RESUMO Objetivo: Avaliar o conhecimento, atitudes e práticas em relação à COVID-19 entre profissionais de saúde atuantes em países da América Latina durante o primeiro surto da pandemia. Métodos: Estudo multinacional transversal com uso de questionário on-line autoaplicável. A versão final do questionário foi composta por 40 perguntas, organizadas em cinco seções: características demográficas e profissionais; conhecimento sobre COVID-19; atitudes em relação à COVID-19; práticas relacionadas à COVID-19; e recursos institucionais. Resultados: O estudo envolveu 251 profissionais de saúde de 19 países da América Latina que aceitaram participar. Em nossa amostra, 77% dos profissionais de saúde participaram de algum tipo de treinamento institucional sobre COVID-19 e 43% tiveram baixa pontuação de conhecimento sobre COVID-19. O conhecimento sobre COVID-19 apresentou associação com o tipo de instituição de saúde (pública/privada), disponibilidade de treinamento institucional e fontes de informação. Receio de não prestar atendimento adequado foi relatado por 60% dos participantes. As estratégias ventilatórias mais utilizadas foram ventilação mecânica protetora, manobras de recrutamento alveolar e posição prona, e o uso de medicamentos para tratar a COVID-19 foi baseado principalmente em protocolos institucionais. Conclusões: Neste estudo multinacional na América Latina, quase metade da amostra teve baixa pontuação de conhecimento sobre COVID-19 e o nível de conhecimento apresentou associação com o tipo de instituição, participação em treinamento institucional e fontes de informação. Os profissionais de saúde consideravam a COVID-19 muito relevante, e mais da metade tinha receio de não prestar atendimento adequado aos pacientes.

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices among health care workers (HCWs) practicing in Latin American countries during the first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This was a multinational cross-sectional survey study, using an online self-administered questionnaire. The final version of the questionnaire comprised 40 questions, organized in five sections: demographic and professional characteristics; COVID-19 knowledge; attitudes toward COVID-19; COVID-19 practices; and institutional resources. Results: The study involved 251 HCWs from 19 Latin American countries who agreed to participate. In our sample, 77% of HCWs participated in some sort of institutional training on COVID-19, and 43% had a low COVID-19 knowledge score. COVID-19 knowledge was associated with the type of health center (public/private), availability of institutional training, and sources of information about COVID-19. Concerns about not providing adequate care were reported by 60% of the participants. The most commonly used ventilatory strategies were protective mechanical ventilation, alveolar recruitment maneuvers, and prone positioning, and the use of drugs to treat COVID-19 was mainly based on institutional protocols. Conclusions: In this multinational study in Latin America, almost half of HCWs had a low COVID-19 knowledge score, and the level of knowledge was associated with the type of institution, participation in institutional training, and information sources. HCWs considered that COVID-19 was very relevant, and more than half were concerned about not providing adequate care to patients.

ABSTRACT The balance between synoptic and sea breeze atmospheric phenomena can profoundly influence atmospheric circulation in coastal regions. In this paper, a comprehensive study to understand the quasi-permanent patterns of such variability over the surface wind field of the Yucatán Peninsula is described. We performed a Complex Empirical Orthogonal Function (CEOF) analysis on 10 years (May 2007-May 2017) of modeled surface winds from the North American Mesoscale Forecast System (hereafter, NAM). High-pass/low-pass filtering was applied to the time series obtained from the CEOF analysis, to study the high and low-frequency temporal behavior that can be associated with the modes. Results show that for the period from October to March, cold fronts dominate in two different patterns (first two modes), which damp the local winds that show higher amplitude during the nighttime (land breezes) than during the daytime (sea breezes). By the end of this season, the influence of tropical systems, although smaller, is noticeable (third mode). From April to September the peninsula is dominated by sea breezes accentuated at the western shelf (first mode) while land breezes exhibit lesser dominance than sea breezes (third mode). In this period cold fronts and tropical systems (mode 2) exert milder influence over local winds. A distinctive phenomenon seen in the high frequencies of the second mode during this period is the occurrence of peninsula-wide sea breeze. The results of this work have important implications for atmospheric pollutant dispersion, wind wave generation and coastal erosion, among others.

RESUMEN El equilibrio entre los fenómenos atmosféricos sinópticos y la brisa marina puede influir profundamente en la circulación en las regiones costeras. En este artículo se describen los patrones cuasi permanentes de dicha variabilidad en el campo de vientos de superficie de la Península de Yucatán. Para lograr esto se realizó un análisis de funciones empíricas ortogonales complejas (CEOF) sobre 10 años (mayo 2007-mayo 2017) de modelaciones de vientos en superficie del modelo North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM). Se aplicó un filtro paso alto/paso bajo a las series de tiempo obtenidas del CEOF, para estudiar el comportamiento temporal de alta y baja frecuencia de los modos. Los resultados muestran que, de octubre a marzo, los frentes fríos dominan en dos patrones diferentes (dos primeros modos), lo cual amortigua los vientos locales que muestran una mayor amplitud durante la noche (brisas de tierra) que durante el día (brisas marinas). La influencia de los sistemas tropicales al final de esta temporada, aunque menor, es notable (tercer modo). De abril a septiembre, la península está dominada por brisas marinas acentuadas sobre la plataforma occidental (primer modo), mientras que las brisas terrestres exhiben una menor dominancia que las brisas marinas (tercer modo). En este periodo, los frentes fríos y los sistemas tropicales (modo 2) ejercen una influencia más suave sobre los vientos locales. Un fenómeno distintivo visto en las altas frecuencias del segundo modo durante este periodo es la ocurrencia de brisas marinas en toda la península. Los resultados de este trabajo tienen implicaciones importantes para la dispersión de contaminantes atmosféricos, la generación de oleaje por el viento y la erosión costera, entre otros.