Question:

What are the pros and cons of conventional public health measures in pandemic control?

Tang: At the beginning of an infectious disease outbreak, there are no vaccines or drugs that can be used. Public health measures are the only effective tools we can mobilize. They alone are effective enough in containing a new epidemic. However, public health measures should be used wholeheartedly and to maximum effect. The effective application of public health measures will also make time for development of vaccines and drugs. Otherwise, if the epidemic is not contained locally and long-term public health measures have to be used, interference with people's lives and economy — and its costs — would become too large to be sustainable. In addition, public health measures can also be used effectively to flatten the epidemic curve to avoid hospital stress.