Declaration Of COVID-19 Pandemic Research Articles

Trends in police complaints and arrests on New York City subways, 2018 to 2023: an interrupted time-series analysis

BackgroundPublic transportation use is influenced by perceptions of safety. Concerns related to crime on New York City (NYC) transit have risen following NYC’s COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency declaration in 2020, leading to declines in subway ridership. In response, the most recent mayoral administration implemented a Subway Safety Plan in 2022. This study aimed to quantify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Subway Safety Plan on rates of complaints to and arrests by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) Transit Bureau.MethodsUsing publicly available data on complaints and arrests, we conducted interrupted time-series analyses using autoregressive integrated moving average models applied to monthly data for the period from September 2018 to August 2023. We estimated changes in the rates of complaints to and arrests by the NYPD Transit Bureau before and after: (1) the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency declaration (i.e., March 2020), and (2) the announcement of the Subway Safety Plan (i.e., February 2022). We also examined trends by complaint and arrest type as well as changes in proportion of arrests by demographic and geographic groups.ResultsAfter the COVID-19 pandemic declaration, there was an 84% increase (i.e., an absolute increase of 6.07 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 1.42, 10.71) in complaints to the NYPD Transit Bureau, including a 99% increase (0.91 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.42, 1.41) in complaints for assault and a 125% increase in complaints for harassment (0.94 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.29, 1.60). Following the Subway Safety Plan there was an increase in the rate of arrests for harassment (0.004 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.001, 0.007), as well as decreases in the proportion of arrests for individuals racialized as White (− 0.02, CI − 0.04, − 0.01) and proportion of arrests in the borough of Manhattan (− 0.13, CI − 0.17, − 0.09).ConclusionsThe increased rates of complaints to the NYPD Transit Bureau following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic remained elevated following the enactment of the Subway Safety Plan. Further evaluation efforts can help identify effective means of promoting safety on public transportation.

Physical Activity Dependence on Relative Temperature and Humidity Characteristics in a Young, Insufficiently Active Population: A Weather Typing Analysis.

Physical activity (PA) is an important contributor to one's physical and mental health both acutely and across the lifespan. Much research has done on the ambient environment's impact on PA; however, these studies have used absolute values of atmospheric measures such as temperature and humidity, which vary spatiotemporally and make comparisons between studies which differ in location or time of year difficult to square with one another. Here, we employ the Global Weather Type Classification, Version 2, to determine the combined impact of temperature and humidity on PA in a sample of insufficiently active young adults. We conducted secondary analyses of data from a single-group behavioral intervention trial that varied the number of digital messages sent daily. Young adults (n = 81) wore Fitbit Versa smartwatches for a 6-month period sometime between April 2019 and July 2020, and location was tracked using a custom smartphone application. Mixed linear models indicated that, across 8179 person-days, PA was significantly lower on days with humid conditions and significantly higher on warm dry days, though the latter relationship was no longer significant when controlling for timing in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic declaration. Demographic factors did not affect the relationship between weather and PA. Results are a first step in providing additional guidance for encouraging PA in insufficiently active individuals given forecasted daily weather conditions. Future work should examine seasonal variability in the weather type-PA relationship without the influence of a world-altering event influencing results.

The American Political Science Review During the COVID-19 Pandemic

On June 1, 2020, a little more than two months after the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 pandemic declaration, our editorial team assumed the leadership of the American Political Science Review (APSR). Although this confluence of events makes it difficult to isolate the pandemic’s effect on new submissions and review processes, this article describes submission and review patterns in the two and a half years before and after the onset of the pandemic and the editorial transition. It describes our preliminary observations regarding what the patterns suggest about the pandemic’s impact on the APSR.1

Psychosocial Risk Exposure Limits Routine Pediatric Oral Health Care

ObjectivesTo identify social, psychological, and contextual factors that influenced attendance at routine oral health visits in a cohort of 189 preschool children who were followed over a 2-year period. MethodsGeneralized estimating equation was used to examine the association between clinic attendance and the predictors. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were reported in the multiple logistic regression models. The study was conducted in Rochester, NY between February 2016-February 2021. ResultsPrior to the COVID-19 pandemic declaration, the rate of cancelled and no-show appointments was greater for routine clinic visits (20% and 24%, respectively) than for research visits (14% and 9% respectively) for the same participants; these rates increased during the pandemic. After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, the likelihood of a cancelled or no-show appointment was associated with parental depression (OR 1.06 CI 1.03-1.09), regardless of the type or occurrence of the visit. ConclusionsFindings from this study demonstrate that attendance to oral health care in young children is reliably reduced with parental depression and that this may provide one mechanism for early emerging health inequalities of oral health.

Coping self-efficacy and its contributing factors among medical students at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic declaration in 2019 required schools and universities to close, challenging students and their education. The mandatory stay-at-home quarantine rules and change to online education accentuate how mental health plays a crucial role in maintaining performance during challenging times. Coping self-efficacy (CSE) is associated with higher mental health levels and resilience to distress. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate students’ CSE and related factors. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, CSE scores and demographic characteristics of the participants were evaluated through online questionnaires. A total of 364 medical students from Tabriz University Medical Sciences completed the questionnaires and were included in the study. CSE scores of students and their demographic characteristics were obtained, and the analysis was performed using a t-test and one-way ANOVA. Results: Of those included, 37.1% were males and the mean CSE score of the students was 83.75±24.8. Students’ type of residence was found to be significantly related to their CSE scores (P=0.003). Students living with their spouses had the highest CSE scores, while those living with their parents had the lowest CSE scores. The association of CSE scores with gender, marital status, academic year of study, and source of income was not significant. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, students living with their parents had the lowest CSE scores. CSE plays a crucial role in managing distressful events, and our findings may be useful in identifying groups prone to stressful factors and help enhance future educational policies and planning.

Effect of COVID-19 on Emergency Service Trends

Purpose: The aim was to determine the variation in emergency service attendance occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic by assessing the monthly attendance distribution, monthly trends in emergency service attendance, hourly emergency service attendance trends and triage areas of patients attending the emergency service.
 Methods: This retrospective, descriptive research was completed based on records for 608,837 patients attending the emergency service of XX State Hospital from 11.09.2018 to 11.09.2021. Patient data for 18 months until the COVID-19 pandemic declaration on 11.03.2020 and 18 months after the pandemic declaration were assessed with the Joinpoint regression analysis program to analyze attendance. Analyses were completed at P

Examining Disparities in Current E-Cigarette Use among U.S. Adults before and after the WHO Declaration of the COVID-19 Pandemic in March 2020

This paper aims to estimate the prevalence of e-cigarette use before and after the COVID-19 pandemic declaration and to delineate disparities in use across subpopulations. Data were derived from the 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey (N = 3865) to conduct weighted multivariable logistic regression and marginal analyses. The overall prevalence of current e-cigarette use increased from 4.79% to 8.63% after the COVID-19 pandemic declaration. Furthermore, non-Hispanic Black people and Hispanic people had lower odds of current e-cigarette use than non-Hispanic White people, but no significant differences were observed between groups before the pandemic. Compared to heterosexual participants, sexual minority (SM) participants had higher odds of current e-cigarette use after the declaration, with insignificant differences before. People who had cardiovascular disease conditions, relative to those without, had higher odds of current e-cigarette use after the declaration, but no group differences were found before the declaration. The marginal analyses showed that before and after the pandemic declaration, SM individuals had a significantly higher probability of using e-cigarettes compared to heterosexual individuals. These findings suggest the importance of adopting a subpopulation approach to understand and develop initiatives to address substance use, such as e-cigarettes, during pandemics and other public health emergencies.

The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic Policy on Social Needs Across the State of Kansas and Western Missouri: Paired Survey Response Testing.

Studying patients' social needs is critical to the understanding of health conditions and disparities, and to inform strategies for improving health outcomes. Studies have shown that people of color, low-income families, and those with lower educational attainment experience greater hardships related to social needs. The COVID-19 pandemic represents an event that severely impacted people's social needs. This pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, and contributed to food and housing insecurity, while highlighting weaknesses in the health care system surrounding access to care. To combat these issues, legislators implemented unique policies and procedures to help alleviate worsening social needs throughout the pandemic, which had not previously been exerted to this degree. We believe that improvements related to COVID-19 legislature and policy have positively impacted people's social needs in Kansas and Missouri, United States. In particular, Wyandotte County is of interest as it suffers greatly from issues related to social needs that many of these COVID-19-related policies aimed to improve. The research objective of this study was to evaluate the change in social needs before and after the COVID-19 pandemic declaration based on responses to a survey from The University of Kansas Health System (TUKHS). We further aimed to compare the social needs of respondents from Wyandotte County from those of respondents in other counties in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Social needs survey data from 2016 to 2022 were collected from a 12-question patient-administered survey distributed by TUKHS during a patient visit. This provided a longitudinal data set with 248,582 observations, which was narrowed down into a paired-response data set for 50,441 individuals who had provided at least one response before and after March 11, 2020. These data were then bucketed by county into Cass (Missouri), Clay (Missouri), Jackson (Missouri), Johnson (Kansas), Leavenworth (Kansas), Platte (Missouri), Wyandotte (Kansas), and Other counties, creating groupings with at least 1000 responses in each category. A pre-post composite score was calculated for each individual by adding their coded responses (yes=1, no=0) across the 12 questions. The Stuart-Maxwell marginal homogeneity test was used to compare the pre and post composite scores across all counties. Additionally, McNemar tests were performed to compare responses before and after March 11, 2020, for each of the 12 questions across all counties. Finally, McNemar tests were performed for questions 1, 7, 8, 9, and 10 for each of the bucketed counties. Significance was assessed at P<.05 for all tests. The Stuart-Maxwell test for marginal homogeneity was significant (P<.001), indicating that respondents were overall less likely to identify an unmet social need after the COVID-19 pandemic. McNemar tests for individual questions indicated that after the COVID-19 pandemic, respondents across all counties were less likely to identify unmet social needs related to food availability (odds ratio [OR]=0.4073, P<.001), home utilities (OR=0.4538, P<.001), housing (OR=0.7143, P<.001), safety among cohabitants (OR=0.6148, P<.001), safety in their residential location (OR=0.6172, P<.001), child care (OR=0.7410, P<0.01), health care access (OR=0.3895, P<.001), medication adherence (OR=0.5449, P<.001), health care adherence (OR=0.6378, P<.001), and health care literacy (0.8729, P=.02), and were also less likely to request help with these unmet needs (OR=0.7368, P<.001) compared with prepandemic responses. Responses from individual counties were consistent with the overall results for the most part. Notably, no individual county demonstrated a significant reduction in social needs relating to a lack of companionship. Post-COVID-19 responses showed improvement across almost all social needs-related questions, indicating that the federal policy response possibly had a positive impact on social needs across the populations of Kansas and western Missouri. Some counties were impacted more than others and positive outcomes were not limited to urban counties. The availability of resources, safety net services, access to health care, and educational opportunities could play a role in this change. Future research should focus on improving survey response rates from rural counties to increase their sample size, and to evaluate other explanatory variables such as food pantry access, educational status, employment opportunities, and access to community resources. Government policies should be an area of focused research as they may affect the social needs and health of the individuals considered in this analysis.

Early Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 4 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2020

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 2020. The Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network is an active surveillance program that estimates prevalence and characteristics of ASD and monitors timing of ASD identification among children aged 4 and 8 years. In 2020, a total of 11 sites (located in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin) conducted surveillance of ASD among children aged 4 and 8 years and suspected ASD among children aged 4 years. Surveillance included children who lived in the surveillance area at any time during 2020. Children were classified as having ASD if they ever received 1) an ASD diagnostic statement in an evaluation, 2) a special education classification of autism (eligibility), or 3) an ASD International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code (revisions 9 or 10). Children aged 4 years were classified as having suspected ASD if they did not meet the case definition for ASD but had a documented qualified professional's statement indicating a suspicion of ASD. This report focuses on children aged 4 years in 2020 compared with children aged 8 years in 2020. For 2020, ASD prevalence among children aged 4 years varied across sites, from 12.7 per 1,000 children in Utah to 46.4 in California. The overall prevalence was 21.5 and was higher among boys than girls at every site. Compared with non-Hispanic White children, ASD prevalence was 1.8 times as high among Hispanic, 1.6 times as high among non-Hispanic Black, 1.4 times as high among Asian or Pacific Islander, and 1.2 times as high among multiracial children. Among the 58.3% of children aged 4 years with ASD and information on intellectual ability, 48.5% had an IQ score of ≤70 on their most recent IQ test or an examiner's statement of intellectual disability. Among children with a documented developmental evaluation, 78.0% were evaluated by age 36 months. Children aged 4 years had a higher cumulative incidence of ASD diagnosis or eligibility by age 48 months compared with children aged 8 years at all sites; risk ratios ranged from 1.3 in New Jersey and Utah to 2.0 in Tennessee. In the 6 months before the March 2020 COVID-19 pandemic declaration by the World Health Organization, there were 1,593 more evaluations and 1.89 more ASD identifications per 1,000 children aged 4 years than children aged 8 years received 4 years earlier. After the COVID-19 pandemic declaration, this pattern reversed: in the 6 months after pandemic onset, there were 217 fewer evaluations and 0.26 fewer identifications per 1,000 children aged 4 years than children aged 8 years received 4 years earlier. Patterns of evaluation and identification varied among sites, but there was not recovery to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels by the end of 2020 at most sites or overall. For 2020, prevalence of suspected ASD ranged from 0.5 (California) to 10.4 (Arkansas) per 1,000 children aged 4 years, with an increase from 2018 at five sites (Arizona, Arkansas, Maryland, New Jersey, and Utah). Demographic and cognitive characteristics of children aged 4 years with suspected ASD were similar to children aged 4 years with ASD. A wide range of prevalence of ASD by age 4 years was observed, suggesting differences in early ASD identification practices among communities. At all sites, cumulative incidence of ASD by age 48 months among children aged 4 years was higher compared with children aged 8 years in 2020, indicating improvements in early identification of ASD. Higher numbers of evaluations and rates of identification were evident among children aged 4 years until the COVID-19 pandemic onset in 2020. Sustained lower levels of ASD evaluations and identification seen at a majority of sites after the pandemic onset could indicate disruptions in typical practices in evaluations and identification for health service providers and schools through the end of 2020. Sites with more recovery could indicate successful strategies to mitigate service interruption, such as pivoting to telehealth approaches for evaluation. From 2016 through February of 2020, ASD evaluation and identification among the cohort of children aged 4 years was outpacing ASD evaluation and identification 4 years earlier (from 2012 until March 2016) among the cohort of children aged 8 years in 2020 . From 2016 to March 2020, ASD evaluation and identification among the cohort of children aged 4 years was outpacing that among children aged 8 years in 2020 from 2012 until March 2016. The disruptions in evaluation that coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in prevalence of suspected ASD in 2020 could have led to delays in ASD identification and interventions. Communities could evaluate the impact of these disruptions as children in affected cohorts age and consider strategies to mitigate service disruptions caused by future public health emergencies.

Frequency of Screen Time Exposure During COVID-19 Pandemic and its Impact on patients wellbeing in Saudi Arabia: A Questionnaire-Based Study

Background and Aims: Ever since the declaration of COVID-19 pandemic, the usage of digital devices has increased, whether in the educational field, entertainment or for communication and social purposes. In our study, we aim to investigate the influence of digital devices usage in health-related problems during COVID-19 and its correlation to headache. Methods: This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2021 to December 2021at of Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. An electronic self-administered questionnaire distributed via student’s emails to assess the characteristics of headache. Results: 384 students were recruited; the most common age group was 18-21 years old. Most of the students reported increased use of digital devices during the pandemic. Additionally, it revealed that 71% of the students reported experiencing a headache for the last year during lockdown period, and more than half (52.2%) of them reported an increase in the frequency of headaches which usually lasted for hours (71%) with a medium severity (75.4%). The commonest associated headache triggers were loud noises (61%), followed by difficulty concentrating (58.8%). Conclusions: The pandemic had a general negative impact on patients’ health, and an increase in frequency of headaches due to increased exposure to screen time. Several risk factors for these negative results have been distinguished. It is therefore critical to establish long-term strategies to reduce severity and frequency of headache in order to improve the quality of life of patients.

Changes in Poison Center Calls for Intentional Exposure During Public Health Emergencies: COVID-19 and Winter Storm Uri in Dallas County, Texas.

This study aimed to: (1) explore changes in the volume of calls to poison control centers (PCs) for intentional exposures (IEs) in Dallas County, Texas, overall and by gender and age, and (2) examine the association between 2 different public health emergencies (PHEs) and changes in IE call volume. PCs categorize calls they receive by intentionality of the exposure, based on information from the caller. We analyzed data on PC calls categorized as intentional in Dallas County, Texas, from March 2019 - April 2021. This period includes the COVID-19 pandemic declaration (March 2020), a surge in COVID-19 cases (July 2020), and Winter Storm Uri (February 2021). Changes in IE call volume (overall and by age and gender), were explored, and interrupted time series analysis was used to examine call volume changes after PHE onset. The summer surge in COVID-19 cases was associated with 1.9 additional IE calls/day (95% CI 0.7 to 3.1), in the context of a baseline unadjusted mean of 6.2 calls per day (unadjusted) before November 3, 2020. Neither the pandemic declaration nor Winter Storm Uri was significantly associated with changes in call volume. Women, on average, made 1.2 more calls per day compared to men during the study period. IE calls for youth increased after the pandemic declaration, closing the longstanding gap between adults and youth by early 2021. Changes in IE call volume in Dallas County varied by gender and age. Calls increased during the local COVID-19 surge. Population-level behavioral health may be associated with local crisis severity.

Association between COVID-19 pandemic declaration and depression/anxiety among U.S. adults.

Although studies have investigated the impact of the COVID-19 on mental health, few studies have attempted to compare the prevalence of depression/anxiety symptoms among U.S. adults before and after the COVID-19 pandemic declaration. We examined the prevalence and association between depression/anxiety symptoms and COVID-19 pandemic declaration among U.S. adult population and subgroups. A nationally representative cross-sectional study of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 5, Cycle 4) assessing health-related information and behaviors in U.S. adults aged ≥18 years from February through June 2020. The primary dependent variable was current depression/anxiety derived from Patient Health Questionnaire-4. The main independent variable was responses before and after the COVID-19 pandemic declaration in addition to sexual identity heterosexual identity, /race/ethnicity and rural-urban commuting areas. Covariates were sociodemographic factors, and health risk behaviors. Weighted percentages, multivariable logistic regression, and Chi-square tests were used to establish the prevalence and association between current depression/anxiety and the independent variables and covariates. A total of 3,865 participants completed the survey and included 35.3% of the participants before the COVID-19 pandemic declaration. Most of the sample were aged 50-64 years [33.0%]; males [51.0%]; and non-Hispanic Whites [70.1%]). The post-pandemic declaration included participants, aged 35-49 years [27.0%]; females [52.6%]; and non-Hispanic Whites [59.6%]). The prevalence of depression/anxiety was higher after the COVID-19 pandemic declaration (32.2%) than before the declaration (29.9%). Higher risks of depression/anxiety symptoms after the declaration were associated with being a sexual minority ([adjusted odds ratio] AOR, 2.91 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.38-6.14]) and having fair/poor general health (AOR, 2.91 [95% CI, 1.76-4.83]). The probability of experiencing depression/anxiety symptoms after the declaration was highest among homosexuals/lesbians/gays (65.6%) compared to bisexuals (39.6%), and heterosexuals (30.1%). In this study, young adults, non-Hispanic Whites, and those with fair/poor general health had a higher burden of depression/anxiety symptoms after the pandemic declaration. The development of psychological support strategies to promote wellbeing during the pandemic may reduce psychological distress in the population, especially among at-risk populations.

코로나19 전과 후 스테이케이션 만족도 영향 요인: 호캉스 온라인 리뷰를 중심으로

The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference in online reviews of hotels before and after COVID-19. To achieve the research purpose, data were collected and analyzed through engineering skills such as web crawling and text mining. Target data are categorized into two periods based on the COVID-19 pandemic declaration date (March 12, 2020), before COVID-19 (January 1, 2018 -March 11, 2020) and after COVID-19 (March 12, 2020 - June 22, 2022). Online review data were collected from 20 hotels (5-stars level) in Seoul, South Korea. Results from the analysis of review data is summarized as follows: 1) the frequency of keywords, 2) the analysis of semantic network analysis and 3) the sentiment analysis for both positive comments and negative comments both before and after COVID-19 showed that customers are likely to be more sensitive to public facilities and location of hotels for before COVID-19, but they are likely to be more sensitive on the crowded environment at the lobby and waiting time for check-in and check-out. Based on the result, service enhancement strategies for domestic hotels are suggested.

Social media in neurosurgery during COVID-19: an evaluation of the role of Neurosurgery Cocktail platform.

Social media use in neurosurgery remains an understudied phenomenon. Our study aims to examine the global membership and engagement of the prominent Neurosurgery Cocktail Facebook group with over 25,000 neurosurgeons and trainees worldwide, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neurosurgery Cocktail's numbers of members, posts, comments, and reactions were collected from December 2019 to November 2020. Anonymized aggregate data of members' characteristics, including age, sex, and country of origin in November 2020, were also obtained. The most engaging posts in November 2020 were categorized into topics by a majority consensus of 3 reviewers. The average number of members steadily increased from 21,266 in December 2019 to 25,218 in November 2020. In November 2020, 18.8% of members were women, and 71.3% were between 25-44 years old. With members from 100 countries, 77.9% are from low-and middle-income countries, with the highest representation from India, Egypt, and Brazil. After the COVID-19 pandemic declaration, daily engagement peaked in April 2020 with a daily average of 41.63 posts, 336.4 comments, and 1,914.6 reactions before returning to prepandemic levels. Among the 99 top posts in November 2020, the majority (56.5%) were classified as "interesting cases", with "education-related" as the second-most common topic (16.2%). Neurosurgery Cocktail has shown steady growth since its creation. The COVID-19 pandemic was correlated with a spike in activity without lasting impact. The group demonstrates social media's potential for knowledge exchange and promoting organic international collaborations.

Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotics (LAIs) Prescribing Trends during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania.

Long acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) are considered the ideal treatment for schizophrenia, especially for young patients with high rates of non-adherence. In the current COVID-19 pandemic, it has been reported that the administration of LAIs decreased in some areas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the initiation of LAIs. This is a retrospective mirror- image study covering a total period of 24 months: 12 months before and 12 months after the declaration of COVID-19 pandemic on March 11, 2020. During the study period, out of 218 patients admitted with schizophrenia, only 15 (1.3%) received LAIs at discharge. There was a 48.3% reduction in LAIs initiation compared to the pre-pandemic period (29 LAIs initiations in 2019 from 224 admissions). Despite the 27% reduction in the total number of admissions (1500 in 2019 vs. 1100 in 2020), the number of admissions with schizophrenia remained almost the same (224 in 2019 vs. 218 in 2020). COVID-19 pandemic brought an important challenge in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia, especially in the initiation of LAIs. This could have an important impact on the relapse rate in the next period.

Beribadah di Tengah Wabak Covid-19: Analisis Terhadap Fatwa Majelis Ulama Indonesia No 14 Tahun 2020 Berasaskan Teori Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah al-Shāṭibī

The Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) has issued fatwa number 14 of the year 2020 on the Maintenance of Prayer in the Situation of the COVID-19 Outbreak. Issues that were fatwaed such as not holding Friday prayers and replacing with noon prayers, not congregating in mosques, the ban on holding religious activities in public areas with high COVID-19 contagion and so on. Therefore, this article will analyze the fatwa based on the theory of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah al-Shāṭibī. Using the literature review method, this article concludes that the MUI fatwa has resulted in a response to the COVID-19 pandemic declaration that spread to Indonesia as well as provide guidance to the community regarding permission to worship in the COVID-19 epidemic situation. Studies show that the members of the MUI Fatwa Commission take into account the aspect of maslahah in the determination of fatwas. The maslahah refers to the theory of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah al-Shāṭibī, and covers all levels whether the levels of ḍarūriyyah, ḥājiyyah and taḥsīniyyah.

Myocarditis Following COVID-19 Vaccine Use: Can It Play a Role for Conditioning Immunization Schedules?

Myocarditis (MYO) is a relatively uncommon inflammatory disease that involves the heart muscle. It can be a very severe disease as it can lead to the development of acute or chronic heart failure and, in a not marginal number of cases, to death. Most of the cases are diagnosed in healthy people younger than 30 years of age. Moreover, males are affected about twice as much as females. Viruses are among the most common causes of MYO, but how viral infection can lead to MYO development is not precisely defined. After COVID-19 pandemic declaration, incidence rate of MYO has significantly increased worldwide because of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. After the introduction of anti-COVID-19 vaccines, reports of post-immunization MYO have emerged, suggesting that a further cause of MYO together with the SARS-CoV-2 infection could increase the risk of heart damage during pandemic. Main aim of this study is to discuss present knowledge regarding etiopathogenesis and clinical findings of MYO associated with COVID-19 vaccine administration and whether the risk of this adverse events can modify the initially suggested recommendation for the use of COVID-19 vaccines in pediatric age. Literature analysis showed that MYO is an adverse event that can follow the COVID-19 immunization with mRNA vaccines in few persons, particularly young adults, adolescents, and older children. It is generally a mild disease that should not modify the present recommendations for immunization with the authorized COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Despite this, further studies are needed to evaluate presently undefined aspects of MYO development after COVID-19 vaccine administration and reduce the risk of development of this kind of vaccine complication. Together with a better definition of the true incidence of MYO and the exact role of the various factors in conditioning incidence variations, it is essential to establish long-term evolution of acute COVID-19 related MYO.

Impact of COVID-19 Lock-Downs on Nature Connection in Southern and Eastern Africa

The response of African countries immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic declaration was rapid and appropriate, with low infections and mortality rates until June 2020. Severe lock-down measures were effective in Africa; however, the reduction in the amount of natural experience influences the quality of life in modern society. This study is conducted as an international comparative study in five African countries on changes in the perception of health recovery and outdoor activities in urban forests during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted with 430 respondents to investigate the relationships between COVID-19 stress, indoor activity, appreciation of greenspaces, perception of health recovery, and use of greenspaces. A structural equation model was used for analysis. The visit frequency and staying time in urban forests after lock-down dramatically decreased, raising concerns about nature-deficit disorder across the target countries after the end of the pandemic. This study confirmed urban dwellers’ desire for natural experiences and health recovery during the pandemic and predicts an explosive increase in urban forest utilization after the pandemic has ended.

Trends in facility-level rates of Clostridioides difficile infections in US hospitals, 2019-2020.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic caused substantial changes to healthcare delivery and antibiotic prescribing beginning in March 2020. To assess pandemic impact on Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) rates, we described patients and trends in facility-level incidence, testing rates, and percent positivity during 2019-2020 in a large cohort of US hospitals. We estimated and compared rates of community-onset CDI (CO-CDI) per 10,000 discharges, hospital-onset CDI (HO-CDI) per 10,000 patient days, and C. difficile testing rates per 10,000 discharges in 2019 and 2020. We calculated percent positivity as the number of inpatients diagnosed with CDI over the total number of discharges with a test for C. difficile. We used an interrupted time series (ITS) design with negative binomial and logistic regression models to describe level and trend changes in rates and percent positivity before and after March 2020. In pairwise comparisons, overall CO-CDI rates decreased from 20.0 to 15.8 between 2019 and 2020 (P < .0001). HO-CDI rates did not change. Using ITS, we detected decreasing monthly trends in CO-CDI (-1% per month, P = .0036) and HO-CDI incidence (-1% per month, P < .0001) during the baseline period, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic declaration. We detected no change in monthly trends for CO-CDI or HO-CDI incidence or percent positivity after March 2020 compared with the baseline period. While there was a slight downward trajectory in CDI trends prior to March 2020, no significant change in CDI trends occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic despite changes in infection control practices, antibiotic use, and healthcare delivery.

On the stylized facts of precious metals’ volatility: A comparative analysis of pre- and during COVID-19 crisis

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the stylized facts associated with the volatility of precious metals before and during the COVID-19 pandemic using GARCH-type models. In particular, we employ an ARMA-GARCH, ARMA-EGARCH and ARMA-FIGARCH framework to account for volatility clustering, asymmetry and long memory in the volatility of gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Based on structural breaks, we divide the whole sample into sub-samples and find that the breakpoints occurred after the declaration of COVID-19 pandemic. Our results show a very distinct behaviour in the memory of the four metals before and during the crisis. While there is a moderate persistence in the full sample and in the pre-COVID-19 sub-period for the four metals, this effect vanishes after the crisis outburst. Positive asymmetric effects are also found in gold and silver volatilities, which intensify during COVID-19 phase. We ascribe this phenomenon to the hedge/safe-haven properties of these metals. By contrast, a diverse pattern is observed in the palladium and platinum volatilities, which display negative asymmetries before the pandemic, in tandem of financial markets. After the crisis, these metals show mixed evidence. Moreover, we argue that COVID-19 significantly affects the volatility of precious metals.