Cordon Sanitaire Research Articles

Multi-objective optimization of cordon sanitaire considering operation cost and queueing equity

ABSTRACT This paper aims topropose a method to determine the optimal deployment of cordon sanitaire for epidemic control. A bi-level multi-objective programming model is proposed where the lower level is transportation system equilibrium with queueing time to predict link traffic flow, and the upper level is queueing network design, which is a multi-objective integer nonlinear programming model. The primary objective is to minimize the total operation cost of servers with a predetermined waiting time constraint, and the secondary objective is to reach queueing equity. A heuristic algorithm is designed where the method of successive averages is adopted for the lower-level model, and a genetic algorithm is designed for the upper-level model. The computational results show that the methods can find a good heuristic optimal solution. These methods are useful for planners to determine the optimal deployment of cordon sanitaire for disease control and prevention purposes.

Assessing spread risk of COVID-19 in early 2020

A novel coronavirus emerged in late 2019, named as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO). This study was originally conducted in January 2020 to estimate the potential risk and geographic range of COVID-19 spread at the early stage of the transmission. A series of connectivity and risk analyses based on domestic and international travel networks were conducted using historical aggregated mobile phone data and air passenger itinerary data. We found that the cordon sanitaire of the primary city was likely to have occurred during the latter stages of peak population numbers leaving the city, with travellers departing into neighbouring cities and other megacities in China. We estimated that there were 59,912 international air passengers, of which 834 (95% uncertainty interval: 478–1,349) had COVID-19 infection, with a strong correlation seen between the predicted risks of importation and the number of imported cases found. Given the limited understanding of emerging infectious diseases in the very early stages of outbreaks, our approaches and findings in assessing travel patterns and risk of transmission can help guide public health preparedness and intervention design for new COVID-19 waves caused by variants of concern and future pandemics to effectively limit transmission beyond its initial extent.

Role of the Baltic Republics in Soviet-French relations during the Non-recognition Period, 1919-1924

This article aims to define the role played by the Baltic Republics in the Soviet-French relations during the non-recognition period. The author tries to determine the place, which the Baltic Republics occupied in the French and Soviet conceptions of the “sanitary cordon,” to analyse the correlation between the ambitions and the capabilities of Paris and Moscow in Eastern Europe, to demonstrate the Soviet response to the interaction between the Baltic Republics and France. The article is based on the materials taken from the different French archives, as well as from the published French and Soviet diplomatic documents. The author emphasizes the ambiguity of the role played by the “Baltic factor” in the Soviet-French relations. The Baltic Republics (especially, Latvia and Estonia) were perceived by the French leadership as a part of the “sanitary cordon” aimed to separate Germany and the Soviet Russia from each other and to preclude their eventual “collusion” in the Eastern Europe. On the contrary, Moscow aimed to weaken the “sanitary cordon.” Paris didn’t exclude that the cooperation with future Russia performing the role of the counterbalance to Germany would be more important for France than full independence of the Baltic Republics. The Kremlin and the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs welcomed this point of view and tried to support those French political leaders that developed such an approach. The dynamics of the post-war international relations, as well as the priority given by the French government to the “German threat”, prompted Paris to recognize the USSR, which met the interests of Moscow. The considerations of the “big politics” were more important than the voices of the “small countries” which tried to influence the interaction between the more powerful actors.

Lessons Learnt From the Experiences of Primary Care Physicians Facing COVID-19 in Benin: A Mixed-Methods Study.

In sub-Saharan Africa, there is a need to better understand and guide the practice of primary care physicians (PCPs), especially in a crisis context like the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyses the experiences of PCPs facing COVID-19 in Benin and draws policy lessons. The study followed a fully mixed sequential dominant status design. Data were collected between April and August 2020 from a sample of PCPs in Benin. We performed descriptive analyses on the quantitative data. We also performed bivariate analyses for testing associations between various outcomes and the public/private status of the PCPs, their localization within or outside the cordon sanitaire put in place at the beginning of COVID-19, and their practice' category. A thematic content analysis was done on qualitative data. Results from both analyses were triangulated. Ninety PCPs participated in the quantitative strand, and 14 in the qualitative. The median percentage of the COVID-19 control measures implemented in the health facilities, as reported by the PCPs, was 77.8% (interquartile range = 16.7%), with no difference between the various groups. While 29.4% of the PCPs reported being poorly/not capable of helping the communities to deal with COVID-19, 45.3% felt poorly/not confident in dealing with an actual case. These percentages were bigger in the private sector. The PCP's experiences were marked by anxiety and fear, with 80.2% reporting stress. Many PCPs (74.1%) reported not receiving support from local health authorities, and 75.3% felt their concerns were not adequately addressed. Both percentages were higher in the private sector. The PCPs especially complained of insufficient training, insufficient coordination, and less support to private providers than the public ones. For 72.4 and 79.3% of the PCPs, respectively, the pandemic impacted services utilization and daily work. There were negative impacts (like a decrease in the services utilization or the quality of care), but also positive ones (like improved compliance to hygiene measures and new opportunities). Our study highlighted the need for more structured support to PCPs for optimizing their contribution to epidemics control and good primary healthcare in Benin. Efforts in this direction can build on several good practices and opportunities.

Does accommodation work? Mainstream party strategies and the success of radical right parties

AbstractThis research note investigates how mainstream party strategies affect the success of radical right parties (RRPs). It is a widespread view that mainstream party accommodation of radical right core issue positions would reduce the radical right's success. Empirical evidence for this claim, however, remains inconclusive. Using party level data as well as micro-level voter transitions between mainstream and RRPs, we re-evaluate the effectiveness of accommodative strategies and also test whether they work contingent on specific conditions, e.g., the newness of radical right challengers or the existence of a cordon sanitaire. We do not find any evidence that accommodative strategies reduce radical right support. If anything, our results suggest that they lead to more voters defecting to the radical right. Our findings have important implications for the study of multi-party competition as they challenge what has become a core assumption of this literature: that accommodative strategies reduce niche party success.

Optimal On‑Ramp Metering of Urban Freeway Network for the Coronavirus Disease Control

The outbreak of COVID-19 disrupted our everyday life. Many local authorities enforced a cordon sanitaire for the protection of sensitive areas. Travellers can only pass the cordon after tested. This paper aims to propose a method to design an on-ramp control scheme to maximise urban freeway network throughput with a predetermined queuing delay constraint at all off-ramps around cordon sanitaire. A bi-level programming model is formulated where the lower-level is a transportation system equilibrium to predict traffic flow, and the upper-level is onramp metering optimisation that is nonlinear programming. A stochastic queuing model is used to represent the waiting phenomenon at each off-ramp where testing is conducted, and a heuristic algorithm is designed to solve the proposed bi-level model where a method of successive averages (MSA) is adopted for the lower-level model; A genetic algorithm (GA) with elite strategy is adopted for the upper-level model. An experimental study is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and algorithm. The results show that the methods can find a good heuristic optimal solution. These methods are useful for freeway operators to determine the optimal on-ramp control for disease control and prevention.

Right-Wing Populism and the European Parliament’s Agonistic Politics

Abstract How is it that the European Parliament (EP), the only directly elected institution of the European Union (EU), has both empowered right-wing populist politicians in the UK and France, and helped challenge the right-wing populist governments of Hungary and Poland? Part of the response lies in institutional rules shaping the EP’s elections and its authority, which this article discusses critically. The paradoxical impact of the EP on European right-wing populism leads to another question: Should the EP privilege the rights of right-wing populist and anti-system actors; or, to the contrary, should it “protect democracy against democracy”? This article draws from political theorist Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic politics to assess comparatively the measures the EP majority has taken to limit the influence of right-wing populists within the chamber and beyond in EU member states. It critiques the exclusionary cordon sanitaire within, and conditionality and the “judicialization of conflicts” without, which the EP discusses passionately also.

Carniola’s Defense Mechanism for Protection against the First Cholera Epidemic in Europe

The Habsburg authority fought against the epidemic of cholera, which firstly reached Europe at the beginning of the 30ies of the 18th century, with identical means as they did in the 18th century against plague. With a system of sanitary cordons, they initially protected the state borders, and after the occurrence of the disease within the monarchy, borders of separate provinces as well. From the example of a sanitary cordon on the Carniolan-Croatian border, which was established for the protection against the epidemic in the Hungarian part of the state, the system of controlled passages trough sanitary cordons (rastel) and quarantines is evident, and causes that lead to general further discontinuation of closing borders as a means of defence against cholera.
 *The contribution is a translation of the publication in the review Kronika 53, 2005, no. 3, pp. 351–364.

Analysis of Indicators of Morbidity and Care Activities in a Health Center Within the Sanitary Cordon in Benin in the Context of COVID-19

<i>Background:</i> Response measures to the COVID-19 epidemic such as containment or sanitary cordon have had an impact on the health system. <i>Methods:</i> In an intra-cordon health center in Cotonou Benin, data on morbidity, health services and care indicators were collected and compared 10 months before COVID and 10 months during. A linear regression model was made. <i>Results:</i> During COVID, a significant increase in the number of women attending prenatal consultations was observed [77.30; 0.001] and significant decrease in the average number of malaria cases [-22.20; 0.008]. And non-significant negative effects on acute respiratory infections, sexually transmitted infections and diarrheal diseases identified. <i>Conclusion:</i> The establishment of a cordon sanitaire to contain the spread of COVID has had an impact on the functioning of the health system. This has led to a restriction of population movements, which has also affected health workers. The observed effects do not necessarily mean fewer diseases. Health centers were perceived by the public as places where the risk of contamination was higher, which led to their fear of traveling unless necessary. Strengthening strategies had to be put in place to maintain the accessibility of care to the population.

USA — China: Strategic balance

This article examines the current state of the US-China strategic balance — both military and economic aspects of the latter. This balance, however, is not changing in favor of the United States. Currently, China is the largest economy in the world, and economic ties with China are too important for US partners and allies to break off trade and economic ties with China to please Washington. More importantly, the rapid growth of China’s military-technical potential in recent years has led to radical changes in the balance of power in the western Pacific. Washington has lost its former absolute military superiority in the coastal areas of the PRC, and in the event of a large-scale armed US-Chinese conflict in the Taiwan area or in the South China Sea, American losses will be enormous, and the United States will not be able to achieve a decisive victory during this conflict. Under these conditions, the American ruling elite is united in the fact that without a system of anti-Chinese alliances, which should unite both the countries of the Indo-Pacific region and countries outside the ITR, China’s containment is impossible. The Biden administration continued Trump’s policy of building a “sanitary cordon” around China with the involvement of extra-regional actors in this construction. We are talking about the creation of a military-political alliance AUKUS, which includes Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The purpose of this alliance is to counter China in the disputed areas of the South China Sea. It is concluded that the formation of such a system of alliances is difficult to achieve — and it’s not just that the partners and allies of the United States are too interested in maintaining trade and economic ties with China to participate in the creation of an anti-Chinese “sanitary cordon”. China’s strategic isolation is impossible if Russia cannot be brought into the anti-Chinese system of alliances. At present, however, China has a solid rear in the form of a growing Russian-Chinese partnership and cooperation. The actions of the United States and its allies, which Moscow and Beijing view as threatening and provocative (NATO expansion to the East; American block-building in the ITR) could not but lead to a serious revision by the Russian and Chinese leadership of military cooperation between the two powers.

Epidemic containment and social control measures in Portugal: the line of lazarettos protecting the land border (1884–1886)

Despite the frequent epidemics that affected the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal only set up a system of permanent lazarettos along its border with Spain in the late nineteenth century, during the cholera outbreaks of 1884–1886. Planned and rolled out by army doctors, the system consisted of five primary sites (located at rail crossing points and river boat stations that linked the two sides of the border) and smaller, secondary sites (“vigilance and isolation posts”) at every railway station in the country. This contribution will focus especially on the epidemic containment measures (observation, isolation, and treatment of the infected) implemented in the lazarettos and at the vigilance posts, most of which were refitted and turned into virtual high-security prisons under military guard after the 1884 cholera outbreak. It will also examine the interaction between these preventive measures, which were also aimed at social control and control of unauthorised movement, and the land border cordons sanitaires and the sanitary inspection posts and quarantine complexes that protected the seaports, which functioned as a permanent maritime cordon sanitaire along the Portuguese coast.

Paris Peace Conference of 1919–1920 and Prospects of the Belarusian Statehood

One of the most important outcomes of the First World War was the collapse of empires that existed in Central and Eastern Europe. The Entente countries and the United States at the final stage of the war put forward the slogan of the right of nations to self-determination. This created prerequisites for building of their statehood by a number of peoples of the region. Belarusians were among them. The BPR (Belarusian People&amp;apos;s republic) and SSRB were proclaimed. The process of formation of the Belarusian national statehood took place in the context of new system of international relations formation and its success largely depended on foreign policy conditions. The main elements of a new international order for Europe were laid down at the Paris Conference. The &amp;quot;Belarusian&amp;quot; question did not receive an independent sound in Paris. The interests of Belarus were touched upon when the participants of the conference discussed &amp;quot;Polish&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Russian&amp;quot; issues that were closely related to each other. The problem of defining the Polish eastern borders was of crucial importance for Belarus. The Entente states stood for the formation of an independent Polish state within ethnic borders. This created prerequisites for preserving the territorial integrity of Belarus. However, the Polish ruling circles overcame the negative attitude of the Entente towards the expansion of Poland beyond its ethnic borders with the help of a fait accompli policy. At the same time, the Poles positioned the concept of the federation in front of the Entente as realization of the right of the &amp;quot;Eastern Kresy&amp;quot; peoples, including Belarusians, to self-determination. The Polish expansion to the east did not meet real opposition from the Entente, as it was interested in Poland as an anti-Bolshevik force, an element of the &amp;quot;sanitary cordon&amp;quot;. The BNR delegation, which arrived in Paris, did not find support from Western politicians in recognizing the independence of the Belarusian state. The decisions of the Paris Conference provided for the preservation of the integrity of Belarus, but not as an independent state, but as part of Russia.

A Practical Clinical Course Model for use during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to and detrimental effects on medical training and education. Due to existing cordon sanitaire measures aimed at containing the infection, clinical courses and professional examinations involving physical contact between participants and with patients have been repeatedly cancelled or postponed. Herein, we describe a tried-and-tested clinical course model designed to lower the risks of transmission between and beyond the participants, whilst remaining practical and pragmatic in its structure, so as to allow the implementation by academic medical centres worldwide during the current and future pandemics.

The stigmatisation effect of the radical right on voters’ assessment of political proposals

Despite the continued electoral progress of the radical right, there are reasons to believe that its full electoral potential has yet to be revealed. Previous research suggests that it suffers from a stigmatisation effect and that many voters will find its proposals less compelling compared to if they were presented by a mainstream party even for policy issues they agree upon. This study employs a unique survey design, with two experiments conducted seven years apart, on a panel of Swedish voters. The aim is to evaluate whether proposals are assessed differently dependent on who the sender is and whether the effect diminishes as the cordon sanitaire of the party weakens. The results show that proposals are less liked if the sender is the radical right. This effect persists even after a weakening of the ostracisation of the radical right as well as for different types of political issues. Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2021.2019977 .

Monitoring the newly infected cases of COVID-19 data weekly: A Survival Data Analysis (SDA) perspective

This paper attempts to fit the best survival model distribution for the Malaysian COVID-19 new infections experience of Wave I/II and Wave III using the well-known Survival Data Analysis (SDA) procedures. The purpose of fitting such models is to reduce the complexity and frequency of the COVID-19 new infections data into a single measure of scale and shape parameters to enable monitoring of weekly trends, undertake short term forecasts and estimate duration when the virality will be contained. The analysis showed a Weibull distribution is the best statistical fit for Malaysia’s new infections COVID-19 data. The estimates of scale and shape parameters for Wave I/II was 0.05901 and 2.48956 and for Wave III was 0.06463 and 2.5693, respectively. Much higher hazard force in Wave III is due to weaker control in the implementation of cordon sanitaire measures imposed in containing the virality spread. Based on the survival function the short-term forecasts showed that the number of new infections projected to decline from 23,282 cases in 28th week to 22,017 cases in 31st week. Similarly, based on the cumulative hazard function the duration estimated for containing the virality completely projected to stretch over another 19.6 weeks under the prevailing conditions.

Integrating Crisis Management into the Strategic Planning Process in the Service Sector Firms

The official declaration of the Movement Control Order (MCO) since March 2020 in Malaysia signifies a major step taken by the government to contain the COVID-19 pandemic effectively. This cordon sanitaire has devastating effects on all sectors and ordinary citizens, especially for women (United Nations, 2020). The socio-economic implications of MCO on women requires attention and proper handling. Using data from 841 women, the participants of Family and Community Empowerment Program (FACE), this study explores the extent of changes in the lives of women amid COVID-19. This study describes the socio-economic status (SES) and the well-being of respondents during the implementation of MCO. The Personal Wellbeing Index-Adult (PWI) is used to measure the well-being of these women. Results of the study highlight the immediate effect of MCO on the employment status and income of the respondents. Respondents reported lower mean scores on four domains, i.e. future security (M=7.21, SD=1.79); the standard of living (M=7.31, SD=1.88); achievement in life (M=7.36, SD=1.82); and community-connectedness (M=7.39, SD=1.85). The differences in PWI based on the SES of the respondents are also discussed. This study emphasises on the response and recovery efforts that are tailored to support women during this infectious-disease outbreak.

Optimal Deployment of Cordon Sanitaire with Available Testing Capacity

During the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities in many places have implemented various countermeasures, including setting up a cordon sanitaire to restrict population movement. This paper proposes a bi-level programming model to deploy a limited number of parallel checkpoints at each entry link around the cordon sanitaire to achieve a minimum total waiting time for all travelers. At the lower level, it is a transportation network equilibrium with queuing for a fixed travel demand and given road network. The feedback process between trip distribution and trip assignment results in the predicted waiting time and traffic flow for each entry link. For the lower-level model, the method of successive averages is used to achieve a network equilibrium with queuing for any given allocation decision from the upper level, and the reduced gradient algorithm is used for traffic assignment with queuing. At the upper level, it is a queuing network optimization model. The objective is the minimization of the system’s total waiting time, which can be derived from the predicted traffic flow and queuing delay time at each entry link from the lower-level model. Since it is a nonlinear integer programming problem that is hard to solve, a genetic algorithm with elite strategy is designed. An experimental study using the Nguyen-Dupuis road network shows that the proposed methods effectively find a good heuristic optimal solution. Together with the findings from two additional sensitivity tests, the proposed methods are beneficial for policymakers to determine the optimal deployment of cordon sanitaire given limited resources.

Knowledge Hiding: One of the Primary Reasons behind the Rapid Spread of the Novel Coronavirus COVID-19

Abstract The world is battling out the pandemic of Covid-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) is jointly acting upon the same daily, which is evident from the ‘situation reports.’ The pandemic, which saw its origin in Wuhan, has spread across the world within a short span of under two months. While the pandemic has effectively instilled a situation of cordon sanitaire across the globe, the virus seems to show no respite. This study collates different sources and establishes the human tendency of knowledge hiding as the prime reason for the spread of such colossal magnitudes. The study underlines the notion by examining some of the critical cases and situations that have unfolded in the very recent past.

Knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 and perceived challenges of working during the Movement Control Order: a quantitative analysis among healthcare workers in a Malaysian northwestern state

Objective This study aimed to assess COVID-19 knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) among healthcare workers (HCWs) in northwest Malaysia and recognise the challenges faced working during the Movement Control Order (MCO). Commonly referred to as “MCO”, this order enforcement is a series of national quarantine and cordon sanitaire measures implemented by the federal government of Malaysia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as of 18th March 2020. It is akin to a national lockdown. Methods A multi-centric cross-sectional web-based study was conducted from 29th May to 27th July 2020 among HCWs in Perlis, Malaysia using a 19-item validated questionnaire [Cronbach’s alpha: 0.61 (knowledge domain), 0.74 (attitude domain), and 0.72 (practice domain)]. Challenges when working during MCO were identified from a self-rated five-point Likert scale of 14-item. Results: There were a total of 373 respondents (response rate more than 40%); 48.0% were nurses, 14.7% were medical doctors, and 12.9% were administrative and technical support staffs. Majority of HCWs (90.1%,n = 336) had good knowledge, optimistic attitude (54.7%,n = 204) and good COVID-19 preventive measure practices (90.9%,n = 339). Multiple logistic regression demonstrated that profession was the single significant factor for good COVID-19 KAP. Though having lesser odds of good knowledge (aOR 0.07,95% CI:0.01-0.36,p = 0.009), nurses showed greater odds of good attitude (aOR 3.14,95% CI: 1.71-5.76,p = 0.011) and practice (aOR 10.69,95% CI:2.25-50.86, p = 0.022) as compared to doctors and dentists. Main challenges identified when working during MCO were increased workload (44.5%,n = 166), difficulty going out shopping (48.3%,n = 180), to exercise (40.2%,n = 150) and meet with family members (64.3%,n = 240). Conclusion: Generally, HCWs in Perlis had good KAP with regards to COVID-19 infection and its preventive measures. Challenges underlined by HCWs while working during the MCO were increased workload, difficulty to shop for daily essentials, exercise and meet with family members. Should good COVID-19 KAP be sustained, they might contribute to success in combating this disease.

Traffic Inflow Control Problem on Urban Freeway Network for Disease Prevention

AbstractThe outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disrupted our regular life. Many local authorities enforced a cordon sanitaire to contain the rapid spread of the disease. Travelers can ...