In the midst of the perfect storm: swift public health actions needed in order to increase societal safety during the COVID-19 pandemic

Emmanouil, Pikoulis; Karl, Puchner; Eleni, Riza; Eleni, Kakalou; Elias, Pavlopoulos; Constantinos, Tsiamis; Vasileios, Tokakis; Georgios, Boustras; Agis, Terzidis; Vasiliki, Karamagioli

The phenomenal speed of COVID-19 has subjected the public health professionals worldwide to struggle to subdue the spread of the disease and its impact of the affected societies. The limited biomedical and epidemiological understanding of COVID-19 along with the lack of vaccines and therapeutics have led to the reception of draconian measures from the societal safety domain, limiting human interaction through social distancing. Grounded on the adopted approaches, interventions in sero-prevalence studies, mobilisation of the primary health care (PHC) sector, as well as target socially vulnerable groups should be taken into consideration by heath authorities.