COVID-19 Epidemic Research Articles

Mothering in double crisis: pandemic parenting while homeless

ABSTRACT The global COVID-19 pandemic had widespread effects on children and families. It also presented a ‘double crisis’ for many parents, disproportionately women of colour, who were mothering through a pandemic while also navigating housing instability. In this study, we provide initial evidence on mothering in the context of homelessness and COVID-19. We draw on 19 semi-structured interviews with U.S. parents experiencing homelessness and garner insights from feminist motherhood theories, to examine mothering during double crisis. We find that homelessness and COVID-19 had both independent and synergistic effects on mothering. Parents mothered through the COVID-19 crisis while homeless with unease, fear, and anxiety; multiple layers of loss; and critique and pressure from schools, service providers, and others. Importantly, they also drew on internal and external sources of strength and engaged in creative coping strategies and acts of resistance in the face of unjust structural barriers. At times, however, parents internalized stereotypes and deficit views in ways that led to increased stigma and parental burden – as well as the underutilization of crucial services and supports. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.

Exploring Corporate Reputation Factors Through Cluster and Sentiment Analysis of CEO Letters

Corporate reputation is one of the most valuable assets a company must maintain to remain in business, and it becomes even more critical during crises such as COVID-19, which pose a severe threat not only to employees, customers, and the general public but also to the company’s fundamental survival. The purpose of this study is to identify themes affecting corporate reputation and assess how leading companies responded to the COVID-19 crisis. This study targeted the top 100 (RQ score higher than 50) companies according to the 23rd Annual Reputation Quotient from Axios-Harries Poll 100 RQ report. Employing cluster and sentiment analysis, the study explores CEO letters to understand how they emphasize reputation factors and employ impression management tactics. Findings of our study illustrate nuanced reactions and attitudes of CEOs toward issues presented by COVID-19, shed light on the intricacies of reputation management during times of crisis.

Using LLMs to Infer Non-Binary COVID-19 Sentiments of Chinese Microbloggers.

Studying public sentiment during crises is crucial for understanding how opinions and sentiments shift, resulting in polarized societies. We study Weibo, the most popular microblogging site in China, using posts made during the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis. The study period includes the pre-COVID-19 stage, the outbreak stage, and the early stage of epidemic prevention. We use Llama 3 8B, a large language model, to analyze users' sentiments on the platform by classifying them into positive, negative, sarcastic, and neutral categories. Analyzing sentiment shifts on Weibo provides insights into how social events and government actions influence public opinion. This study contributes to understanding the dynamics of social sentiments during health crises, fulfilling a gap in sentiment analysis for Chinese platforms. By examining these dynamics, we aim to offer valuable perspectives on digital communication's role in shaping society's responses during unprecedented global challenges.

Funding liquidity risk and banks’ risk-taking behavior: the role of the COVID-19 crisis and bank size

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of funding liquidity on bank risk-taking, in the context of developing countries. While high liquidity (low liquidity risk) as measured by ratio of total deposits to total assets may improve bank stability, other strand of literature shows that low liquidity risk may increase bank risk-taking (as measured by Z-score) and lowering bank stability. This study also aims to investigate the moderating influence of the COVID-19 crisis and bank size on the relationship between funding liquidity and bank risk-taking. Design/methodology/approach The authors collect annual bank-level data from 86 commercial banks in Indonesia from 2014 to 2021, comprising 686 bank-year observations, on return on assets (ROA), equity-to-assets ratio, ROA standard deviation (to calculate Z-score, a proxy for bank risk-taking), ratio of total deposits to total assets (as a proxy for liquidity risk), bank size, bank equity, ratio of operating expenses to income, asset growth, ratio of cash to total assets and COVID-19 period. The authors collect data on gross domestic product growth and inflation. The authors perform system generalized method of moments to investigate the effect of liquidity risk on bank risk-taking, incorporating control variables. Findings The authors find negative impacts of funding liquidity on the Z-score. Lower liquidity risk tends to increase moral hazard and bank risk-taking. The authors also find that COVID-19 period increases the negative impact of liquidity on bank risk-taking. Thus, banks engage in higher bank risk-taking in COVID-19 period than in non-COVID-19 period. Bank size lower the negative impact of liquidity on bank risk-taking. Thus, larger banks tend to engage in less bank risk-taking than small banks when they face high liquidity (lower liquidity risk). Research limitations/implications The results support the notion that liquidity risk has a negative impact on bank risk-taking, thus confirming a potential seed for bank instability. The COVID-19 period, which is characterized by liquidity abundance, tends to increase bank risk-taking when the banks face low liquidity risks. Size tends to lower bank risk-taking in the context of liquidity risk. Small sample size becomes the limitation of this study. Practical implications Bank regulatory oversight is imperative all times. Even in a seemingly low-risk situation (high liquidity funding), bank stability may be threatened. The COVID-19 period, which is characterized by liquidity abundance, tends to increase bank risk-taking in the context of liquidity risk. Regulators should monitor small banks more closely because small banks tend to exhibit higher risk-taking in the context of liquidity risk. Originality/value The authors investigate the impact of liquidity risk on bank risk-taking, taking COVID-19 period and size as moderating variables. COVID-19 period is characterized by abundant liquidity. However, banks tend to restrict their activities because the risks increase during crisis period.

Seasonal forcing and waning immunity drive the sub-annual periodicity of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Seasonal trends in infectious diseases are shaped by climatic and social factors, with many respiratory viruses peaking in winter. However, the seasonality of COVID-19 remains in dispute, with significant waves of cases across the United States occurring in both winter and summer. Using wavelet analysis of COVID-19 cases, we find that the periodicity of epidemic COVID-19 varies markedly across the U.S. and correlates with winter temperatures, indicating seasonal forcing. However, the pattern of multiple waves per year that has been so disruptive and unique to COVID-19 cannot be explained by seasonal forcing. Using a modified SIRS model that allows specification of the tempo of waning immunity, we show that specific forms of non-durable immunity can sufficiently explain the sub-annual waves characteristic of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The flip side of digital technologies in internal party elections: a cybersecurity dilemma?

The digitalization of party organizations has garnered increasing scholarly attention in recent years. This study examines an underexplored area: how individuals working for political parties perceive the cybersecurity threats associated with using digital technologies for intra-party voting procedures. Drawing on survey data collected online in 2021 from three European democracies (Belgium, Italy, and Spain), our analysis reveals that cybersecurity concerns are more pronounced among party actors who (1) are non-elected staffers born before the 1980s, (2) had negative experiences with digital technologies during the COVID-19 crisis, or (3) work for right-wing parties. Our findings highlight the need to avoid technological determinism and call for a more systematic study of cybersecurity challenges in the context of party digitalization.

Explaining the mass protests in Belarus in 2020: What role did civil society play?

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the mass protests in Belarus following the presidential elections there in August 2020. We argue that CSOs which had existed under Lukashenka's authoritarian regime before 2020 and focused on a largely non-political agenda played a more limited role in these protests. We examine the grassroots CSOs which sprang up in the country in response to the COVID crisis in the spring of 2020 and in the run-up to the presidential elections that summer and gave those who joined them crucial experience of organizing and networking. We explore the role of informal community initiatives which formed once the protests had started and helped to sustain them afterwards. Using data from interviews with exiled Belarusians in three countries in 2023, we find that this wide variety of CSOs had an important but mixed impact in terms of mobilizing opposition to Lukashenka's regime during the main protest period, with many expressing explicit political goals and becoming indistinguishable from the wider protest movement, while others continued with “business as usual.” After severe state repression began in late 2020, many organizations were forced into exile abroad where they have attempted to build capacity ever since.

Challenges to energy policy in the context of the Russian–Ukrainian conflict. An overview of the case of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey

ABSTRACT Energy policy has been strongly affected by a mix of challenges – starting with the Paris Agreement and the ambitious objectives of the European Green Deal, following with the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis, and ending with the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Geopolitical developments, climate change and an increasing global energy demand create a challenge that requires a paradigm shift in the energy sector and the adaptation of energy systems and relationships. This work aims to analyse the energy policies of the states of the Black Sea area – Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey – and the structural changes generated by the war in Ukraine in this field. A quantitative and qualitative research strategy was used. The results of the empirical research show that conflict in Ukraine generated effects on the energy policy of the analysed states determining a reframing of its energy policy through diversification of sources, supply routes, the search for new forms of cooperation in the field and investments in renewable energy.

A Study on the Influence of Intellectual Capital on Firm Performance Before and During the COVID-19 Crisis: Evidence from the High and Medium–High Technology Manufacturing Sectors in Portugal

A Study on the Influence of Intellectual Capital on Firm Performance Before and During the COVID-19 Crisis: Evidence from the High and Medium–High Technology Manufacturing Sectors in Portugal

Do Islamic and socially responsible stocks act as a safe refuge for the US stock market?

ABSTRACT Our work aims to compare and specify the role that Islamic and socially responsible stocks can play in times of stock market crises. For crises, we extend our study to the four crises that have occurred since 2008: the global financial crisis, the European Sovereign crisis, the COVID-19 crisis, and the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. In this paper, we study the dynamics of the correlation between Islamic stock returns, socially responsible stocks, and US stock returns for the period 2008–2022. We adopt the DCC-GARCH model to determine the best strategy to hedge a portfolio against the risk of adverse price movements in the US stock market. Our main results demonstrate the important diversifying role of Islamic and socially responsible indices for conventional US stocks and reject the role of safe haven and hedge, respectively, in times of crisis and stability.

Navigating Equitable Access to Cancer and Mental Health Services During Pandemics: Stakeholder Perspectives on COVID-19 Challenges and Community-Based Solutions for Immigrants and Refugees—Proceedings from Think Tank Sessions

Background: Increasing evidence shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted certain populations, particularly those facing structural marginalization, such as immigrants and refugees. Additionally, research highlights that structurally marginalized populations living with chronic conditions, such as cancer and/or mental health and addiction (MH&A) disorders, are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of COVID-19. These individuals face higher susceptibility to infection and worse health outcomes, including increased rates of hospitalization, severe illness, and death. To better understand the challenges faced by people living at the intersection of social and clinical disadvantages, we organized a series of Think Tank sessions to engage stakeholders in exploring barriers and identifying community-based solutions for immigrants and refugees living with cancer and/or MH&A disorders during the current and future pandemics. Objectives: Our main objectives were to gauge how earlier findings resonated with stakeholders, to identify any gaps in the work, and to co-develop actionable solutions to safeguard health and well-being during COVID-19 and future crises. Methods: Two virtual Think Tank sessions were held in September 2023 as integrative knowledge exchange forums. The Cancer Think Tank was attended by 40 participants, while the MH&A disorders Think Tank included 41 participants. Each group comprised immigrants and refugees living with or affected by cancer (in the Cancer Think Tank) or MH&A disorders (in the MH&A disorders Think Tank), alongside service providers, policymakers, and researchers from Ontario. This paper presents the key discussions and outcomes of these sessions. Results: Participants identified and prioritized actionable strategies during the Think Tank sessions. In the Cancer Think Tank, participants emphasized the importance of leveraging foreign-trained healthcare providers to address workforce shortages, creating clinical health ambassadors to bridge gaps in care, and connecting immigrants with healthcare providers immediately upon their arrival in Canada. In the MH&A disorders Think Tank, participants highlighted the need to remove silos by fostering intersectoral collaboration, empowering communities and building capacity to support mental health, and moving away from one-size-fits-all approaches to develop tailored interventions that better address diverse needs. Conclusions: The Think Tank sessions enhanced our understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted immigrants and refugees living with cancer and/or MH&A disorders. The insights gained informed a series of actionable recommendations to address the unique needs of these populations during the current pandemic and in future public health crises.

Trends and evolution in Islamic social finance research: A comprehensive bibliometric study

Purpose – This study provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of Islamic social finance literature using VOSviewer analysis to identify key themes, trends, and emerging areas in this field.Methodology – A bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer to map and visualize key concepts and emerging topics in the Islamic social finance literature. The analysis focuses on the term "Islamic social finance’."Findings – The analysis confirms the foundational role of traditional concepts, such as "Islamic social finance, " in the literature and identifies emerging themes, such as the impact of Covid-19 and economic crises. These findings highlight the evolution of literature and its adaptation to contemporary global challenges.Implications – This study underscores the need to explore how established concepts in Islamic social finance can be applied to address modern socioeconomic issues. The identification of emerging themes suggests potential areas for future research, particularly regarding how Islamic social finance can contribute to solving global challenges. For practitioners, the insights gained can serve as a guide for the development of Islamic financial products that are context-sensitive and align with both traditional principles and contemporary needs.Originality – This study makes a unique contribution by using bibliometric analysis to map the evolving landscape of Islamic social finance research, highlighting both established and emerging areas of interest. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for future research and practical application in this field.

Critical care nurses role and scope of practice during a global crisis: a qualitative study

BackgroundCritical care nurses (CCNs) role and scope of practice include advanced nursing care for acute and critically ill patients and patients significant others. Before the pandemic, it was well-known that there was a shortage of nurses globally and a need to invest in greater self-sufficiency of nurses. The borders closed at the start of the pandemic in Norway and intensive care units were challenged with increased numbers of seriously ill patients and a shortage of CCNs. This study aimed to explore how CCNs experienced their role and scope of practice during the COVID-19 crisis in Norway.MethodsThe study had a descriptive explorative design. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen CCNs working in five intensive care units from four hospitals during the pandemic in Norway. The interviews were analysed using Braun and Clarkes six-phase approach to thematic analysis.ResultsThe CCNs described their role and scope of clinical practice with promoting safe critical care nursing, competence in critical care nursing and their moral responsibility during the COVID-19 crisis in Norway. Promoting safe critical care nursing was challenged with. Competence in critical care nursing was useful in caring for patients with COVID-19 and in collaboration with less experienced and allocated healthcare professionals. The moral responsibility of a CCN is to contribute during a national crisis and to promote a patient and family-centred environment.ConclusionsThis study aimed to explore critical care nurses` experience of their role and scope of practice when caring for patients with COVID-19 during the pandemic in Norway. The findings revealed a need to acknowledge the unique broad competence and moral responsibility of CCNs in caring for ICU patients when an unknown virus led to the lockdown of a country such as Norway. Moreover, the CCNs` role and scope of a wide variety of responsibilities needs to be addressed, and their strong sense of duty needs attention and support. A sustainable qualified critical care workforce should be established and supported to prepare for future global crises.

Exercising Teacher Agency for Inclusion in Challenging Times: A Multiple Case Study in Chilean Schools

Teacher agency has been recognised as a relevant concept for understanding the role of teachers in the current uncertain and changing contexts. However, its study about inclusive education is recent, especially in the Global South. This study analysed how teachers exercised agency for inclusive education during the COVID-19 crisis and the conditions that enabled or inhibited agency. This article explores Chilean schools, where neoliberal policies particularly challenge teachers’ agency. A multiple case study was conducted based on mixed methods. Online questionnaires were carried out with 154 teachers from 5 schools. In addition, five teachers from each school participated in in-depth group interviews. The findings show how teachers promoted students’ learning and participation in response to the challenges of the pandemic. Teachers mobilised resources to adapt to the context of uncertainty and supported one another. Among the influential factors, education policy constraints and control were reduced during the pandemic, thus creating opportunities to achieve agency for inclusion across the schools. At the same time, leadership, collaboration, and vision influenced agency differently in each school. While not aiming for major transformations, this study shows how teachers develop initiatives to adapt their practices and contribute to building inclusive schools despite contextual constraints.

Sustainability-Oriented Equity Crowdfunding: The Role of Proponents, Investors, and Sustainable Development

This study investigates the factors influencing the success of sustainability-oriented equity crowdfunding campaigns by analyzing a dataset of 771 campaigns from Italian platforms between 2014 and 2021. The findings indicate that while projects with a sustainability focus tend to achieve better outcomes, their success is contingent on variables such as the economic sector of the proposing company and investor concerns regarding misleading claims about environmental, social, and governance practices. Notably, professional investors play a critical role in early-stage financing, initiating information cascades that drive broader investor participation. Furthermore, the COVID-19 crisis appears to have heightened investor interest in sustainability, further solidifying equity crowdfunding as a viable financing tool for ventures with environmental and social objectives. By identifying the key factors that drive the success of sustainability-oriented campaigns, this study offers valuable insights for entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers seeking to enhance the role of alternative finance in promoting sustainable innovation.

Digital Organizing

During the Covid-19 pandemic, most institution-based community organizations in the US moved to digital tools for their primary organizing work. The pandemic exacerbated inequality, making the work of these organizations even more urgent. Our specific focus for this paper is to look at one network of institution-based community organizations in the U.S. to examine the learning and adapting to digital organizing that was required of leaders and organizers during the pandemic. The Covid-19 crisis offered challenges to traditional face-to-face organizing methods. Drawing from our interviews, we invoke the notion of pivoting to explore the shift in organizing practice. We relate it to the common practice of organizing, disorganizing, and reorganizing and explore their use in the context of the pandemic (Gecan 2003; Han, McKenna, and Oyakawa 2021). We show how leaders adapted traditional organizing tools to the use of digital organizing during the pandemic, and some ways that these tools might continue to be used.

The impact of the global shocks on extreme poverty

The recent release by the Italian National Statistical Institute (Istat) of the update of the methodology to estimate absolute poverty in Italy (Istat, 2023) represents an important opportunity to get a snapshot of the international context and of the fight against poverty in the world. This paper focusses on the global shocks that have characterized the last four years (2020-2023) and that have brought a worsening of the international scenario which has undermined the progress achieved. In 2020 the nearly constant decline, occurred in the last three decades, in the number of people living in extreme poverty – defined as those living on less than $2.15 per capita per day at purchasing power parity in 2017 – stopped and this number resumed increasing (reaching 757 million from about 683). The paper, after the introduction, sketches an analysis of the evolution of extreme poverty in the last 30 years, in the different geographical areas of the world. Then, in the third paragraph, the situation in the recent years of the 28 poorest countries and specifically of those belonging to Sub-Saharan Africa is discussed highlighting the inhomogeneity of the impact of COVID-19 crisis and the growing difficulties of this area. The moving away of the United Nations objective of eradicating extreme poverty (reducing the poverty rate to 3% in the World Bank formulation) by 2030 is dealt with in the final paragraph.

COVID-19 Pandemic's Impact on HIV and AIDS Case Reporting in Peru: A Time Series Analysis of Surveillance Data (1983-2023).

The COVID-19 pandemic substantially disrupted healthcare services worldwide, and its impact on the identification and reporting of HIV and AIDS cases has become a critical concern. This study evaluated the effects of the pandemic on HIV/AIDS surveillance in Peru through a natural experiment using interrupted time series analysis of national surveillance data. Analysis of trends from 1985 to 2023 for HIV and from 1983 to 2023 for AIDS revealed consistent pre-pandemic increases, with an average annual growth of 27.02% for HIV cases and 20.48% for AIDS cases. However, the onset of the pandemic in 2020 was associated with significant immediate declines, with reductions of 1,609.86 HIV cases (95% CI: -3,147.26 to - 72.46) and 1,187.68 AIDS cases (95% CI: -1,560.10 to - 815.26). Furthermore, comparisons against ARIMA forecasts (HIV accuracy = 84.80%, AIDS accuracy = 85.45%) indicated substantial underreporting during the 2020-2023 period-estimated at 15.77% for HIV and 29.03% for AIDS cases. These results underscore the adverse effect of the COVID-19 crisis on ongoing HIV/AIDS case detection and reporting in Peru. They also highlight the urgent need for robust strategies-such as expanding telemedicine, enhancing self-testing, and reinforcing community-based interventions-to ensure continuous access to diagnosis and treatment during public health emergencies.

Resilience and adaptability strategies of Moroccan companies amid the COVID-19 crisis: A K-means clustering analysis

This study examines the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on Moroccan companies by employing the K-means clustering algorithm to classify them based on their performance. Owing to its efficiency, this algorithm excels in segmenting complex datasets, making it an ideal tool for clustering companies according to their size, sales volume, resilience, and adaptability to new economic realities. The literature indicates that sustainable governance practices are crucial in fostering resilience during crises. In this context, the study adopts a methodology that combines the K-means algorithm with data normalization techniques, which facilitate the creation of homogeneous groups of companies. The results reveal distinct clusters with varying sales performance and strategic orientations. On the one hand, high-performing companies tend to embrace digitization and diversification strategies, thereby reinforcing their resilience. On the other hand, clusters with weaker performance exhibit limited adoption of such measures, opting instead for approaches such as reducing working hours. These insights highlight the importance of adopting digital transformation and innovation as pivotal strategies to increase competitiveness. Ultimately, the study offers actionable recommendations to strengthen corporate governance and resilience, particularly in times of crisis.

Multilevel Factors Influencing Food Purchasing Decisions Among Families With Low Incomes During the COVID-19 Crisis: A Qualitative Study.

The COVID-19 crisis caused large-scale changes to the US food landscape, including food availability and prices, shopping practices, and food assistance programs. Understanding how these changes converged to influence food choices among families is critical for program and policy design to support children's healthy development. To explore food purchasing and feeding practices among low-income caregivers of young children during the COVID-19 crisis and economic recovery, including changes in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and neighborhood characteristics. This qualitative research conducted focus groups via videoconference with caregivers of young children with low incomes. Focus groups were stratified by WIC participation and language (English/Spanish). Eligible participants were adult primary caregivers of a child younger than age 5 years who is a primary care patient at 1 of 2 participating pediatric health care systems, residents of Pennsylvania, fluent in English or Spanish, and were WIC eligible. Nine focus groups were held (7 English and 2 Spanish; N= 51 participants) during April to July2023. Focus group transcripts were analyzed with a combination of a priori and inductive codes, guided by grounded theory, resulting in a consensus-created coding scheme applied by 2 coders. Three major themes developed: the COVID-19 crisis exacerbated existing food purchasing challenges and added new challenges; neighborhoods, shaped by structural barriers, do not adequately meet families' food needs; and administrative burdens continue to inhibit WIC use, although pandemic-related changes to WIC were beneficial. Complex interactions between the food system, federal assistance program participation, and individual needs add burden to families struggling to make food purchasing choices. Results support the development of solutions to preserve families' agency to enact their beliefs and needs around healthy eating while accessing food assistance programs and managing the lasting economic impacts of the pandemic.