Development of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Surveillance and Control at Phra Pradang District, Samut Prakan Province

Abstract

Since 2020, Phra Pradaeng District, Samut Prakan Province, was affected by COVID-19 pandemic. Many strategies were developed to deal with the pandemic. However, the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to increase, resulting in difficulties in developing coherent strategic management. The purposes of this qualitative study are to describe the epidemiological situation and to form the strategies for prevention, and control of COVID-19 in Phra Pradaeng District, Samut Prakan Province. In-depth interviews with 24 district officers from the Department of Disease Control of Phra Pradaeng District, Samut Prakan Province from July 17, 2021 to September 16, 2021 reveals that dense population and labor reallocation between Phra Pradaeng District and Bangkok and/or Phra Pradaeng District and Samut Sakorn Province were the major causes of difficulties in the development of COVID-19 disease managing policies. The lack of coherent managing policies results in the insufficiency of major resources (such as man, money, materials), the inter-department communication, and also the ineffectiveness of the disease controlling strategies, especially in the industries and communities. These findings lead to the development of a new strategic management program through Phra Pradaeng District officers of the Department of Disease Control. The program consists of 4 steps, which are 1) Communication management 2) Financial management 3) Resource management 4) Covid-19 prevention protocol in factory to integrate and connect several community projects into one coherent and effective project. We believe that the program will become an important measure and will form a pathway toward the prevention and control of COVID-19 in Phra Pradaeng District, Samut Prakan Province.