COVID-19 Public Health Crisis Research Articles

Managing employees' needs and well-being in the post-COVID-19 era

PurposeIn the wake of the COVID-19 public health crisis, organizations have increasingly adopted new technologies and new working modalities (e.g. teleworking, smart working and remote working). However, these important changes led to increased work-related stress for employees who are not always able to cope with the actual intrusive digital professional reality. This work identifies the negative effects of technology and new work modalities on employees’ well-being. It suggests remedies based on real-life examples to meet employees’ emerging needs in the post-COVID-19 era.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews with a variety of workers in different organizational contexts and positions were used as support for our recommendations. In particular, we had representation from managers, human resource (HR) officers, employees, psychologists, consultants and coaches.FindingsThe paper identifies eight specific negative effects of technology and new work modalities, such as inability to cope with stress, negative physical consequences, smart working fatigue, breaking down of the boundaries between private and professional life, decrease in work-life balance, hyper-connection, psychological and psychosomatic symptoms and burnout syndrome. Moreover, the paper proposes timely remedies, including enhancing leaders’ awareness, the right to disconnect and rethinking HR policies.Practical implicationsIt offers practical insights and encompasses views from various internal stakeholders (HR officers, senior managers, managers, subordinates and an organizational counselor) and external stakeholders (psychologists, consultants and coaches). The paper concludes with experience-based tips, highlighting the need for digital leadership to be able to both manage performance and guarantee people psychological safety at the same time. The remedies suggested are “ready-to-use” best practices to implement for safeguarding the health of employees.Originality/valueThis research is not only pertinent for managers grappling with these challenges in their everyday work but also valuable for scholars seeking to deepen their understanding of the topic through practice-based evidence. Furthermore, it significantly contributes to the literature as, while previous works have only analyzed findings singularly, this work is focused on the different perspectives of different internal and external stakeholders, offering a more comprehensive overview. Originality lies precisely in having taken into consideration the point of view of many actors with different roles and backgrounds.

Nutritional quality of food purchases during the COVID-19 public health crisis: An analysis of geographic disparities in North Carolina

ObjectiveTo examine geographic disparities in the nutritional quality of food purchases during the COVID-19 public health crisis in North Carolina (NC). MethodsUsing shopper-level longitudinal transaction records between October 2019-December 2020 from NC’s largest grocery retailer, we fit mixed-effect models to examine disparities in the nutritional quality of food purchases among shoppers in counties with different levels of socioeconomic development and how such disparities changed after March 2020, accounting for other observed and contextual factors. ResultsShoppers in counties with lower development levels purchased a larger share of calories from least healthy foods and a smaller share from healthier foods compared to shoppers in counties with higher development levels. These disparities were slightly attenuated for the least healthy foods and did not change for healthier foods after the onset of the COVID crisis. ConclusionDespite existing nutritional disparities among shoppers in counties with different levels of socioeconomic development, we did not observe a large-scale accentuation of inequities in dietary quality during the COVID-19 crisis. This pattern may have resulted from programmatic responses to mitigate the adverse effects of the COVID crisis on vulnerable populations. Future work should further explore the role of such responses.

Nutritional quality of food purchases during the COVID-19 public health crisis: An analysis of geographic disparities in North Carolina

ObjectiveTo examine geographic disparities in the nutritional quality of food purchases during the COVID-19 public health crisis in North Carolina (NC). MethodsUsing shopper-level longitudinal transaction records between October 2019-December 2020 from NC’s largest grocery retailer, we fit mixed-effect models to examine disparities in the nutritional quality of food purchases among shoppers in counties with different levels of socioeconomic development and how such disparities changed after March 2020, accounting for other observed and contextual factors. ResultsShoppers in counties with lower development levels purchased a larger share of calories from least healthy foods and a smaller share from healthier foods compared to shoppers in counties with higher development levels. These disparities were slightly attenuated for the least healthy foods and did not change for healthier foods after the onset of the COVID crisis. ConclusionDespite existing nutritional disparities among shoppers in counties with different levels of socioeconomic development, we did not observe a large-scale accentuation of inequities in dietary quality during the COVID-19 crisis. This pattern may have resulted from programmatic responses to mitigate the adverse effects of the COVID crisis on vulnerable populations. Future work should further explore the role of such responses.

Nutritional quality of food purchases during the COVID-19 public health crisis: An analysis of geographic disparities in North Carolina

ObjectiveTo examine geographic disparities in the nutritional quality of food purchases during the COVID-19 public health crisis in North Carolina (NC). MethodsUsing shopper-level longitudinal transaction records between October 2019-December 2020 from NC’s largest grocery retailer, we fit mixed-effect models to examine disparities in the nutritional quality of food purchases among shoppers in counties with different levels of socioeconomic development and how such disparities changed after March 2020, accounting for other observed and contextual factors. ResultsShoppers in counties with lower development levels purchased a larger share of calories from least healthy foods and a smaller share from healthier foods compared to shoppers in counties with higher development levels. These disparities were slightly attenuated for the least healthy foods and did not change for healthier foods after the onset of the COVID crisis. ConclusionDespite existing nutritional disparities among shoppers in counties with different levels of socioeconomic development, we did not observe a large-scale accentuation of inequities in dietary quality during the COVID-19 crisis. This pattern may have resulted from programmatic responses to mitigate the adverse effects of the COVID crisis on vulnerable populations. Future work should further explore the role of such responses.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis on the Emergent Surgical Management of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Ruptures

The Impact of the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis on the Emergent Surgical Management of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Ruptures

Now Is the Time to Strengthen Government-Academic Data Infrastructures to Jump-Start Future Public Health Crisis Response.

During public health crises, the significance of rapid data sharing cannot be overstated. In attempts to accelerate COVID-19 pandemic responses, discussions within society and scholarly research have focused on data sharing among health care providers, across government departments at different levels, and on an international scale. A lesser-addressed yet equally important approach to sharing data during the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises involves cross-sector collaboration between government entities and academic researchers. Specifically, this refers to dedicated projects in which a government entity shares public health data with an academic research team for data analysis to receive data insights to inform policy. In this viewpoint, we identify and outline documented data sharing challenges in the context of COVID-19 and other public health crises, as well as broader crisis scenarios encompassing natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies. We then argue that government-academic data collaborations have the potential to alleviate these challenges, which should place them at the forefront of future research attention. In particular, for researchers, data collaborations with government entities should be considered part of the social infrastructure that bolsters their research efforts toward public health crisis response. Looking ahead, we propose a shift from ad hoc, intermittent collaborations to cultivating robust and enduring partnerships. Thus, we need to move beyond viewing government-academic data interactions as 1-time sharing events. Additionally, given the scarcity of scholarly exploration in this domain, we advocate for further investigation into the real-world practices and experiences related to sharing data from government sources with researchers during public health crises.

Pandemic policymaking affecting older adult volunteers during and after the COVID-19 public health crisis in the four nations of the UK

PurposeThis study aims to critically examine the effects of COVID-19 social discourses and policy decisions specifically on older adult volunteers in the UK, comparing the responses and their effects in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, providing perspectives on effects of policy changes designed to reduce risk of infection as a result of COVID-19, specifically on volunteer involvement of and for older adults, and understand, from the perspectives of volunteer managers, how COVID-19 restrictions had impacted older people’s volunteering and situating this within statutory public health policies.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a critical discourse approach to explore, compare and contrast accounts of volunteering of and for older people in policy, and then compare the discourses within policy documents with the discourses in personal accounts of volunteering in health and social care settings in the four nations of the UK. This paper is co-produced in collaboration with co-authors who have direct experience with volunteer involvement responses and their impact on older people.FindingsThe prevailing overall policy approach during the pandemic was that risk of morbidity and mortality to older people was too high to permit them to participate in volunteering activities. Disenfranchising of older people, as exemplified in volunteer involvement, was remarkably uniform across the four nations of the UK. However, the authors find that despite, rather than because of policy changes, older volunteers, as part of, or with the help of, volunteer involving organisations, are taking time to think and to reconsider their involvement and are renewing their volunteer involvement with associated health benefits.Research limitations/implicationsWorking with participants as co-authors helps to ensure the credibility of results in that there was agreement in the themes identified and the conclusions. A limitation of this study lies in the sampling method, as a convenience sample was used and there is only representation from one organisation in each of the four nations.Originality/valueThe paper combines existing knowledge about volunteer involvement of and for older adults.

Why modify or terminate contracts for critical supplies? Evaluating federal purchasing of PPE following COVID-19

Contract managers change contracts to respond to unforeseen events and to improve the likelihood of securing critical supplies. This study employs data from the General Service Administration’s SAM.gov Data Bank on over 8,000 contracts to examine the prevalence, reasons for, and timing of contract modifications and terminations in federal purchasing of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the first year of the COVID-19 public health crisis. Results show that modifications that transform transactional contracts to more collaborative designs were utilized for some of the highest-risk contracts and were associated with increased obligations, indicating that collaborative designs led to more purchasing of PPE. Competitive selection increased the likelihood of termination, the rate at which terminations occurred, and deobligations, indicating that the approach increased the costs of administration without improving the likelihood of securing supplies. A substantial portion of modifications and terminations occurred within the first forty days of delivery, revealing how contract management capacity was needed in the early stages of critical supply acquisition.

Trust Building in Public Health Approaches: The Importance of a "People-Centered" Concept in Crisis Response.

To argue for trust-building as a key solution for responding to public health crises in the face of political ambiguity in international health governance. This perspective piece reviews fundamental concepts and discusses future directions using secondary data from open-access sources. The promise of learning from Covid-19 and previous public health crises, along with the growing recognition of a 'Health For All Policies' approach, clash with siloed preparations, management, and recovery plans for future emergency crises. Trust is proposed as a possible solution to overcome these limitations. It acts as a binding force that unites individuals within the community, fostering a sense of belonging and participation. Trust-building is viewed as a "People-Centered" approach in Crisis Response, aimed at creating active and resilient communities to foster preparation and readiness, respond to emergent risks, facilitate recovery, and mitigate risks. A remaining question is how to measure and identify the dimensions and determinants of trust in specific circumstances. Some ideas are systematized to highlight the pathway to build trust in public health approaches, including transparency, education, robust and equitable health systems, strengthened social capital, stakeholders' engagement, and health workforce training. Trust in public health approaches can be fostered through consistent delivery of quality care, a clear, shared vision, and values underpinned by ethical standards. It requires a commitment to stakeholder well-being, including staff, and the integration of reliability, integrity, and transparency into policies, strategies, and practices. Exemplary leadership, openness in resource utilization, addressing waste or corruption, and effective communication of these principles are essential.

The Same or Worse? Juggling the Private and Professional Lives of Women Journalists during Pandemic Coverage

ABSTRACT Awareness of how journalists report critical events is crucial to acknowledge the media's social consequences. Especially during emergent public health threats such as the covid-19 pandemic, whose impacts extend to professionals’ private lives. Yet, little is known about how journalists’ identities and personal traits influence their reports. This paper focuses on this dimension of newsmaking by inquiring about the interplay between gender and journalism practices during the covid-19 public health crisis. Resorting to semi-structured in-depth interviews with women journalists, it investigates through the lens of gender how the pandemic impacted work conditions and professionals’ lives. Results reveal what the first wave of the pandemic meant to women journalists, what happened when the lockdown officially began, and the consequences of working at home. They also disclose how women journalists handled the changes in their personal and professional lives during the outbreak, helping to acknowledge how gender shapes newsroom activities in exceptional times. Overall, they show, we contend, journalism as an institution that reproduces and creates gender relations.

The Medical Right to Repair: Intellectual Property, the Maker Movement, and COVID-19

This article considers the strengths and limitations of the use of 3D printing and additive manufacturing for the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 public health crisis. It explores the role of the Maker Movement in addressing the shortfall in medical equipment during the public health pandemic. Taking a comparative approach, this article evaluates the responses of both the commercial and amateur sides of the 3D printing community to the COVID-19 public health crisis. In the EU, the Fab Lab Network sought to overcome a breakdown in supply chains. In the US, Dale Dougherty of Make Magazine promoted Plan C, in which volunteers have worked together to produce PPE. In Australia, 3D printing has been used to augment supplies of PPE. In this context, a key issue across jurisdictions has been the tension between intellectual property rights and the right to repair—particularly when 3D printing has been applied to deal with shortages in PPE. Senator Ron Wyden put forward the Critical Medical Infrastructure Right-to-Repair Act of 2020 (US) to try to resolve these tensions. Open licensing has proven to be a helpful mechanism to enable open collaboration and sharing of 3D printing designs for the purposes of health care. Nonetheless, it is argued that there should be stronger recognition of the right to repair—particularly in the context of health-care and medical devices. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted that there needs to be a broader array of intellectual property flexibilities to deal with public health emergencies—including in respect of the right to repair. As such, this article supports a broad vision of a TRIPS Waiver which includes the right to repair. The recognition of a right to repair will help promote the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals and a COVID-19 recovery. The topic of the medical right to repair has larger implications for sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in respect of responsible production and consumption (SDG 12), as well as good health and well-being (SDG 3), innovation (SDG 9), and partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).

Impact of the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis and a Structured COVID Unit on Physician Behaviors in Code Status Ordering.

Purpose: Code status orders are standard practice impacting end-of-life care for individuals. This study reviews the impact of a COVID unit on physician behaviors towards goal-concordant end-of-life care at an urban academic tertiary-care hospital. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of code status ordering on adult inpatients comparing the pre-pandemic period to patients who tested positive, negative and were not tested during the pandemic from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020. Results: We analyzed 59,471 unique patient encounters (n = 35,317 pre-pandemic and n = 24,154 during). 1,631 cases of COVID-19 were seen. The rate of code status orders among all inpatients increased from 22% pre-pandemic to 29% during the pandemic (P < .001). Code status orders increased for both patients who were COVID-negative (32% P < .001) and COVID-positive (65% P < .001). Being in a cohorted COVID unit increased code status ordering by an odds of 4.79 (P < .001). Compared to the pre-pandemic cohort, the COVID-positive cohort is less female (50% to 56% P < .001), more Black (66% to 61% P < .001), more Hispanic (6.5% to 5%) and less white (26% to 30% P < .001). Compared to Black patients, white patients had lower odds (.86) of code status ordering (P < .001). Other race/ethnicity categories were not significant. Conclusions: Code status ordering remains low. Compared to pre-pandemic rates, the frequency of orders placed significantly increased for all patients during the pandemic. The largest increase occurred in patients with COVID-19. This increase likely occurred due to protocols in the COVID unit and disease uncertainty.

Generosity during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of collective narcissism

This study analyzes how a novel psychological factor—collective narcissism—affects giving behavior to national and international charities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that collective narcissists tended to keep more resources for themselves or national charities while giving less to international charities. In line with the group threat theory, this tendency is more pronounced in countries with a high share of foreign population. Our findings suggest that the shared experience of the global COVID-19 public health crisis did not blur the boundaries between ingroups and outgroups for collective narcissists. These results imply that mitigating outgroup hostility associated with collective narcissism is critical to strengthening cross-national solidarity during unprecedented crises. However, more contact with foreign nationals might not reduce the negative impact of collective narcissism.

Impacts of the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis on Caring for Sex-Trafficked Persons

Background Sex trafficking of persons, a pervasive public health issue disproportionately affecting the most marginalized within society, often leads to health as well as social consequences. Social service provision to meet the resulting needs is critical, however, little is known about the current pandemic’s impact on providers’ capacity to deliver requisite care. Method To examine social service providers’ perspectives of care provision for domestically sex-trafficked persons in Ontario, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 providers and analyzed these using Braun and Clarke’s analytic framework. Results Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on social service care provision were connected to individuals’ increased vulnerability to trafficking, difficulties safely and effectively providing services to sex-trafficked persons amid pandemic restrictions, and reduction in in-person educational activities to improve providers’ capacity to serve this client population. Securing safe shelter was particularly difficult and inappropriate placements could at times lead to further trafficking. Conclusion The pandemic created novel barriers to supporting sex-trafficked persons; managing these sometimes led to new and complex issues. Future efforts should focus on developing constructive strategies to support sex-trafficked persons’ unique needs during public health crises.

How to Make Decisions of Gen Z Travelers? Exploring The Influence of Perceived Risk, Online Review, and Price on Travel in Bali

This study aims to examine how to make decisions of Gen Z influence of the current COVID-19 public health crisis on consumer risk perceptions, and what is more significant is how risk perceptions have the potential to influence tourist post-crisis recovery travel behavior. The research sample had 250 respondents. Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials value input from their Gen Z kids. Gen Z is an individual from the most recent generation born between 1995 and early 2012. Multiple linear regression analysis was employed in this quantitative study. The result was: (1) Perceived Risk has no effect on Gen Z Travel Decision which a coefficient value is 0.061 (2) e-WOM Argument Quality (Online Review) has significantly influenced Gen Z Travel Decision which a coefficient value of 0.394 (3) Price has no effect on Gen Z Travel decision which the coefficient value is 0.375. The goal of the growth strategy is to increase sales, assets, earnings, or a combination of the three. This can be done through reducing costs, creating new items, improving the quality of existing products or services, or gaining access to a larger market. That approach may be used in other places that could become popular tourist destinations.

Barriers to Telemedicine Use: Qualitative Analysis of Provider Perspectives During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Though telemedicine is a promising approach for removing barriers to care and improving access for patients, telemedicine use for many medical specialties has decreased from its peak during the acute COVID-19 public health crisis. Understanding the barriers and facilitators to the maintenance of web-based visits-one key component of telemedicine-is critical for ensuring the continuous availability of this service for patients. The purpose of this study is to describe medical providers' perceived barriers and facilitators to the continued use of web-based visits to inform quality improvement efforts and promote sustainability. We performed a qualitative content analysis of free-text responses from a survey of medical providers administered from February 5-14, 2021, at a large, midwestern academic institution, including all providers from medical professions that offered telemedicine (eg, physicians, residents or fellows, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, or nurses) who completed at least 1 web-based visit from March 20, 2020, to February 14, 2021. The primary outcome was the experience of providing web-based visits, including barriers and facilitators to continued usage of web-based visits. Survey questions included 3 major domains: quality of care, technology, and satisfaction. Responses were coded using qualitative content analysis and further analyzed through a matrix analysis to understand the providers' perspectives and elucidate key barriers and facilitators of web-based visit usage. Of 2692 eligible providers, 1040 (38.6%) completed the survey, of whom 702 were providers from medical professions that offered telemedicine. These providers spanned 7 health care professions and 47 clinical departments. The most common professions represented were physicians (486/702, 46.7%), residents or fellows (85/702, 8.2%), and nurse practitioners (81/702, 7.8%), while the most common clinical departments were internal medicine (69/702, 6.6%), psychiatry (69/702, 6.6%), and physical medicine and rehabilitation (67/702, 6.4%). The following 4 overarching categories of provider experience with web-based visits emerged: quality of care, patient rapport, visit flow, and equity. Though many providers saw web-based visits as a tool for improving care access, quality, and equity, others shared how appropriate selection of web-based visits, support (eg, patient training, home devices, and broadband access), and institutional and nationwide optimization (eg, relaxation of licensing requirements across state borders and reimbursement for phone-only modalities) were needed to sustain web-based visits. Our findings demonstrate key barriers to the maintenance of telemedicine services following the acute public health crisis. These findings can help prioritize the most impactful methods of sustaining and expanding telemedicine availability for patients who prefer this method of care delivery.

Immune-Mediated Organ-Specific Reactions to COVID-19 Vaccines: A Retrospective Descriptive Study.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 caused the global COVID-19 pandemic and public health crisis, and it led to the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines, which can cause rare and typically mild hypersensitivity reactions (HRs). Delayed HRs to COVID-19 vaccines have been reported, and the excipients polyethylene glycol (PEG)2000 and polysorbate 80 (P80) are the suspected culprits. Skin patch tests do not help in diagnosing delayed reactions. We aimed to perform lymphocyte transformation tests (LTT) with PEG2000 and P80 in 23 patients with suspected delayed HRs. Neurological reactions (n = 10) and myopericarditis reactions (n = 6) were the most frequent complications. Seventy-eight percent (18/23) of the study patients were admitted to a hospital ward, and the median time to discharge was 5.5 (IQR, 3-8) days. Some 73.9% of the patients returned to baseline condition after 25 (IQR, 3-80) days. LTT was positive in 8/23 patients (5/10 neurological reactions, 2/4 hepatitis reactions and 1/2 rheumatologic reactions). All myopericarditis cases had a negative LTT. These preliminary results indicate that LTT with PEGs and polysorbates is a useful tool for identifying excipients as causal agents in HRs to COVID-19 vaccines and can play an important role in risk stratification in patients with HRs.

Psychometric evaluation of Korean version of COVID-19 fear scale (K-FS-8): A population based cross-sectional study.

COVID-19-related fear negatively affects the public's psychological well-being and health behaviours. Although psychological distress including depression and anxiety under COVID-19 is well-established in literature, research scarcely evaluated the fear of COVID-19 with a large sample using validated scale. This study aimed to validate a Korean version of fear scale(K-FS-8) using an existing fear scale(Breast Cancer Fear Scale; 8 items) and to measure the fear of COVID-19 in South Korea. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 2235 Korean adults from August to September 2020. The Breast Cancer Fear Scale was translated from English into Korean using forward-backward translation, and then face validity was assessed. Patient Health Questionnaire-4 and Primary Care Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Screen for DSM-5 were used for assessing convergent validity of K-FS-8, and item response theory analysis was also conducted to further validate the K-FS-8. This study confirmed the validity and reliability of the K-FS-8. The validity of the scale was confirmed by convergent validity, known-group validity and item response theory analysis, and internal consistency was also examined(Cronbach's α coefficient = 0.92). This study also identified that 84.6% participants had high COVID-19 fear; whilst 26.3%, 23.2% and 13.4% participants had high risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively. The K-FS-8 showed the acceptability measuring the fear of COVID-19 in the Korean population. The K-FS-8 can be applied to screen for fear of COVID-19 and related major public health crises identifying individuals with high levels of fear in primary care settings who will benefit from psychological support.

Financial constraint and perceptions of COVID-19

In early March 2020, two crises emerged: the COVID-19 public health crisis and a corresponding economic crisis resulting from business closures and skyrocketing job losses. While the link between socioeconomic status and infectious disease is well-documented, the psychological relationships among economic considerations, such as financial constraint and economic anxiety, and health considerations, such as perceptions of disease spread and preventative actions, is not well understood. Despite past research illustrating the strong link between financial fragility and a wide range of behaviors, surprisingly little research has examined the psychological relationship between the economic crisis and beliefs and behaviors related to the co-occurring health crisis. We show that financial constraint predicts people’s beliefs about both their personal risk of infection and the national spread of the virus as well as their social distancing behavior. In addition, we compare the predictive utility of financial constraint to two other commonly studied factors: political partisanship and local disease severity. We also show that negative affect partially mediates the relationship between financial constraint and COVID-19 beliefs and social distancing behaviors. These results suggest the economic crisis created by COVID-19 spilled over into people’s beliefs about the health crisis and their behaviors.

State Government Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States 2020-2022: Concordant Heterogeneity?

We investigate governmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on a statewide basis between January 2020 and June 2022, together with mortality rates attributable to COVID-19 over the same period. Our aim is to demarcate the states' responses, and examine whether these differential responses are associated with COVID-19 mortality. Our study is based on individual state data from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, OxCGRT. We focus on the Government Response Index, the most comprehensive index tracked in the OxCGRT dataset. We use multivariate techniques to group the states into clusters relative to their similarities on the Government Response Index, and determine mortality rates attributable to COVID-19 in the individual groups. We find that the Government Response Index was sustained at relatively constant levels in the states, with two major transition periods: a rapid rise in stringency during April through June of 2020, and a gradual decline in May and June of 2021. Heterogeneity in the Government Response Index dramatically increased in 2022. No consistent patterns emerge when relating government stringency measures with COVID-19 mortality rates. There is inconsistent evidence that increased governmental stringency is associated with lower COVID-19 mortality; judicious selection of time frames can lead to contrasting inferences. Political trends and motivations appear to have an outsized influence on governmental responses to the COVID-19 public health crisis, to the detriment of the populace.