COVID-19 Pandemic Research Articles

The Candida auris Infection After the COVID-19 Pandemic Seems to be an Urgent Public Health Emergency: A Call to Attention.

Inconsequential diseases can sometimes become extremely dangerous through mutation. Antifungal resistance has increased by 24%, and resistance only due to Candida auris (C. auris) species have increased by 60%. Here, we aimed to assess the knowledge of antifungal treatment and preventative measures to mitigate the consequences of infections caused by C. auris. We performed a comprehensive literature search and gathered information for this review from publicly available published articles. We used C. auris, C. auris infection, mycoses, and antifungal resistance as search terms in Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus. We extracted the relevant information from the available article after careful evaluation. The genus C. auris was especially difficult to diagnose, as it was often mistaken for other types of yeast and led to incorrect treatment. The only effective method for diagnosing C. auris is through blood culture testing in laboratories and PCR tests. Because of its mutation, C. auris has grown increasingly resistant to all three classes of antifungals, with almost all strains resistant to fluconazole. These resistances were traced back to multiple-point mutations in certain genes, such as ERG11 in the case of fluconazole and amphotericin B. In addition, C. auris is phylogenetically related to C. haemulonii, an emerging pathogen notably resistant to antifungals. So, it may be an evolutionary resistance that occurred earlier but has only begun to spread now. Echinoderm, a reliable treatment for C. auris infections showed ineffectively against FKS1 and ERG3 gene mutated Candida strains. Newly developed antifungal agents, like Ibrexafungerp, showed promising results against echinocandin-resistant strains in clinical trials. Without vaccines and effective treatment, its capacity to mutate and spread has detrimental effects on humans. Therefore, extensive research on drug development, quick, reliable diagnosis, and effective strategies for disease prevention and treatment are required to mitigate the health impact of C. auris.

Scientific and Regulatory Lessons Learnt on Building a Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) Package for COVID-19 Variant Vaccine Updates in the EU—A Regulator’s Perspective

During the COVID-19 pandemic, eight COVID-19 vaccines were authorised in the European Union (EU); as a result of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants and waning immunity, some of these have been adapted to broaden the immunity against circulating variants. The pace at which variants emerge challenges the technical feasibility to make adapted vaccines available in a suitable timeframe and in sufficient quantities. Despite the current absence of a clear-cut seasonal spread for COVID-19, the EU regulatory approach thus far is a pragmatic approach following a pathway similar to that of seasonal influenza. This approach currently requires chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC—the design, development and consistent manufacture of a specified medicinal product of good quality) and non-clinical data (from product laboratory and animal studies), as well as demonstrating that updated vaccines induce an immune response that can predict clinical efficacy and safety in humans. For CMC data, COVID-19 mRNA vaccine adaptations generally made use of the same formulation, control strategy, manufacturing process, and inclusion of registered manufacturing sites for the drug product; therefore assessment was generally streamlined. The experience gained from the vaccine adaptations, combined with a continuous early regulator-developer scientific discussion, permits increasingly greater predictability for timing and positive regulatory outcomes. Here, we review key aspects of the quality control and manufacture of updating COVID-19 vaccines to protect against new variants. Although most experience has been gained with mRNA vaccines, we note that investment in the streamlining of manufacturing processes for recombinant protein vaccines would facilitate future strain updates/adaptations thereby safeguarding availability of different COVID-19 vaccine types, which is considered of value for public health. We also reflect on the challenges and opportunities in establishing more predictable regulatory mechanisms for future COVID-19 vaccine adaptions and more widely for future vaccines containing rapidly evolving pathogens with the potential to cause health threats.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on medical and non-medical students at a private university in Malaysia

Background: Worldwide the COVID-19 pandemic affected people in various ways. Despite all the constraints students were in a unique position of being thrown into a lockdown situation where they had to learn from home and online. This had its own repercussions, and our aim was to study the effect of learning, as well as the mental and financial impact it had on the students at this private university. Methods: Using a pre-validated google questionnaire, we conducted a cross-sectional study amongst the undergraduate students from the various faculties. We used a modified DASS-21, with 15 questions rated on a Likert’s scale to assess mental health. Academic assessment and the financial impact assessment had 8 questions each. Sample size was 177. Cronbach’s for overall internal consistency was 0.860. Results: We had 208 respondents, where 66.3% were female and 62% Chinese. The mean score for medical students (mean=38.3, SD=12.9) was slightly higher than non-medical students (mean=37.3, SD=11.6). Overall non-medical students faced more challenges than the medical students academically as seen in poor contact with lecturers (chi square 10.73, p=0.030), their home environment was not conducive for learning (chi square 4.38, p=0.036) and have significantly more distraction from family members (chi square 4.87, p=0.027). Financially, a significant number of non-medical students struggled to pay for food expenses (chi square 12.92, p≤0.001). Conclusions: There was no significant difference between medical and non-medical students on mental health issues. Non-medical students were impacted more academically and financially.

Bibliometric and visualized analysis of peripartum respiratory complications from 2004 to 2023

BackgroundPeripartum respiratory complications are a major reason for pregnant women’s admission to the ICU, even endangers the maternal life. This bibliometric analysis was designed to elucidate the spectrum of diseases and risk factors for various respiratory complications during the peripartum period, as well as the future research directions in this field.MethodsRelevant publications were downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection on November 1, 2023. CiteSpace was utilized for conducting the scientometric study.ResultsA total of 2,331 articles and reviews on respiratory complications during pregnancy published between 2004 and 2023 were retrieved, comprising 87,244 co-cited references, originating from 568 institutions across 104 countries/regions. The United States emerged as the leading country in this domain, with Harvard University standing out as the most actively engaged institution. Bibliometric analysis reveals that the current research hotspots include “COVID-19 pandemic,” “venous thromboembolism,” “respiratory distress syndrome” and “cardiovascular diseases.” Meanwhile, “venous thromboembolism,” cytokine storm” and supportive management such as “extracorporeal membrane oxygenation” might represent potential future research directions.ConclusionOver the past two decades, research on respiratory system complications in pregnancy has continually evolved. This study contributes to enabling researchers in the related field to understand future research hotspots and trends, providing information on potential collaborators, institutions, countries, and citation references.

Design of determinants of online shopping intentions and behavior of students at private universities in East Jakarta 2024

Globalization and technological advances, especially the internet, have changed people's shopping patterns. Online shopping is now a trend, allowing easy access to products at any time. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this transition, with 74.5% of consumers preferring to shop online rather than offline, creating a new profitable consumption pattern. This study aims to identify significant relationships between latent variables that influence online shopping behavior, including Online Shopping Motivation, Subjective Norms, Perceived Behavioral Control, Consumer Knowledge, Online Shopping Intention, and Online Shopping Behavior. This research design uses a quantitative approach with SEM-PLS to analyze the relationship between variables that influence online shopping behavior of students at Private Universities in East Jakarta, providing an in-depth understanding for e-commerce in more effective marketing strategies. The results of the analysis show that Perceived Behavioral Control plays an important role in increasing online shopping knowledge and intention, supporting the theory of Planned Behavior. In addition, Subjective Norms are proven to influence consumer knowledge and intention, reflecting the impact of the social environment on shopping decisions. Although there is a positive relationship between Online Shopping Intention and Online Shopping Behavior, the results show that intentions are not always realized in action, indicating the complexity of consumer behavior. The implications of this study include the importance of consumer education to increase perceived control, leveraging social norms in marketing strategies through collaboration with influencers, and attention to other factors that influence shopping decisions. This study highlights the need to develop more effective marketing strategies, based on a deeper understanding of the relationships between variables, to increase consumer engagement and conversion on online shopping platforms. These findings contribute to academic and practical understanding in the context of shopping behavior in the digital era.

Demystifying the dynamics of China’s overseas image with a large-scale social media dataset

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a noticeable decline in global attitudes toward China. It remains unclear whether this negative shift is a temporary phenomenon linked to the pandemic or a reflection of a more enduring trend in China’s overseas image. By analyzing approximately 1.7 billion representative English-language tweets worldwide from 2012 to 2018, this research investigates popular attitudes toward China using word embedding models. The findings indicate a general decline in global attitudes toward China, particularly in relation to its political system. At the same time, however, China has increasingly been recognized as an economic powerhouse, a rising global power, and a more eco-friendly society.

Excess mortality associated with chikungunya epidemic in Southeast Brazil, 2023

The chikungunya virus (CHIKV) was first detected in Brazil in 2014 and has since caused major epidemics. In 2023, a major chikungunya epidemic occurred in Minas Gerais, one of the most populous states in the country. We analyzed the North and Northeast Health Macroregions of Minas Gerais, with 2.5 million inhabitants. The study used epidemiological data from the Ministry of Health’s laboratory surveillance, disease notification and mortality systems. A robust Poisson regression model was constructed to estimate expected monthly mortality. Excess deaths were calculated by comparing observed deaths with model estimates during the epidemic period. During the epidemic, there were 890 excess deaths attributed to chikungunya, translating into a mortality rate of 35.1/100,000 inhabitants. The excess mortality rate was significantly 60 times higher than the deaths reported by surveillance, with only 15 confirmed deaths. The correlation between excess deaths and laboratory-confirmed chikungunya cases was strong, while the correlation with dengue and COVID-19 was not statistically significant. The results highlighted the serious underestimation of chikungunya mortality by epidemiological surveillance. During the same year, only 420 chikungunya deaths were reported by all PAHO member countries. Routine epidemiological surveillance systems cannot capture the full impact of this disease. Excess mortality is a key measure for understanding the impact of epidemics, as demonstrated by COVID-19 and influenza pandemics. The study highlights the need for complementary tools to traditional surveillance to better assess impacts on morbidity and mortality and support priority setting in public health interventions.

The Evolution of Safety and Security Literature in Event Management

The evolution of safety and security literature has been notably accompanied with the rise of modern terrorism, above all after the attacks to World Trade Center in 2001. This was the first bloody incident where four commercial airplanes have been weaponized against the most powerful nation in the planet. Like the recent COVID-19 pandemic, 9/11 has changed not only geopolitics but travel behavior as never before. In this grim context, the present conceptual article focuses and examines the evolution of safety???security literature head by Event Management, as fertile ground in Event Management and Tourism studies, because of terrorism. We identify three academic schools that in different stages make a seminal contribution to the studied field.

Effect of working remotely on new professionals’ learning and adjustment during the first five weeks after professional entry

Purpose This study aimed to investigate the effect of working remotely on new professionals’ learning and adjustment. Organizational socialization is the process of learning and adjusting to a new professional role. Among new professionals working on-site, this learning and adjustment is indicated by a development of role clarity, task mastery and social acceptance. Less is known about the process when working remotely. This was recognized as a key organizational challenge following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach In this study, with a longitudinal design with 242 graduates and weekly data collections for the first five weeks following professional entry in 2021, the authors compared the learning and adjustment among individuals working on-site, in hybrid or remotely using longitudinal analyses of mean response profiles. Findings The group-by-time interaction effects were not statistically significant (i.e. no differences were found in the adjustment of the new professionals of the three groups). Originality/value These results indicate that working remotely does not jeopardize the organizational socialization process. Furthermore, a marginally statistically significant result indicated that participants working only remotely experienced a greater development of task mastery over time: This suggests that remote work may even benefit learning and professional adjustment. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Multi-Disciplinary Optimization of UV-C Filter for Air Disinfection

Because of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the problem of preventing and containing the diffusion of pathogens spread through air has become a main topic of research. The problem is particularly important for specific environments, such as dental or other medical practices, where the aerosol treatments in open-mouth patients, combined with closed and crowded rooms, raise the risk of infection. As an efficient countermeasure, in this study we propose a solution that is able to remove the risk at the source, through the aspiration of the aerosol and the neutralization of the bacterial load by means of a UV-C LED filter, which releases the sterilized air in the environment. To maximize the efficiency of the solution, in this study we performed a numerical multi-disciplinary optimization (MDO) of the filter, coupling numerical simulations of multiple disciplines (CFD and electromagnetics) by the process automation and optimization environment modeFRONTIER of ESTECO. Geometrical parameters of the filter are updated for each candidate solution proposed by the optimization algorithm, and their performance in terms of viral neutralization efficiency and air mass flow rate are evaluated by the simulations, until the optimal solution is found. The methodology and results of the study are presented.

Fractional-Order Modeling of COVID-19 Transmission Dynamics: A Study on Vaccine Immunization Failure

COVID-19 is an enveloped virus with a single-stranded RNA genome. The surface of the virus contains spike proteins, which enable the virus to attach to host cells and enter the interior of the cells. After entering the cell, the virus exploits the host cell’s mechanisms for replication and dissemination. Since the end of 2019, COVID-19 has spread rapidly around the world, leading to a large-scale epidemic. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global scientific community quickly launched vaccine research and development. Vaccination is regarded as a crucial strategy for controlling viral transmission and mitigating severe cases. In this paper, we propose a novel mathematical model for COVID-19 infection incorporating vaccine-induced immunization failure. As a cornerstone of infectious disease prevention measures, vaccination stands as the most effective and efficient strategy for curtailing disease transmission. Nevertheless, even with vaccination, the occurrence of vaccine immunization failure is not uncommon. This necessitates a comprehensive understanding and consideration of vaccine effectiveness in epidemiological models and public health strategies. In this paper, the basic regeneration number is calculated by the next generation matrix method, and the local and global asymptotic stability of disease-free equilibrium point and endemic equilibrium point are proven by methods such as the Routh–Hurwitz criterion and Lyapunov functions. Additionally, we conduct fractional-order numerical simulations to verify that order 0.86 provides the best fit with COVID-19 data. This study sheds light on the roles of immunization failure and fractional-order control.

The Mental Burden of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Post-pandemic View From a Romanian Sample

The Mental Burden of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Post-pandemic View From a Romanian Sample

Against #CoronaJihaad: Online Somatic Nationalism and Offline Social Distancing in India during covid-19

Abstract This article examines the two waves of the covid-19 pandemic in India in 2020–2021. It disaggregates the different narratives constructed by the Hindu right-wing in online circles. It shows that by instrumentalizing the interactive and multimodal features of social media, the Hindu Right amplified the notion of Muslims as contaminants in the first wave of the breakout, accusing them of weakening the otherwise sacred, virus-resistant Indian nation. During the second wave, the Hindu Right downplayed the role of the Kumbh Mela, a major Hindu pilgrimage and festival, as a super-spreader event. Criticisms of the Hindu festival was deemed a foreign conspiracy aimed at harming India’s body politic. The article argues that the Hindu Right capitalized on the covid-19 crisis to promote religified and somatisized ideals of a ‘muscular Hindu India’ weakened by the Muslim Other from within. This narrative heightened the schism between Hindus and Muslims in India, with long-lasting effects that outlive the pandemic itself. Finally, the article problematizes the notion that digital technologies and virtual spaces necessarily overcome physical barriers and divisions, arguing instead that in the case of the right-wing Hindu Twittersphere, social media congealed intra-communal solidarities and inter-communal antagonisms online echoing divisions in the non-digital, offline world.

Resilience Practices in Health Science and Medical Libraries During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper uses the concept of resilience engineering as an organizing principle to discuss best practices that evolved within health science/medical libraries in the United States during COVID-19 crisis, focusing on the period March – August 2020. Protection of library staff, assistance to medical staff, reducing the circulation of misinformation and public health consumerism all required substantial changes to standard processes. These process changes had to arise in the context of both physical isolation and information overload. Some practices became widespread due to their utility, and these are the focus of this report.

Correction: Exploring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Twitter in Japan: Qualitative Analysis of Disrupted Plans and Consequences

Correction: Exploring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Twitter in Japan: Qualitative Analysis of Disrupted Plans and Consequences

Confidence on COVID-19 vaccine and its associated factors among people living with HIV: a cross-sectional survey in selected regions of Tanzania

BackgroundSeveral vaccines were introduced in Tanzania to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. While studies have explored the acceptability and hesitancy of COVID-19 vaccines within the general population, there is limited research focusing on the confidence and associated factors among People Living with HIV (PLHIV). This study aims to fill that gap by investigating vaccine confidence and its determinants in this demographic group.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in centres for care and treatment in four regions of mainland Tanzania using structured questionnaires. A generalized linear mixed model was fitted to determine the factors associated with confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine.ResultsA total of 1,100 participants were interviewed; 761 (69.2%) were female. The mean age and standard deviation were 41.6 ±12.1 years. The overall level of confidence in COVID-19 vaccines was 55.3%. Females were less likely to express confidence compared to males (aOR = 0.77; 95% CI: 0.72–0.84). Participants with primary (aOR = 1.79; 95% CI: 1.65–1.94), secondary (aOR = 1.81; 95% CI: 1.57–2.09), and university-level education (aOR = 2.14; 95% CI: 0.17–26.54) were more likely to report confidence in COVID-19 vaccines. Attending a dispensary-level health facility (aOR = 1.32; 95% CI: 1.27–1.38) and living in rural areas (aOR = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.23–1.66) were significantly associated with confidence in COVID-19 vaccines.ConclusionAlthough COVID-19 is no longer a global public threat, these findings highlight the significance of being prepared in public health and the necessity of continuous efforts to comprehend and enhance vaccine acceptance and confidence among people living with HIV. By tackling the factors that impact vaccine attitudes in this group, we can improve our preparedness for future public health challenges where vaccine uptake may once again become crucial.

Adolescent alcohol drinking and cannabis use: Longitudinal, and cohort analysis of high school students in Australia

Aims: The final year of high school is a challenging phase, during which substance use is common. We conducted longitudinal and cohort comparisons on the levels of alcohol and cannabis use among final year (Year 12) high school students compared to the previous year. Design: Longitudinal and cohort analyses of self-reported survey data. Setting: Ten independent schools across South-East Queensland, Australia. Participants: Year 12 students in 2020 (n = 1024) were compared (a) longitudinally with themselves in Year 11; and (b) to the 2019 Year 12 cohort (n = 632). Measures: Self-reported alcohol and cannabis use. Analyses adjusted for socio-demographic, parental, and schooling variables. Findings: Longitudinally, Year 12 students of 2020 had higher odds of having six or more drinks per occasion, monthly or more often, and reporting lifetime cannabis use, compared to themselves in 2019. However, they were not more likely to drink alcohol weekly or more often in 2020 versus 2019. Compared to the 2019 cohort, the 2020 cohort had higher odds of drinking weekly or more often, having six or more drinks per occasion monthly, and reporting lifetime cannabis use. Conclusions: The 2020 cohort of Year 12 adolescents were more likely to engage in heavy drinking and cannabis use, compared to themselves the previous year, and compared to the previous cohort. Greater alcohol consumption and likelihood of cannabis use among the 2020 cohort might be explained by increased age and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research to monitor if this is a continuing trend is warranted.

Novel cost-effective method for forecasting COVID-19 and hospital occupancy using deep learning

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 and its rapid global spread put healthcare systems around the world to the test. This crisis created an unprecedented level of stress in hospitals, exacerbating the already complex task of healthcare management. As a result, it led to a tragic increase in mortality rates and highlighted the urgent need for advanced predictive tools to support decision-making. To address these critical challenges, this research aims to develop and implement a predictive system capable of predicting pandemic evolution with accuracy (in terms of Mean Absolute error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), R2, and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE)) and low computational and economic cost. It uses a set of interconnected Long Short Term-memory (LSTM) with double bidirectional LSTM (BiLSTM) layers together with a novel preprocessing based on future time windows. This model accurately predicts COVID-19 cases and hospital occupancy over long periods of time using only 40% of the set to train. This results in a long-term prediction where each day we can query the cases for the next three days with very little data. The data utilized in this analysis were obtained from the “Hospital Insular” in Gran Canaria, Spain. These data describe the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from its initial emergence in 2020 until March 29, 2022. The results show an improvement in MAE (< 161), RMSE (< 405), and MAPE (> 0.20) compared to other studies with similar conditions. This would be a powerful tool for the healthcare system, providing valuable information to decision-makers, allowing them to anticipate and strategize for possible scenarios, ultimately improving public health outcomes and optimizing the allocation of healthcare and economic resources.

Pediatric Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits Related to Mental Health Conditions and Self-Harm

Mental disorders among the pediatric population are a major area of public health concern. Little is known regarding changes in pediatric hospital resource use related to mental health (MH) long after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. To assess rates and trends of hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits related to MH and self-harm (SH) among children before and during the 3 years following the pandemic onset. This cross-sectional study used national hospital data. The study sample included all MH- and SH-related hospitalizations and ED visits among children aged 6 to 17 years in France between January 1, 2016, to May 31, 2023. Interrupted time-series analysis of monthly rates of MH- and SH-related hospitalizations and ED visits per 100 000 children was conducted to assess changes before and every year after the pandemic onset. Rate ratios (RRs) between estimated and expected rates were calculated. Overall, 583 244 hospitalizations (81.4% for MH and 18.6% for SH) and 432 725 ED visits (79.9% for MH and 20.1% for SH) were analyzed. The mean (SD) age of the children was 13.7 (2.9) and 14.8 (1.7) years for MH-related and SH-related hospitalizations, respectively, and 14.2 (2.6) and 14.6 (2.1) years for MH-related and SH-related ED visits, respectively. For MH-related hospitalizations, 52.6% were female and 47.4% were male; for SH-related hospitalizations, 83.1% were female and 16.9% were male. For MH-related ED visits, 62.8% were female and 37.2% were male; for SH-related ED visits, 77.4% were female and 22.6% were male. Before the pandemic, an increasing trend in all monthly rates, except that of MH-related hospitalizations, was observed. After an immediate decrease in hospitalization and ED visit rates during the initial pandemic period (March 1 to May 31, 2020), trends increased in the first 2 years following the pandemic onset and decreased thereafter. Overall, rates of MH-related hospitalizations and ED visits exceeded expected rates in only the second year after the pandemic onset, with increases of 6.0% (RR, 1.06 [95% CI, 1.05-1.06]) and 5.0% (RR, 1.05 [95% CI, 1.04-1.05]), respectively. However, rates of hospitalizations and ED visits for behavioral syndromes (mainly eating and sleeping disorders) persistently exceeded expected rates, with increases of 29.0% (RR, 1.29 [95% CI, 1.25-1.34]) and 26.0% (RR, 1.26 [95% CI, 1.21-1.31]) in the third year, respectively. Likewise, rates of SH-related hospitalizations and ED visits persistently rose above expected rates, with increases of 29.0% (RR, 1.29 [95% CI, 1.26-1.32]) and 43.0% (RR, 1.43 [95% CI, 1.40-1.47]) in the third year, respectively. In this cross-sectional study, persistent increases in the use of hospital resources to treat eating and sleeping disorders and intentional SH among pediatric patients were observed long after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings warrant future research to identify persistent stress factors in children.

Quantitating SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies from human dried blood spots.

In the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the collection of dried blood spots (DBS) enabled public health laboratories to undertake population-scale seroprevalence studies used to estimate rates of SARS-CoV-2 exposure. With SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity levels now estimated to exceed 94% in the United States, attention has turned to using DBS to assess neutralizing antibodies within cohorts of interest. With this goal in mind, we generated contrived DBS (cDBS) and whole blood-derived DBS from convalescent and vaccinated individuals and subjected DBS eluates to a battery of assays, including a SARS-CoV-2 multiplexed microsphere immunoassay (MIA), a receptor binding domain (RBD)-human ACE2 inhibition assay (iACE2), a cell-based pseudovirus neutralization assay, and real-time PCR-based surrogate neutralization assay (NAB-Sure). The DBS results were benchmarked against paired serum samples tested in a clinically validated SARS-CoV-2 plaque reduction neutralization titer (PRNT) assay. The results of an 8-plex MIA and NAB-Sure assays demonstrated highly significant correlations with PRNT values when evaluated with a panel of 86 paired serum-DBS samples. Both the MIA and NAB-Sure are adaptable to automated liquid handlers for high-throughput capacity. While neutralizing assays were limited to the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 WA1, this study nonetheless represents an important proof of concept demonstrating the potential utility of DBS as a biospecimen type for use in assessing immunity to SARS-CoV-2 at the community and population levels.IMPORTANCESARS-CoV-2 variants of concern continue to circulate globally and remain a serious health threat to large segments of the population. From a public health standpoint, identifying vulnerable communities based on immune status is critical in terms of vaccine booster recommendations. In this report, we investigated the utility of dried blood spots (DBS) as a biospecimen type from which to estimate SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titers. Using contrived and whole blood-derived DBS, we demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies are readily measurable in DBS eluates and correlate with plaque reduction neutralization titer (PRNT) values from paired serum samples. Moreover, several of the methods used to estimate SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in DBS eluates are adaptable to high-throughput platforms.