Adaption and Validation of Scales to Measure COVID-19 Stigma Attitudes and Perceptions.

Water scarcity and COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa

BackgroundIt is important to measure the public response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Twitter is an important data source for infodemiology studies involving public response monitoring.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to examine COVID-19–related discussions, concerns, and sentiments using tweets posted by Twitter users.MethodsWe analyzed 4 million Twitter messages related to the COVID-19 pandemic using a list of 20 hashtags (eg, “coronavirus,” “COVID-19,” “quarantine”) from March 7 to April 21, 2020. We used a machine learning approach, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), to identify popular unigrams and bigrams, salient topics and themes, and sentiments in the collected tweets.ResultsPopular unigrams included “virus,” “lockdown,” and “quarantine.” Popular bigrams included “COVID-19,” “stay home,” “corona virus,” “social distancing,” and “new cases.” We identified 13 discussion topics and categorized them into 5 different themes: (1) public health measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, (2) social stigma associated with COVID-19, (3) COVID-19 news, cases, and deaths, (4) COVID-19 in the United States, and (5) COVID-19 in the rest of the world. Across all identified topics, the dominant sentiments for the spread of COVID-19 were anticipation that measures can be taken, followed by mixed feelings of trust, anger, and fear related to different topics. The public tweets revealed a significant feeling of fear when people discussed new COVID-19 cases and deaths compared to other topics.ConclusionsThis study showed that Twitter data and machine learning approaches can be leveraged for an infodemiology study, enabling research into evolving public discussions and sentiments during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the situation rapidly evolves, several topics are consistently dominant on Twitter, such as confirmed cases and death rates, preventive measures, health authorities and government policies, COVID-19 stigma, and negative psychological reactions (eg, fear). Real-time monitoring and assessment of Twitter discussions and concerns could provide useful data for public health emergency responses and planning. Pandemic-related fear, stigma, and mental health concerns are already evident and may continue to influence public trust when a second wave of COVID-19 occurs or there is a new surge of the current pandemic.

In this paper, we present CoFighter, a mobile application for prevention and management of COVID-19 and other related pandemics in the globalized world. We took advantage of the proliferation of mobile smart devices in every home to design and implement an Android application for COVID-19 and similar pandemics. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, there has been even more serious pressures on governments and health institutions on the best way to provide appropriate and reliable guide to individuals on how to contain the virus and similar pandemics in the future. Citizens have not been adequately informed of the various provisions and guides by their governments and the wide usage of social media had led to the spread of fake news, misinformation and conspiracy theories. It therefore becomes very necessary to develop a dynamic information repository in the form of a mobile application to help combat the spread of any pandemic whenever the need arises. The application provides information on COVID-19, vaccine challenges, prevention guides and cases management and timely updates to keep citizens properly and adequately informed. It makes provision for future similar pandemics that could throw the world into chaos as the CORONA virus did in 2019. The weaknesses and challenges observed in most popularly existing COVID-19 applications were highlighted and implemented in CoFighter. CoFighter provides users, governments and health workers with a platform not only to manage COVID-19 and other similar pandemics in the future, but also helps frontline health workers to better manage the pandemics. The developed application runs on an Android device with Android version 4.2 or higher and can be used not only to manage COVID-19 pandemic, but also to manage economic crisis and similar future pandemics. CoFighter is available via the Repository: https://github.com/OkeyIsOkay/CoFighter-Project.

Insulin pumps improve glycemic control and quality of life in children with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Canada's provinces have implemented universal pediatric programs to improve access. However, these programs provide differing financial coverage, allowing for unique cross-jurisdictional comparisons. To evaluate possible socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in pump uptake in Québec, where pumps are fully funded, with those in Manitoba, where pumps are partially funded. Using health administrative databases and a clinical registry, parallel, population-based cohort studies of children with diabetes were conducted from April 1, 2011, in Québec, and April 1, 2012, in Manitoba, until March 31, 2017. In analysis conducted from July 1, 2019, to November 30, 2021, multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were applied to study the association between pump uptake and SES, defined using validated area-based material and social deprivation indices. Children aged 1 to 17 years with T1D were identified using a validated definition in administrative data (Québec) and a clinical registry (Manitoba). Those using pumps before the initiation of provincial programs were excluded. Socioeconomic status. Insulin pump uptake. A total of 2919 children with T1D were identified in Québec: 1550 male (53.1%), mean (SD) age at diagnosis, 8.3 (4.4) years, and 1067 (36.6%) were using a pump. In Manitoba, 636 children were identified: 364 male (57.2%), mean (SD) age at diagnosis, 8.8 (4.4) years, and 106 (16.7%) were using a pump. In Québec, the mean age at diagnosis of T1D was lower in children using the pump compared with those not using a pump (7.6 [4.1] vs 8.7 [4.5] years); sex distribution was similar (562 [52.7%] vs 988 [53.3%] male). No differences in mean (SD) age at diagnosis (8.8 [4.4] vs 8.8 [4.3] years) or sex (57 [53.8%] vs 307 [57.9%] male) were noted in both groups in Manitoba. Increasing material deprivation was associated with decreased pump uptake in both Québec (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.89; 95% CI, 0.85-0.93) and Manitoba (aHR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.60-0.82). Inclusion of ethnic concentration did not change this association. Socioeconomic disparities in pump uptake were greater in Manitoba than Québec (P = .006 by t test; Cochran Q, 8.15; P = .004; I2 = 87.7%; 95% CI, 52.5%-96.8%). The results of this study suggest that the program of full coverage for pumps available in Québec partially mitigates observed SES disparities in uptake and may be a model to improve access for all children with T1D.

BackgroundSince the COVID-19 outbreak began in Wuhan, China, countries worldwide have been forced to take unprecedented measures to combat it. While some countries are still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, others have fared better and have re-established relative normalcy quickly. The rapid transmission rate of the virus has shown a greater need for efficient and technologically modern containment measures. The use of digital tools to facilitate strict containment measures in countries that have fared well against the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked both interest and controversy.ObjectiveIn this study, we compare the precautions taken against the spread of COVID-19 in the United States, Spain, and Italy, with Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore, particularly related to the use of digital tools for contact tracing, and propose policies that could be used in the United States for future COVID-19 waves or pandemics.MethodsCOVID-19 death rate data were obtained from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), accessed through the Our World in Data database, and were evaluated based on population size per 100,000 people from December 31, 2019, to September 6, 2020. All policies and measures enacted were obtained from their respective governmental websites.ResultsWe found a strong association between lower death rates per capita and countries that implemented early mask use and strict border control measures that included mandatory quarantine using digital tools. There is a significant difference in the number of deaths per 100,000 when comparing Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore with the United States, Spain, and Italy.ConclusionsBased on our research, it is evident that early intervention with the use of digital tools had a strong correlation with the successful containment of COVID-19. Infection rates and subsequent deaths in Italy, Spain, and the United States could have been much lower with early mask use and, more importantly, timely border control measures using modern digital tools. Thus, we propose that the United States execute the following national policies should a public health emergency be declared: (1) immediately establish a National Command responsible for enacting strict mandatory guidelines enforced by federal and state governments, including national mask use; (2) mandate civilian cooperation with health officials in contact tracing and quarantine orders; and (3) require incoming travelers to the United States and those quarantined to download a contact tracing app. We acknowledge the countries we studied differ in their cultures, political systems, and reporting criteria for COVID-19 deaths. Further research may need to be conducted to address these limitations; however, we believe that the proposed policies could protect the American public.

Background: Stigma and discrimination during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have increased precipitously worldwide. This multinational study examines how stigma, blaming groups for virus spread, concern regarding contracting the virus, resource loss, life satisfaction, and protective behaviors that help control the spread of COVID-19 are associated with post-traumatic stress and vaccine intent in Mongolia, India, and the United States. Method: 1429 people in Mongolia, India, and the United States completed measures assessing stigma during the COVID-19 pandemic, post-traumatic stress, blame, protective behaviors, and vaccine intent. Results: Mean post-traumatic stress scores in all three countries exceeded the cut-off that is commonly used to determine probable post-traumatic stress. Post-traumatic stress was associated with COVID-19 stigma experience, personal behavior change due to COVID-19 stigma, blaming groups for the spread of COVID-19, fear of COVID-19, and resource loss. In India and the United States, personal behavior change due to COVID-19 stigma, anger at individuals spreading COVID-19, and perceived susceptibility to illness were positively associated with vaccine intent. Conclusions: Stigma is a collateral stressor during the pandemic. The findings underscore the importance of prompt action to address stigma as a deleterious consequence of the pandemic. The findings illuminate potential barriers to receiving the vaccine and provide direction for future research to address barriers.

A systematic review of nudges on hand hygiene against the spread of COVID-19

The interrelationships between antimicrobial resistance, COVID-19, past, and future pandemics

In this review, we draw attention to the potential for social and systemic changes associated with attempts to contain the spread of COVID-19 to precipitate, maintain and exacerbate pain by increasing the social threats faced by individuals with chronic pain. We also suggest strategies for mitigating the social impact of COVID-19 on those living with chronic pain, for instance by learning from the resilience demonstrated by people in pain who have found ways to deal with social threat. Lastly, we suggest several time-critical, high-impact research questions for further investigation.

Psychological impact of COVID-19 in a refugee camp in Iraq.

Objectives: Review, compare and critically assess digital technology responses to the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. The specific point of interest in this research is on predictive, preventive and personalised interoperable digital healthcare solutions. This point is supported by failures from the past, where the separate design of digital health solutions, has led to lack of interoperability. Hence, this review paper investigates the integration of predictive, preventive and personalised interoperable digital healthcare systems. The second point of interest is the use of new mass surveillance technologies to feed personal data from health professionals to governments, without any comprehensive studies that determine if such new technologies and data policies would address the pandemic crisis.Method: This is a review paper. Two approaches were used: A comprehensive bibliographic review with R statistical methods of the COVID-19 pandemic in PubMed literature and Web of Science Core Collection, supported with Google Scholar search. In addition, a case study review of emerging new approaches in different regions, using medical literature, academic literature, news articles, and other reliable data sources.Results: Most countries’ digital responses involve big data analytics, integration of national health insurance databases, tracing travel history from individual’s location databases, code scanning, and individual’s online reporting. Public responses of mistrust about privacy data misuse differ across countries, depending on the chosen public communication strategy. We propose predictive, preventive and personalised solutions for pandemic management, based on social machines and connected devices.Solutions: The proposed predictive, preventive and personalised solutions are based on the integration of IoT data, wearables devices data, mobile apps data, and individual data inputs from registered users, operating as a social machine with strong security and privacy protocols. We present solutions that would enable much greater speed in future responses. These solutions are enabled by the social aspect of human-computer interactions (social machines) and the increased connectivity of humans and devices (internet of things).Conclusion: Inadequate data for risk assessment on speed and urgency of COVID-19, combined with increased globalisation of human society, led to the rapid spread of COVID-19. Despite an abundance of digital methods that could be used in slowing or stopping COVID-19 and future pandemics, the world remains unprepared and lessons have not been learned from previous cases of pandemics. We present a summary of predictive, preventive and personalised digital methods that could be deployed fast to help with the COVID-19 and future pandemics.

ObjectivesReview, compare and critically assess digital technology responses to the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. The specific point of interest in this research is on predictive, preventive and personalized interoperable digital healthcare solutions. This point is supported by failures from the past, where the separate design of digital health solutions has led to lack of interoperability. Hence, this review paper investigates the integration of predictive, preventive and personalized interoperable digital healthcare systems. The second point of interest is the use of new mass surveillance technologies to feed personal data from health professionals to governments, without any comprehensive studies that determine if such new technologies and data policies would address the pandemic crisis.MethodThis is a review paper. Two approaches were used: A comprehensive bibliographic review with R statistical methods of the COVID-19 pandemic in PubMed literature and Web of Science Core Collection, supported with Google Scholar search. In addition, a case study review of emerging new approaches in different regions, using medical literature, academic literature, news articles and other reliable data sources.ResultsMost countries’ digital responses involve big data analytics, integration of national health insurance databases, tracing travel history from individual’s location databases, code scanning and individual’s online reporting. Public responses of mistrust about privacy data misuse differ across countries, depending on the chosen public communication strategy. We propose predictive, preventive and personalized solutions for pandemic management, based on social machines and connected devices.SolutionsThe proposed predictive, preventive and personalized solutions are based on the integration of IoT data, wearable device data, mobile apps data and individual data inputs from registered users, operating as a social machine with strong security and privacy protocols. We present solutions that would enable much greater speed in future responses. These solutions are enabled by the social aspect of human-computer interactions (social machines) and the increased connectivity of humans and devices (Internet of Things).ConclusionInadequate data for risk assessment on speed and urgency of COVID-19, combined with increased globalization of human society, led to the rapid spread of COVID-19. Despite an abundance of digital methods that could be used in slowing or stopping COVID-19 and future pandemics, the world remains unprepared, and lessons have not been learned from previous cases of pandemics. We present a summary of predictive, preventive and personalized digital methods that could be deployed fast to help with the COVID-19 and future pandemics.

Nursing Perspectives on the Impacts of COVID-19

Introduction: Pandemics prior to the COVID-19 pandemic have been known to disproportionately affect counties and county-equivalents with high social vulnerability. Social vulnerability refers to the potential negative effects on communities caused by external stresses on human health. Such stresses include natural or human-caused disasters, or disease outbreaks. On the other hand, case fatality rate estimates the proportion of deaths among identified confirmed cases. Hypothesis: A higher social vulnerability is associated with a higher case fatality rate at the levels of counties and county-equivalents in the contiguous United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data from 2990 counties and county-equivalents such as independent cities, districts, and parishes that are considered county-equivalents for census purposes was analyzed. Counties and county-equivalents from the non-contiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii were excluded as well as 59 counties and county-equivalents without available SVI data and/or available CFR data. Available SVI public source data was collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while available CFR public source data was collected from the Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute. Results: Median SVI was 0.5185 [Range: 0.0006-1] and median CFR was 1.56% [Range: 0%-8.77%]. A vaccination rate ratio (RR) and 95% CI for SVI was calculated using Wald’s unconditional maximum likelihood estimation to compare CFRs of counties and county-equivalents with low social vulnerability (SVI: 0%-33%), moderate social vulnerability (33%-66%), and high social vulnerability (66%-100%). A higher SVI was associated with a higher CFR such that the RR for relative differences in CFR between counties and county-equivalents with a low social vulnerability and counties and county-equivalents with a high social vulnerability was 0.83, while the RR for relative differences in CFR between counties and county-equivalents with a moderate social vulnerability and counties and county-equivalents with a high social vulnerability was 0.89. Conclusions: Public policy interventions need to target counties and county-equivalents with a higher social vulnerability to help the most vulnerable of people.

espanolLa politica europea de energia lleva varios anos en primera linea de actuacion de la UE. Su incorporacion al Tratado de Lisboa, asi como su relacion estrecha con otras politicas de la UE tales como competencia, mercado interior, tecnologia o medio ambiente, han convertido a la energia en un actor principal en lo que respecta a la accion y legislacion europeas y hay que mencionar las politicas y actuacion en el campo internacional, incluida la ayuda al desarrollo. No debe olvidarse en este contexto el transporte como gran consumidor de energia y uno de los mayores responsables de emision de gases de efecto invernadero. Tampoco hay que dejar de lado la tecnologia como tal. Las tres dimensiones de la politica de energia, competitividad, sostenibilidad y seguridad de abastecimiento, estan al mismo nivel de importancia, pero el equilibrio que se establezca entre las tres necesita decisiones politicas cuidadosas, que no suponen necesariamente alcanzar los optimos individuales de manera separada. La dimension exterior habria de anadirse a las tres anteriores. La UE persigue ejercer un cierto liderazgo mundial en relacion con sus objetivos para los horizontes 2020 y 2050. EnglishEuropean energy policy has been at the forefront of EU action for several years now. Its inclusion in the Lisbon Treaty, as well as its connection with other key EU policies such as competition, internal market, technology or environment, has made energy a major player in terms of EU action and legislation, let alone in its international policies and action including development aid. Transport as a major energy user - and greenhouse gas emitter - should not be forgotten in this context. Neither should technology as such. The three pillars of energy policy, that is to say competitiveness, sustainability, and security of supply are on an equal footing, but the balance to be struck between them requires delicate political set-offs, which means that the optimum objective for each of them separately is unlikely to be attainable. A pillar on external relations should also be added to the former three. The EU pursues exert world leadership in view of its 2020 and 2050 objectives.