these fundamental matters will likely contribute to a wider and positive discussion on public health, in the context of an unprecedented crisis.

Highlights

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic on 11th March 2020 [1], all governments across the globe have adopted emergency legislations aimed to contain the impact of the virus
The domains we have identified for our considerations are: clinical governance, access to hospital and intensive care unit (ICU), non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI), and modelling
Given the fact that we could not find an equivalent source of information for national data as reliable as the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC), with the aim of understanding whether our center would be comparable to United Kingdom (UK) average results, we decided to review the data from COVID-19 patients admitted to ICU at the Tor Vergata University Hospital (TVUH) in Rome, Italy (Table 1)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

“Salus populi suprema lex”: the quote from Cicero had undoubtedly a wider meaning, embracing welfare, justice, economy; beyond the actual health of the people. Given the fact that we could not find an equivalent source of information for national data as reliable as the ICNARC, with the aim of understanding whether our center would be comparable to UK average results, we decided to review the data from COVID-19 patients admitted to ICU at the Tor Vergata University Hospital (TVUH) in Rome, Italy (Table 1). The patients admitted to the TVUH COVID ICU appeared to be older and requiring more respiratory support on admission than their British counterpart For such very reasons our patients might have suffered longer ICU hospitalisation associated with a higher mortality rate compared to those described in the ICNARC report.

DISCUSSION

Findings

ETHICS STATEMENT