Beginning Of COVID-19 Research Articles

Indonesian Democracy and Islamic Religious Activities in the Age of "New Normal"

This paper discusses relations of democracy enforcement and religious freedom in the pandemic era of Covid-19 in Indonesia, especially Muslim. In the "new normal" climate, some believe that perhaps one of the best ways to stop the spread is to impose lockdowns. The centralized style of government typically adopts this policy. However, Indonesia does not implement this policy with various considerations. However, on the other hand, when democratic countries such as Indonesia want to impose restrictions on religious activities, this regulation seems a religious freedom limitation. In several cases at the beginning of Covid-19 that hit Indonesia in March, it was often connected to clusters of religious events involving many people. While the policy of restricting worship often drew protests from religious adherents. Against the backdrops of religious politics as the impact of the 2019 democratic party in the Presidential Election, this paper looks at how this phenomenon has become tremendously politicized and has a common thread between those who refused, ignored, and accepted, and even got involved to support government policy. Herein lies the government's importance in managing its citizens' awareness to fight Covid-19 without intending to restrict religious freedom and stopping the politicization of religion.

The effects of daily growth in COVID-19 deaths, cases, and governments’ response policies on stock markets of emerging economies

Since the beginning of COVID-19, human beings have been threatened by various aspects. As of February 14, 2022, this global pandemic has caused about 412 million cases and 5.8 million deaths worldwide. Stock markets are one of the most agile economic indicators. In this context, this study investigates how daily growth in deaths, daily growth in cases, and governmental interventions affect stock market returns in 21 emerging economies from January 22 to December 31, 2020. Our results indicate that government response policies to Covid-19 positively impact stock returns. Besides, the daily growths in deaths and cases negatively affect stock market returns. The results also indicate that government response policies also have an indirect positive effect on stock market returns by weakening the negative impact of the daily growth in COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths.

Cyber Education for Korean Traditional Seodang Culture and Its Some Implication to Multiculturalism in the Korean Society

Purpose: This study aims to find a way to apply Korean traditional Seodang culture to cyber education and bring some implication to modern Korean society’s multiculturalism. To this end, it understands the characteristics of knowledge and education in the era of the 4th industrial revolution. That is the next-generation industrial revolution made up of the convergence of information and communication technology (ICT). Method: The specific method for this study is based on literature research. To back up the field experience, authors visited the Korean traditional Seodang and interviewed with its Teacher (called Hunjang). Results: The 4th industrial revolution has brought about digital natives who can understand and utilize that civilization freely. They make great use of and enjoy digital environments such as personal computer, cellular phone, and the internet. These digital natives are consumers and producers of civilization at the same time. In particular, there has been a great transition from untact to ontact after beginning of COVID-19. Requests to consider virtual reality and metaverse have increased. This study suggested some concrete ways to respond to such a trend of civilization transformation. Conclusion: Digital civilization is not limited to education, but dominates the entire modern civilization. There-fore, a practical way to adapt the very traditional Seodang culture to this modern civilization was presented. Such efforts break away from the passive attitude of continuing the tradition. Furthermore, it will contribute to strengthening the media literacy competency of today s youth and bridging the digital gap between the traditions of the past and modern civilization. Seodang, a traditional cultural content in modern Korean society, is expected to be a medium that goes beyond just one of cultural assets and enriches the complex and diverse multicultural situation. This idea comes from that Seodang in the Korean tradition attempted a voluntary bottum-up of voluntary education oriented toward the spirit of the times in a rural society. Modern Seodang culture can be contribut-ed to Korean modern multicultural society.

Lessons Learnt From the Experiences of Primary Care Physicians Facing COVID-19 in Benin: A Mixed-Methods Study.

In sub-Saharan Africa, there is a need to better understand and guide the practice of primary care physicians (PCPs), especially in a crisis context like the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyses the experiences of PCPs facing COVID-19 in Benin and draws policy lessons. The study followed a fully mixed sequential dominant status design. Data were collected between April and August 2020 from a sample of PCPs in Benin. We performed descriptive analyses on the quantitative data. We also performed bivariate analyses for testing associations between various outcomes and the public/private status of the PCPs, their localization within or outside the cordon sanitaire put in place at the beginning of COVID-19, and their practice' category. A thematic content analysis was done on qualitative data. Results from both analyses were triangulated. Ninety PCPs participated in the quantitative strand, and 14 in the qualitative. The median percentage of the COVID-19 control measures implemented in the health facilities, as reported by the PCPs, was 77.8% (interquartile range = 16.7%), with no difference between the various groups. While 29.4% of the PCPs reported being poorly/not capable of helping the communities to deal with COVID-19, 45.3% felt poorly/not confident in dealing with an actual case. These percentages were bigger in the private sector. The PCP's experiences were marked by anxiety and fear, with 80.2% reporting stress. Many PCPs (74.1%) reported not receiving support from local health authorities, and 75.3% felt their concerns were not adequately addressed. Both percentages were higher in the private sector. The PCPs especially complained of insufficient training, insufficient coordination, and less support to private providers than the public ones. For 72.4 and 79.3% of the PCPs, respectively, the pandemic impacted services utilization and daily work. There were negative impacts (like a decrease in the services utilization or the quality of care), but also positive ones (like improved compliance to hygiene measures and new opportunities). Our study highlighted the need for more structured support to PCPs for optimizing their contribution to epidemics control and good primary healthcare in Benin. Efforts in this direction can build on several good practices and opportunities.

Road traffic accidents in Italy during COVID-19

Objective To assess changes in the number and severity of road traffic accidents in Italy in 2020, in particular after the beginning of COVID-19 and during the lockdown, as compared with 2019, with monthly details and geographical variations within the country. Methods Official monthly data on road traffic accidents recorded by the Police in Italy in 2020 were compared with those in 2019. The comparison regarded number of accidents, percent change, non-fatal injuries, deaths, injury index (injuries/accidents ×100) and fatality index (deaths/accidents ×100). Monthly data were graphically presented separately for each of the 21 Italian Regions and autonomous Provinces. Results A steep generalized decrease in the number of road traffic accidents was observed in March and April 2020 (Italian lockdown) as compared with the corresponding months of 2019 (more than 70% change), with a smaller change in the number of deaths, more variable among Regions. Smaller decreases were observed in the following part of 2020. Conclusions In Italy, lockdown and limitation of mobility due to COVID-19 determined a strong decrease in the number of road traffic accidents and their health consequences. Inter-regional variability in the decrease of deaths might be associated with the severity of the SARS-CoV-2 local outbreak, although specific causes need to be investigated. These data are useful to inform traffic and public health policy makers.

Decreased Incidence of Influenza During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to analyse changes in influenza detection rates of the influenza seasons 2017/2018, 2018/2019, 2019/2020, and 2020/2021 and the changes in personal awareness of protection during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThis retrospective study included patients tested for influenza virus A and B from November 2017 to March 2021 at the Affiliated People’s Hospital of Ningbo University (Ningbo, China). Influenza virus A and B tested by direct RT-PCR. A small group of 100 regular participants in influenza virus detection were surveyed on the use of protective measures in four different influenza seasons.ResultsThere were 14,902, 14,762, 25,070, and 1107 tests of influenza virus A and B in the four influenza periods, for total positive rates of 32.45%, 35.77%, 29.40%, and 0.54%, respectively. In the two periods of four influenza seasons, from November to January, the total number of influenza samples was 8530, 4980, 22,925, 868; from February to March, the number of tests was 6372, 9782, 2145, 239. Total number of tests and positive rate decreased significantly from February/March onwards of the 2019/2020 season, coinciding with the beginning of COVID-19. The proportion of people taking protective measures also increased during the 2019/20 and 2020/21 flu seasons.ConclusionThe influenza virus has a high incidence in this area. The diagnosis rate of influenza decreased after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic had an important impact on the detection rates for influenza virus.

Estimation of highly heterogeneous multinomial probabilities observed at the beginning of COVID-19

The daily counts of COVID-19 cases differed significantly from one region to another at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in any given country. The disease first hit some regions before spreading to others. The Poisson distribution is frequently used to analyze disease occurrence in certain locations at certain times. However, in highly heterogeneous situations, the estimator of multiple Poisson means is not close to the actual population parameter. The estimator of multinomial probabilities under an existing prior is also not close to the actual population parameter in highly heterogeneous situations. We propose a Bayesian estimator of multinomial probabilities under a data-dependent prior. This prior is built using zeta distribution coefficients and depends only on the rank of data. Using simulation studies, the proposed estimator is evaluated with two well-known risks. Finally, the daily counts of COVID-19 cases are analyzed to show how the proposed estimator can be used in practice.

COVID-19 and MERS: Are their Chest X-ray and Computed Tomography Scanning Signs Related?

Background:COVID-19 is a respiratory infection brought about by SARS-COV-2. Most of the patients contaminated by this pathogen are afflicted by respiratory syndrome with multiple stages ranging from mild upper respiratory involvement to severe dyspnea and acute respiratory distress syndrome cases. Keeping in mind the high sensitivity of computed tomography (CT) scan in detecting abnormalities, it became the number one modality in COVID-19 diagnosis. A wide diversity of CT features can be found in COVID-19 cases, which can be observed before the onset of clinical signs. The review article is aimed to highlight recent discrepancies in CT-scan and chest X-ray (CXR) characteristics between COVID-19 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).Method:This review study was performed in the literature from the beginning of COVID-19 until the middle of April 2021. For this reason, all relevant works through scientific citation websites such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and Web of Science have been investigated in the mentioned period.Results:COVID-19 was more reproductive than MERS, while MERS was significantly higher in terms of mortality rate (COVID-19: 2.3% and MERS: 34.4%). Signs of ground-glass opacity (GGO), peripheral consolidation, and GGO accompanying with consolidation are the same signs CXR in both MERS and COVID-19. Indeed, fever, cough, headache, and sore throat are the most symptoms in all studied patients.Conclusion:Both COVID-19 and MERS have the same imaging signs. The most similar chest CT findings are GGO, peripheral consolidation, and GGO superimposed by consolidation in both studied diseases, and no statistical differences were seen among the mean number of chest CT-scans in MERS and COVID-19 cases.

SITUATION OF EUROPEAN AIRLINES CAUSED BY COVID-19: RESTRICTIONS, GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented crisis, severely affecting the economy and many sectors, including the airline industry. This paper reviews this situation to see how airlines have acted since the beginning of COVID-19. The airline industry is dependent on financial support and subsidies to cope with the massive drop in air travel due to the coronavirus. The support received by the major airlines has been examined. In addition, a comparison has been made of all the aviation restrictions that have been implemented by different European governments. Travellers from countries with a higher incidence of cases, or with a growing rate of cases, have the most restrictions on travel to other countries. Furthermore, the strategies and protocols being implemented by certain airlines following the lifting of some of the restrictions on passenger air traffic are analysed. This paper will provide an insight into how airlines are coping with this unfavourable environment, as well as some of the future prospects and strategies of the aviation sector.

Female Immigrant Entrepreneurship: The Experience of Chinese Migrants to Australia

This article reports on findings from interviews with a small group of Chinese female immigrants to Australia who have started up their own business since their arrival. Unlike most publications concerning immigration that focus upon financial factors, we have instead concentrated on their personal journeys, why they started their businesses and the benefits they sought. We interviewed thirteen participants in Adelaide who had recently arrived from China with the aim of immigrating permanently to Australia. Immigration records indicate that by 2020 this figure had risen to over 160,000 per annum. However, it dropped again quickly in 2020 following the beginning of COVID-19. Nonetheless, according to recent Australian government records, over 866,200 current Australian residents have Chinese ancestry and 74% are first-generation migrants. The primary motivators for respondents were independence and control as well as income and skill development. Respondents were also satisfied by the personal development they gained.

Effects of COVID-19 pandemics on urinary metabolites in kidney stone patients: our kidney stone prevention clinic experience

BackgroundThe dietary habits and lifestyle changes during the COVID-19 pandemic could affect the urinary risk factors in kidney stone formers. In this study, we investigated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on 24-h urine metabolites, as a surrogate for dietary intake, in patients with kidney stones, in Tehran, Iran.MethodsWe evaluated the medical records of all patients with urolithiasis who visited in our stone prevention clinic from the beginning of COVID-19 in Iran to 1 year later (Feb 2020–Feb 2021) and compared it with the patients’ medical records in the same period a year before COVID-19 (Feb 2019–Feb 2020).ResultsThe results of our stone prevention clinic showed a decrease in the number of visits during COVID-19. Twenty-four-hour urine urea, sodium, and potassium were significantly lower, and 24-h urine magnesium was significantly higher during COVID-19. Higher 24-h urine oxalate was only shown in patients with the first-time visit, whereas lower 24-h urine uric acid and citrate were only shown in patients with the follow-up visits.ConclusionsCOVID-19 pandemics may change some of the dietary habits of the patients, including lower salt, protein, and fruit and vegetable intake. Although economic issues, restricted access, or sanitation issues may be the reason for the undesirable dietary changes, the importance of a quality diet should be discussed with all patients, as possible. Since the number of patients visited in the stone clinic was lower during COVID-19, virtual visits could be an excellent alternative to motivate patients with kidney stones.

Substance abuse, drug addiction and the role of primary health care amid the COVID-19 pandemic

The definition of substance abuse is the use of certain types of drugs such as alcohol, cannabis, hash, cocaine and others that have serious side effects and clinical complications. There is a significant difference between substance abuse and the term addiction. The significant difference between substance abuse and addiction is that drug addiction or substance addiction is classified as a chronic disease controlling the physical and mental ability of the individual to unpleasant force to use specific drugs such as cocaine or else. The literature has a positive correlation between the COVID-19 pandemic and illegal drug abuse in substance abuse or addiction. COVID-19 caused emotional emptiness for many people around the world, in addition to anxiety and depression. The particular group of people started addicting to specific drugs to induce temporary happiness due to the unpleasant events they had from the pandemic. This article aimed to review the challenges of substance abuse and drug abuse in the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of public health in addition to primary care facilities against this phenomenon. To our knowledge, this is the first review providing a complex review about this issue since the beginning of COVID-19.

Recognition Changes of the Concept of Urban Resilience: Moderating Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic

Urban resilience, which has emerged as an important concept in cities since sustainability became a 21st-century urban paradigm, reflects the needs of the times to change and bring about a shift in existing national landscape architecture and social policies. To explore the characteristics of recognition of college students majoring in landscape architecture towards the concept of urban resilience before and after the beginning of COVID-19, this study aims to answer three research questions: to analyzes recognitions of landscape architecture majoring students on urban resilience (research question 1); to compare the differences that emerge from before and after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (research question 2); and to explore latent classes according to the education pattern (research question 3). The results of this study are as follows: First, before the beginning of COVID-19, four latent classes were drawn up in relation to awareness of the concept of urban resilience, while three latent classes were examined after the start of the pandemic. Before the beginning of COVID-19, students of landscape architecture accepted the concept of urban resilience as a physical and environmental approach to overcome risk factors by creating landscape architecture and infrastructure or applying the concept of resilience in urban development and redevelopment. However, after the beginning of COVID-19, they mostly have been recognized urban resilience as a concept related to technological ability. Thirdly, the grades and educational experiences of the students were found to have a significant effect on the probability of their belonging to a specific latent class.

Market Overreaction at the Beginning of Covid-19 Pandemic Periods in Indonesia Stock Exchange

This study aims to determine whether the markets overreaction occurred in Indonesian capital market in the beginning of Covid-19 pandemic periods, especially in Indonesia Stock Exchange. This market overreaction is the one of anomalies in capital market and is opposite the efficient market hypotheses. Bad or good information is a trigger for investors reactions that cause anomalies such as this market overreaction. The information can be sourced from internal and external conditions of the company. The external condition that is currently affecting the national and international economy are the Corona pandemic (Covid-19) which has spread around the end of 2019. Based on the phenomenon occurs, the purposes of this study are to test: (a) Did market overreaction occur in Indonesian capital market in the beginning of Covid-19 pandemic periods? (b) Is a contrarian strategy relevant to be implemented? (c) Does the market risk factor based on the CAPM will affect the abnormal return? Keywords: CAPM; Market Overreaction; Return Reversal

Management of heart failure patients at the beginning of COVID-19

Management of heart failure patients at the beginning of COVID-19

The Assessment of Reconstructive Urology-Associated Google Search Trends During COVID-19.

Introduction: To demonstrate public interest in reconstructive urology during the COVID-19 pandemic by using Google Trends (GT).Methods: The study was conducted between August 1 and August 11, 2021. A total of 18 terms related to reconstructive urology were determined. Public interest in all terms were evaluated with the GT application using the filters ‘worldwide’, ‘all categories’, and ‘web search’. To determine public interest in reconstructive urology during the COVID-19 pandemic, three 12-week periods following the declaration of COVID-19 (March 11 to June 4, 2020, June 5 to August 29, 2020, and August 30 to November 23, 2020) were compared with the same periods in the past four years (2016-2019).Results: Comparisons of March 11 to June 4, 2020, and the same days in the previous four years revealed that total public attention to reconstructive urology significantly declined (−16.2%, p=0.035). In the comparison of the second 12-week duration (June 5 to August 29, 2020, vsJune 5 to August 29, 2016-2019), only the bladder augmentation term had significantly lower search frequency during COVID-19 (−46.3%, p=0.043), but buried penis (50.3%, p=0.001), urinary incontinence (15.3%, p=0.001), and stress urinary incontinence (21.7%, p=0.001) keywords had significantly higher inquiries. The comparison of the third 12-week period searches for only urinary incontinence significantly increased (p=0.001).Conclusion: Present study showed that public interest in reconstructive urology significantly reduced in the first 12 weeks after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. However, public attention to reconstructive urology reached similar levels after 12 weeks from the beginning of COVID-19. Additionally, the term urinary incontinence was searched statistically more frequently during the COVID-19.

COVID-19 AND NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASES: EP.22 COVID-19 in children with neuromuscular disorders

Children with neuromuscular disorders have been assumed to be a particularly vulnerable population since the beginning of COVID-19. Although this is a plausible hypothesis, there is no evidence that complications or mortality rates in neuromuscular patients are higher than in the general population. The aim of this study is to describe the clinical characteristics and outcome of COVID-19 in children with neuromuscular disorders. A registry of children with neuromuscular conditions and laboratory-confirmed-SARS-CoV-2 infection was set up by the Neuromuscular Working Group of the Spanish Pediatric Neurology Society (SENEP).

Mental Disorders Among Health Care Workers at the Early Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya; Findings of an Online Descriptive Survey.

Background: Healthcare workers responding to the Corona Virus Pandemic (COVID-19) are at risk of mental illness. Data is scanty on the burden of mental disorders among Kenyan healthcare workers responding to the pandemic that can inform mental health and psychosocial support. The purpose of this study was to establish the frequency and associated factors of worry, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder and poor quality of sleep among Kenyan health care workers at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: We conducted an online survey among 1,259 health care workers in Kenya. A researcher developed social demographic questionnaire and several standardized tools were used for data collection. Standardized tools were programmed into Redcap, (Research Electronic Data Capture) and data analysis was performed using R Core Team. In all analysis a p-value < 0.05 was considered significant.Results: 66% of the participants reported experiencing worry related to COVID-19. 32.1% had depression, 36% had generalized anxiety, 24.2% had insomnia and 64.7% scored positively for probable Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Depression was higher among females compared to men (36.5 vs. 26.9%, p = 0.003), workers <35 years old compared to older ones (38.1 vs. 26.4%, p < 0.001), and those who were not married compared to those who were married (40.6 vs. 27.6%, p < 0.001). Generalized anxiety was commoner among workers aged <35 years (43.5 vs. 29.3%, p < 0.001), females (41.7 vs. 29.2%, p < 0.001), those who mere not married compared to the married (45.2 vs. 31.2%, p < 0.001) and those with <10 years working experience (41.6 to 20.5%, p < 0.001). Younger health care professional had a higher proportion of insomnia compared to the older ones (30.3 vs. 18.6%, p < 0.001). Insomnia was higher among those with <10 years' experience compared to those with more than 20 years' experience(27.3 vs. 17.6%, p = 0.043)Conclusion: Many Kenyan healthcare workers in the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic suffered from various common mental disorders with young, female professionals who are not married bearing the bigger burden. This data is useful in informing interventions to promote mental and psychosocial wellbeing among Kenyan healthcare workers responding to the pandemic.

Spatial association of mobility and COVID-19 infection rate in the USA: A county-level study using mobile phone location data

IntroductionHuman mobility has been a central issue in the discussion from the beginning of COVID-19. While the body of literature on the relationship of COVID transmission and mobility is large, studies mostly captured a relatively short timeframe. Moreover, spatial non-stationarity has garnered less attention in these explorative models. Therefore, the major concern of this study is to see the relationship of mobility and COVID on a broader temporal scale and after mitigating this methodological gap. ObjectiveIn response to this concern, this study first explores the spatiotemporal pattern of mobility indicators. Secondly, it attempts to understand how mobility is related to COVID infection rate and how this relationship has been changed over time and space after controlling several sociodemographic characteristics, spatial heterogeneity, and policy-related changes during different phases of Coronavirus. Data and methodThis study uses GPS-based mobility data for a wider time frame of six months (March 20-August’20) divided into four tiers and carries analysis for all the US counties (N = 3142). Space-time cube is used to generate the spatiotemporal pattern. For the second objective, Ordinary Least Square (OLS), Spatial Error Model (SEM), and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) were used. ResultThe spatial-temporal pattern suggests that the trip rate, out-of-county trip rate, and miles/person traveled were mostly plummeted till the first wave reached its peak, and subsequently, all of these mobility matrices started to rise. From spatial models, infection rates were found negatively correlated with miles traveled and out-of-county trips. Highly COVID infected areas mostly had more people working from home, low percentages of aged people and educated people, and high percentages of poor people. ConclusionThis study, with necessary policy implications, provides a comprehensive understanding of the shifting pattern of mobility and COVID. Spatial models outperform OLS with better fits and non-clustered residuals.

Penilaian Mahasiswa BIPA terhadap Pembelajaran Tatap Muka dan Online

The transition of face-to-face learning to online in a short time due to the Covid-19 pandemic is certainly not easy, both for teachers and for students. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to explain 1) an overview of BIPA learning before and at the beginning of Covid-19; 2) learners' assessment of the ease, constraints of online learning, and their comparison with face-to-face; 3) learners' written opinion regarding online and face-to-face learning. This research is a qualitative descriptive design. Data were collected through observation and questionnaires. As a result, the form of face-to-face assignments consists of individuals, groups, and fields, whereas online is only individual assignments; the learning material is the same: grammar, 4 language skills, culture; PPSX, WA, e-mail learning tools. Learners experience problems in online learning. The learner has written advice in interactive learning and the use of English. Face-to-face learning is better than online learning.