Early Stages Of COVID-19 Research Articles

Reasoning COVID-19: the use of spatial metaphor in times of a crisis

As other crises before, the COVID-19 pandemic put established discursive routines at stake. By framing the pandemic as a crisis, an immediate search for adequate counter-measures started to define proper means of mitigation and protection for the population. In the early stages of COVID-19, when little reliable information on the virus and its transmission behaviour was available, an intense use of metaphor to explain and govern the crisis had to be expected. Beside its well-known impact on (geo-)politics, a thorough analysis especially of the use of spatial metaphors to reason about the crises is still missing. In our approach, we rely on the foundational work of Lakoff and Johnson (1980) on image schemata, and prior work on spatial metaphors as part of argumentation patterns from cultural geography (Schlottmann, 2008). After a thorough analysis of prominent examples according to the argumentation scheme of Toulmin (1976 [1958]), we explored examples from the pre-existing corpus on COVID-19, deliberately compiled by DWDS for analysis of language patterns used throughout the pandemic. In a subsequent filter-refinement approach building on methods from cognitive linguistics and utilising a chunk of the same corpus, we were able to obtain and discuss results on the variety of spatial metaphors used at that time.

Current Opinion on the Therapeutic Capacity of Taurine-Containing Halogen Derivatives in Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases.

Taurine haloamines, N-chlorotaurine (NCT, TauCl), and N-bromotaurine (NBT, TauBr) are formed by a reaction between taurine and hypohalous acids, HOCl and HOBr, respectively. The major source of endogenous taurine haloamines is neutrophils. Both NCT and NBT share strong anti-inflammatory and microbicidal activities supported by an absence of microbial resistance. In the light of these properties, a number of clinical studies have been performed to document their effectiveness in treatment of bacterial, fungal, and viral infections. The administration of NCT and NBT has been limited to topical application, as they are decomposed upon systemic delivery. This review summarizes current knowledge concerning the therapeutic use of NCT and NBT mainly in various skin disorders such as non-healing wounds, acne vulgaris, herpes zoster, and psoriasis. Moreover, the beneficial effect of NCT inhalation in early stages of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory infections is discussed. And finally, we would like to suggest that NCT might be used to inhibit the development of the cytokine storm through its capacity to suppress the production of IL-6.

Depicting the Emotion Flow: Super-Spreaders of Emotional Messages on Weibo During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study collected 2 million posts and reposts regarding the early stage of COVID-19 in China on Weibo from 26 December 2019 to 29 February 2020. Emotion analysis and social network analysis were used to examine the flow of emotional messages (emotion flow) by comparing them with the flow of general messages (information flow). Results indicated that both emotional messages and general messages present a multilayer diffusion pattern and follow network step flow models. In our dataset, emotion network has a higher transmission efficiency than information network; officially verified accounts were more likely to become super-spreaders of emotional messages; good emotions were predominant but isolated from other six emotions (joy, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise, anger) in online discussions; finally, government played a vital role in spreading good emotions.

Therapeutic Repurposing of Antiviral Drugs Available for COVID-19 Therapy: A Mini Review

The impact of repurposing drugs that now in vitro inhibit significant chronic respiratory illness corona virus type 2 was indeed underestimated or ignored during the early phases of the COVID-19 virus. Recent clinical data, however, suggest that remdesivir and favipiravir may hasten to heal, but lopinavir/ritonavir had minimal impact on very ill patients. The interferon appears to be the primary impact of triple therapy with ribavirin, lopinavir and interferon-1b. The role of hydroxychloroquine, marketed as Plaquenil® or chloroquine, marketed as Aralen®, in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 is presently unknown due to the small sample size research. Anti-cytokine drugs may not benefit persons with mild disease or severe illness. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is commonly used for COVID-19 patients in China and has antiviral and immunomodulatory effects on SARS-CoV-2. This review outlines existing COVID-19 therapeutic options and advocates for clinical trials for children, persons with mild disease and those in the early stages of COVID-19.

The Relationship between Government Information Supply and Public Information Demand in the Early Stage of COVID-19 in China-An Empirical Analysis.

Accurate and effective government communication is essential for public health emergencies. To optimize the effectiveness of government crisis communication, this paper puts forward an analytical perspective of supply–demand matching based on the interaction between the government and the public. We investigate the stage characteristics and the topic evolutions of both government information supply and public information demand through combined statistical analysis, text mining, text coding and cluster analysis, using empirical data from the National Health Commission’s WeChat in China. A quantitative measure reflecting the public demand for government information supply is proposed. Result indicates that the government has provided a large amount of high-intensity epidemic-related information, with six major topics being the medical team, government actions, scientific protection knowledge, epidemic situation, high-level deployment and global cooperation. The public’s greatest information needs present different characteristics at different stages, with “scientific protection knowledge”, “government actions” and “medical teams” being the most needed in the outbreak stage, the control stage and the stable stage, respectively. The subject of oversupply is “medical team”, and the subject of short supply is “epidemic dynamics” and “science knowledge”. This paper provides important theoretical and practical value for improving the effectiveness of government communication in public health crises.

Elevated TAT in COVID-19 Patients with Normal D-Dimer as a Predictor of Severe Respiratory Failure: A Retrospective Analysis of 797 Patients.

Although previous studies have revealed that elevated D-dimer in the early stage of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) indicates pulmonary intravascular coagulation, the state of coagulation/fibrinolysis disorder with normal D-dimer is unknown. The study aimed to investigate how coagulation/fibrinolysis markers affect severe respiratory failure in the early stage of COVID-19. Among 1043 patients with COVID-19, 797 patients were included in our single-center retrospective study. These 797 patients were divided into two groups, the normal D-dimer and elevated D-dimer groups and analyzed for each group. A logistic regression model was fitted for age, sex, body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2, fibrinogen ≥ 617 mg/dL, thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT) ≥ 4.0 ng/mL, and plasmin-alpha2-plasmin inhibitor-complex (PIC) > 0.8 µg/mL. A multivariate analysis of the normal D-dimer group demonstrated that being male and TAT ≥ 4.0 ng/mL significantly affected severe respiratory failure. In a multivariate analysis of the elevated D-dimer group, BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 and fibrinogen ≥ 617 mg/dL significantly affected severe respiratory failure. The elevated PIC did not affect severe respiratory failure in any group. Our study demonstrated that hypercoagulation due to SARS-CoV-2 infection may occur even during a normal D-dimer level, causing severe respiratory failure in COVID-19.

RESPIRATORY PARAMETERS OF COVID-19 PATIENTS AFTER THE PRONE POSITION

<p>Hypoxemia is a condition when there is a lack of oxygen levels in the blood, especially from the arteries. In the early stages of COVID-19, several mechanisms such as intrapulmonary shunting, loss of pulmonary perfusion regulation, intravascular micro thrombus, and impaired diffusion capacity can contribute to the development of arterial hypoxemia, although there is no increase in respiratory work. The prone position is one of the most widely used therapies for patients with hypoxemia because the dorsal area has a large number of alveolar units that are not compressed by the weight of the abdominal cavity and mediastinum, thus creating a more efficient area for gas exchange. This study aimed to determine the effect of the prone position on changes in respiratory parameters of COVID-19 patients. This study used the descriptive correlation method on 27 respondents with purposive sampling. Each respondent was given a prone position for three hours and being observed before, during the three-hour, and after one hour of the prone position administration”. The results of the descriptive analysis of this study showed that the majority of respondents were middle adulthood (63%) with 70% of the respondents being male, 59% having a history of hypertension, and 85% experiencing coagulation disorders. The change in the mean respiratory rate during one hour of supination after three hours of prone position in males was greater than that in females although the mean decrease in oxygen saturation was the same. This shows that the prone position for three hours accompanied by oxygen therapy made an improvement in respiratory status in COVID-19 patients, although it needs further investigation with more respondents and different research methods.</p>

A Phenomenological Study on the Positive and Negative Experiences of Chinese International University Students From Hong Kong Studying in the U.K. and U.S. in the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused distress in students globally. The mental health of international students studying abroad has been neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially Chinese students who have been unfairly targeted.Objective: To explore and document the positive and negative experiences of a group of Hong Kong Chinese international students studying in the U.K. and U.S. from an insider perspective in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: The qualitative study used four 1.5-h online focus group interviews of 20 Chinese international students from Hong Kong aged 18 or older studying in universities in the United Kingdom or the United States, from 3 May to 12 May 2020. A framework approach with a semi-structured interview guide was used to reflect students' stressors, cognitive appraisals, coping, and outcomes (negative impacts and positive gains), in the early stages of COVID-19. Different strategies were used to ensure the credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability of the study. Transcripts were analyzed using qualitative thematic content analysis.Results: Twenty full-time international University students (60% female, 90% aged 18–25 years and 65% undergraduates) were recruited. Students reported (i) stress from personal (e.g., worries about health and academic attainment), interpersonal (e.g., perceived prejudice and lack of social support), and environmental factors (e.g., uncertainties about academic programme and unclear COVID-19-related information); (ii) significant differences in culture and cognitive appraisal in the levels of perceived susceptibility and severity; (iii) positive thinking and using alternative measures in meeting challenges, which included effective emotion and problem coping strategies, and the importance of support from family, friends and schools; and (iv) negative psychological impact (e.g., worries and stress) and positive personal growth in crisis management and gains in family relationships.Conclusions: With the rise in sinophobia and uncertain developments of the pandemic, proactive support from government and academic institutions are urgently needed to reduce stress and promote the well-being of international students, especially Chinese students in the U.K. and U.S. Clear information, public education and policies related to the pandemic, appropriate academic arrangements from universities and strong support systems play important roles in maintaining students' psychological health.Clinical Trial Registration: The study was registered with the National Institutes of Health (https://clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier: NCT04365361).

Environmental sampling of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Delta variant in the inpatient wards of a hospital in Nanjing

BackgroundLittle is known about severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta variant of concern (VOC)-contaminated environmental surfaces and air in hospital wards admitting COVID-19 cases. Our study was designed to identify high-risk areas of Delta VOC contamination in the hospital and provide suggestions to in-hospital infection control. We analyzed the SARS-CoV-2 Delta VOC contamination in the air and environmental surface samples collected from a hospital in Nanjing, China.MethodsWe collected data on clinical features, laboratory tests, swab tests, and hospital wards, identified the factors associated with environmental contamination, and analyzed patients’ hygiene behaviors during hospitalization.ResultsA total of 283 environmental surface and air samples were collected from a hospital admitting 36 COVID-19 patients. Twelve swab samples from ten patients were positive. Toilet seats had the highest contamination rate (11.8%), followed by bedside tables (8.2%), garbage bins (5.9%), and bedrails (1.6%). The median time of symptom onset to surface sampling was shorter in the positive environment group than in the negative environment group (11 vs. 18 days; P=0.001). The results indicated that environmental surface contamination was associated with positive anal swabs [odds ratio (OR) 27.183; 95% CI: 2.359–226.063; P=0.003] and the time from symptom onset to surface sampling (OR 0.801; 95% CI: 0.501–0.990; P=0.046). The survey revealed that 33.3% of the patients never cleaned or disinfected their bedside tables or toilets, and 8.3% of them only cleaned their bedside tables or toilets. More than half of the patients often (25%) or always (30.6%) put the used masks on their bedside tables. Only 16.7% of the patients threw the masks into the specific garbage bin for used masks.ConclusionsThe SARS-CoV-2 Delta VOC was detected on environmental surfaces, especially toilet seats and bedside tables, within a median time of 11 days after symptom onset. Our study provided potential predictors for environmental surface contamination, including positive anal swabs and the time from symptom onset to sampling. Disinfecting high-risk environmental surfaces should be emphasized in hospital wards, especially for patients in the early stage of COVID-19.

A Tale of Two Pandemics: Lessons Learned From HIV and COVID-19 Pandemics

A Tale of Two Pandemics: Lessons Learned From HIV and COVID-19 Pandemics

The Obstacles to Combat against Covid-19 Pandemic and the Remedies: Bangladesh Scenario.

BackgroundBangladesh has been going through the austerity of the unique COVID-19 for more than a year like several other nations in the world in spite of concerted efforts taken by the government along with other concerned authorities who have advocated compulsory guidelines involving social distancing procedures accompanied by lockdown to have control over the pandemic. In this paper, the barriers faced by the government to protect people from the COVID-19 pandemic have been investigated. Also, the number of daily infected people against the number of daily tests has been underlined to comprehend the overall pandemic picture in Bangladesh.Design and MethodsA descriptive study has been carried out to investigate the obstacles to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic for this country. The intensity of the outbreaks of the pandemic in this country is stated from March 8, 2020, to February 12, 2021. Secondary data have been employed from different sources to serve the goals of the study.ResultsThe poor management in the health sector of Bangladesh has been an issue of major concern during the early stage of COVID-19 which incorporates deficiency of medical equipment, lack of facilities for testing COVID-19, poor patient management, and uncertainty in the medication system. Finally, some recommendations have been proposed for the concerned organizations to tackle the current pandemic and as well in the future.ConclusionsTo control this COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to find the difficulties and discover the remedies which have been done in this paper for the Bangladesh perspective.

Gender Bias in Artificial Intelligence: Severity Prediction at an Early Stage of COVID-19.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have been applied in various medical domains to predict patient outcomes with high accuracy. As AI becomes more widely adopted, the problem of model bias is increasingly apparent. In this study, we investigate the model bias that can occur when training a model using datasets for only one particular gender and aim to present new insights into the bias issue. For the investigation, we considered an AI model that predicts severity at an early stage based on the medical records of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients. For 5,601 confirmed COVID-19 patients, we used 37 medical records, namely, basic patient information, physical index, initial examination findings, clinical findings, comorbidity diseases, and general blood test results at an early stage. To investigate the gender-based AI model bias, we trained and evaluated two separate models—one that was trained using only the male group, and the other using only the female group. When the model trained by the male-group data was applied to the female testing data, the overall accuracy decreased—sensitivity from 0.93 to 0.86, specificity from 0.92 to 0.86, accuracy from 0.92 to 0.86, balanced accuracy from 0.93 to 0.86, and area under the curve (AUC) from 0.97 to 0.94. Similarly, when the model trained by the female-group data was applied to the male testing data, once again, the overall accuracy decreased—sensitivity from 0.97 to 0.90, specificity from 0.96 to 0.91, accuracy from 0.96 to 0.91, balanced accuracy from 0.96 to 0.90, and AUC from 0.97 to 0.95. Furthermore, when we evaluated each gender-dependent model with the test data from the same gender used for training, the resultant accuracy was also lower than that from the unbiased model.

Are Multiple Chemosensory Systems Accountable for COVID-19 Outcome?

Chemosensory systems (olfaction, taste, trigeminus nerve, solitary chemoreceptor cells, neuroendocrine pulmonary cells, and carotid body, etc.) detect molecules outside or inside our body and may share common molecular markers. In addition to the impairment of taste and olfaction, the detection of the internal chemical environment may also be incapacitated by COVID-19. If this is the case, different consequences can be expected. (1) In some patients, hypoxia does not trigger distressing dyspnea (“silent” hypoxia): Long-term follow-up may determine whether silent hypoxia is related to malfunctioning of carotid body chemoreceptors. Moreover, taste/olfaction and oxygen chemoreceptors may be hit simultaneously: Testing olfaction, taste, and oxygen chemoreceptor functions in the early stages of COVID-19 allows one to unravel their connections and trace the recovery path. (2) Solitary chemosensory cells are also involved in the regulation of the innate mucosal immune response: If these cells are affected in some COVID-19 patients, the mucosal innate immune response would be dysregulated, opening one up to massive infection, thus explaining why COVID-19 has lethal consequences in some patients. Similar to taste and olfaction, oxygen chemosensory function can be easily tested with a non-invasive procedure in humans, while functional tests for solitary chemosensory or pulmonary neuroendocrine cells are not available, and autoptic investigation is required to ascertain their involvement.

Explore the Approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility Implemented by E-Commerce Platforms in China During the Early Stage of COVID-19: A Mixed-Methods Content Analysis.

The aim of this study was to explore (a) the approaches to corporate social responsibility (CSR) implemented by e-commerce platforms in China during the early stage of coronavirus disease 2019 (ESCOVID-19) and (b) the factors associated with the platforms' choice of these approaches. We collected the CSR data from the Internet during ESCOVID-19. Conventional content analysis was used to develop the targeted approaches. Finally, based on the frequency analysis of each approach, rank-based nonparametric testing was conducted to answer objective (b). Three main approaches (ie, donative CSR actions, responsive CSR actions, and strategic CSR actions) and 8 subapproaches were implemented. The strategic approach was the most frequently used approach. The platforms with higher market size implemented more donative and strategic CSR actions than did the platforms with lower market size. Donative CSR actions were significantly implemented in the earlier period, while strategic CSR actions were significantly implemented in the later period. Our research highlights the importance of e-commerce platforms to help the public survive and identifies that market size and time were associated with the platforms' CSR choice. The design of prevention and control policies should incorporate and support e-commerce platforms and evaluate the factors when confronting future public health crises.

Upregulated type I interferon responses in asymptomatic COVID-19 infection are associated with improved clinical outcome

Understanding key host protective mechanisms against SARS-CoV-2 infection can help improve treatment modalities for COVID-19. We used a blood transcriptome approach to study biomarkers associated with differing severity of COVID-19, comparing severe and mild Symptomatic disease with Asymptomatic COVID-19 and uninfected Controls. There was suppression of antigen presentation but upregulation of inflammatory and viral mRNA translation associated pathways in Symptomatic as compared with Asymptomatic cases. In severe COVID-19, CD177 a neutrophil marker, was upregulated while interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) were downregulated. Asymptomatic COVID-19 cases displayed upregulation of ISGs and humoral response genes with downregulation of ICAM3 and TLR8. Compared across the COVID-19 disease spectrum, we found type I interferon (IFN) responses to be significantly upregulated (IFNAR2, IRF2BP1, IRF4, MAVS, SAMHD1, TRIM1), or downregulated (SOCS3, IRF2BP2, IRF2BPL) in Asymptomatic as compared with mild and severe COVID-19, with the dysregulation of an increasing number of ISGs associated with progressive disease. These data suggest that initial early responses against SARS-CoV-2 may be effectively controlled by ISGs. Therefore, we hypothesize that treatment with type I interferons in the early stage of COVID-19 may limit disease progression by limiting SARS-CoV-2 in the host.

Computational Method-Based Optimization of Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Immunosensor for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Virus.

The recent global spread of COVID‐19 stresses the importance of developing diagnostic testing that is rapid and does not require specialized laboratories. In this regard, nanomaterial thin‐film‐based immunosensors fabricated via solution processing are promising, potentially due to their mass manufacturability, on‐site detection, and high sensitivity that enable direct detection of virus without the need for molecular amplification. However, thus far, thin‐film‐based biosensors have been fabricated without properly analyzing how the thin‐film properties are correlated with the biosensor performance, limiting the understanding of property−performance relationships and the optimization process. Herein, the correlations between various thin‐film properties and the sensitivity of carbon nanotube thin‐film‐based immunosensors are systematically analyzed, through which optimal sensitivity is attained. Sensitivities toward SARS‐CoV‐2 nucleocapsid protein in buffer solution and in the lysed virus are 0.024 [fg/mL]−1 and 0.048 [copies/mL]−1, respectively, which are sufficient for diagnosing patients in the early stages of COVID‐19. The technique, therefore, can potentially elucidate complex relationships between properties and performance of biosensors, thereby enabling systematic optimization to further advance the applicability of biosensors for accurate and rapid point‐of‐care (POC) diagnosis.

The obstacles to combat against COVID-19 pandemic and the remedies: Bangladesh scenario

Bangladesh has been going through the austerity of the unique COVID-19 for more than a year like several other nations in the world in spite of concerted efforts taken by the government along with other concerned authorities who have advocated compulsory guidelines involving social distancing procedures accompanied by lockdown to have control over the pandemic. In this paper, the barriers faced by the government to protect people from the COVID-19 pandemic have been investigated. Also, the number of daily infected people against the number of daily tests has been underlined to comprehend the overall pandemic picture in Bangladesh. A descriptive study has been carried out to investigate the obstacles to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic for this country. The intensity of the outbreaks of the pandemic in this country is stated from March 8, 2020, to February 12, 2021. Secondary data have been employed from different sources to serve the goals of the study. The poor management in the health sector of Bangladesh has been an issue of major concern during the early stage of COVID-19 which incorporates deficiency of medical equipment, lack of facilities for testing COVID-19, poor patient management, and uncertainty in the medication system. Finally, some recommendations have been proposed for the concerned organizations to tackle the current pandemic and as well in the future. To control this COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to find the difficulties and discover the remedies which have been done in this paper for the Bangladesh perspective.

Social status and novelty drove the spread of online information during the early stages of COVID-19

Access to online information has been crucial throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed more than eight million randomly selected Twitter posts from the first wave of the pandemic to study the role of the author’s social status (Health Expert or Influencer) and the informational novelty of the tweet in the diffusion of several key types of information. Our results show that health-related information and political discourse propagated faster than personal narratives, economy-related or travel-related news. Content novelty further accelerated the spread of these discussion themes. People trusted health experts on health-related knowledge, especially when it was novel, while influencers were more effective at propagating political discourse. Finally, we observed a U-shaped relationship between the informational novelty and the number of retweets. Tweets with average novelty spread the least. Tweets with high novelty propagated the most, primarily when they discussed political, health, or personal information, perhaps owing to the immediacy to mobilize this information. On the other hand, economic and travel-related information spread most when it was less novel, and people resisted sharing such information before it was duly verified.

Prevalence and duration of loss of smell and taste among COVID-19 affected dentists

Objectives: This study was aimed to look into the prevalence of Sensory loss of Smell and taste among dentists and dental faculty affected with COVID-19 during the current pandemic. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in August, 2021, carrying out detailed evaluation of onset, temporal development and resolution of loss of taste and smell among 207 COVID-19 patients with confirmatory PCR lab reports. Clinical and epidemiological variables of COVID-19 symptoms were studied that included age categories, gender, onset and resolution of loss of taste and smell as compared with other symptoms. This study also included altered taste aspect experienced by the COVID-19 affected dentists. Results: Of 207 previous patients of COVID-19, 168 (81%) reported that they experienced loss of smell and/or loss of taste during the ailment. Of these 168, 151 (89.88%) patients experienced both loss of taste and smell while 17 (10.11%) reported to have been afflicted with isolated loss of smell or isolated loss of taste. Among 114 (67.85%) patients, Onset of loss of smell and taste was reported to be occurring at the same time along with other symptoms. A vast majority of the patients 141 (89.24%) also reported altered taste associated with recovery period of COVID-19. Conclusion: Sensory loss of smell and taste should be regarded as important symptom at the very early stage of COVID-19 and patients should take isolation measures upon appearing of these symptoms. Key Words: Anosmia, Hyposmia, COVID-19, Dysgeusia

Covid-19 and the tourism industry: An early stage sentiment analysis of the impact of social media and stakeholder communication

This paper examines tourist public responses to crisis communications during the early stages of Covid-19. Using the social-mediated crisis communication model, the paper explores the key factors that influence public sentiments during nascent periods of the crisis. The choice of data collection dates was determined by key milestones events with significant implications in relation to UK tourism. Sentiment analysis of data sets of public tweets and news articles were done in order to interrogate how the trends and performance of the airlines and the tourism sector have been shaped by the sentiments of the tourism publics, the crisis communication interventions from key institutional actors, and the news sentiments about tourism organizations, particularly airlines. Sentiment analysis, also known as opinion mining, falls under natural language processing (NLP) and is used to identify different sentiments and polarities in texts. Our findings indicate that institutional actors have a significant impact on the sentiments of tourism publics. Our study contributes to existing research on crisis communication by illuminating how public narrative about, and stakeholder responses to, crisis are shaped not just by organizational communication strategies but also institutional actors, on the one hand, and the interested publics too.