Lockdown Rules Research Articles

Pharmacists' mental health during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Italy.

The year 2020 was characterized by the outbreak of a new pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2. To face the pandemic, many countries worldwide imposed general lockdowns, closing all non-essential businesses. As primary care services, pharmacies had to remain open, thus putting pharmacy staff at significant risk of viral infection and overwork. This study aimed to assess the mental health of Italian Pharmacists, considering demographic and occupational characteristics, lifestyle, and habits, during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown period (March-May 2020). A web-based survey was created using Google® Forms to collect data from March 30, 2020, to June 1, 2020. The questionnaire consisted of three sections investigating: (1) demographic and occupational variables, (2) lifestyle and habits variables, (3) psychological distress and perceived well-being. A total of 401 participants completed the questionnaire. Older workers and those with more work experience reported more psychological stress. Older and female workers, who felt lonely at home and reported psychological stress, perceived poor well-being. Our findings demonstrate that the Sars-CoV-2 outbreak and subsequent lockdown rules affected pharmacists' mental health and that it is important to put in place preventive measures against the occurrence of mental disorders among them.

Collaborative housing communities through the COVID-19 pandemic: rethinking governance and mutuality

The national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the prevalence and importance of informal mutual support in neighbourhoods and social networks. Mutual support structures and functions are strong in collaborative housing, in which people often intentionally form resident communities to enhance support practices. Using qualitative methods, this article examines how lockdown restrictions have impacted on practices of mutual support in collaborative housing, when the infrastructures of shared facilities and proximate neighbourliness were challenged. There were ambiguous definitions of ‘households’ associated with collaborative housing communities when interpreting the lockdown rules to provide mutual aid and support. Shared values, commitments and length of time of establishment mattered when operationalising such support. Moreover, the lockdown helped some communities re-evaluate their governance structures, decision-making and the limits of mutual support as they experienced what changing care needs of individual members meant to their communities. It resulted in a more realistic appraisal of their local social capital.

Role of e-commerce and resource utilization for sustainable business development: goal of economic recovery after Covid-19

This study seeks to granularly document the fundamental aspects of the pandemic and its effect on the global scale and environmental steadiness. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is therefore utilized to analyze these constructs. The study results show that the pathway coefficient for the parameters, such as health awareness, naturalism, mediation, personal development, sustainability, sociability, empathy, and cooperation, illustrates that the parameters directly impact pandemic control and management. At the same time, the lockdown and social distance rules attain dire consequences on the “conventional” retail property sector. It might speed up the evolution procedure of different conduits retail plus the channel coupling performance of physical stores and, hence, cause changes in urban areas–retail sector. The pandemic isn’t necessarily leading to the shutdown of retail stores. Nonetheless, it might have a meaningful effect on the retail estate enterprise business. The results show a requirement for the rapid physical shop repositioning performance of different channels firms. The study presents a meaningful understanding and demonstrates many consequences for the retailers, Landlords, and equally policy crafting components tackling urban regeneration plus local economic advancement within the post-covid phase.

Narrating the coronavirus crisis: state talk and state silence in the UK

This article is concerned with critically analysing the state’s role in socially constructing the dominant narrative around COVID-19. It focuses on how the state’s ‘truth’ about the virus in general, and deaths in particular, has been generated through a number of social practices which facilitate the dissemination of this ‘truth’ while silencing alternative, more critical, narratives concerning the management of the virus. The paper also considers the question of responsibility. By 2021, the UK’s death rate was the third highest in the world. Given the state’s relentless attempt to shift responsibility onto those breaking the lockdown rules and away from the often-lamentable decisions made by government Ministers and their advisors, who should be held to account for these preventable deaths was, and remains, a key question. This issue is addressed in the last part of the paper.

Spatial‐SIR with network structure and behavior: Lockdown rules and the Lucas critique

We introduce a model of the diffusion of an epidemic with demographically heterogeneous agents interacting socially on a spatially structured network. Contagion-risk averse agents respond behaviorally to the diffusion of the infections by limiting their social interactions. Schools and workplaces also respond by allowing students and employees to attend and work remotely. The spatial structure induces local herd immunities along socio-demographic dimensions, which significantly affect the dynamics of infections. We study several non-pharmaceutical interventions; e.g., i) lockdown rules, which set thresholds on the spread of the infection for the closing and reopening of economic activities; ii) neighborhood lockdowns, leveraging granular (neighborhood-level) information to improve the effectiveness public health policies; iii) selective lockdowns, which restrict social interactions by location (in the network) and by the demographic characteristics of the agents. Substantiating a “Lucas critique” argument, we assess the cost of naive discretionary policies ignoring agents and firms’ behavioral responses.

COVID-19 Lockdown Concerned with Economy, Mental, and Environmental Health: Indian Scenario

India is suffering from an outbreak of COVID-19. Lockdown rules were enacted, but they were also a significant threat to the economy, mental and environmental health. Continual depreciation is occurring in the Indian rupee. The tourism, aviation, oil, capital, and retail markets were seriously affected. Whereas, a unique opportunity has also been offered to India as multinational companies are losing trust with China. COVID-19 has also caused a severe threat to people's physical and mental health. World Health Organization also implemented compulsion of mask wearing and awareness in local communities. The efforts to combat Coronavirus output a tremendous amount of masks, gloves, and personal protective equipment kit waste. After the declaration of the lockdown, the quality of air and water has started to improve and wildlife has sprung back. But all these positive impacts were temporary. Implementation of proper strategies has the potential to deal with all three aspects.

COVID-19-How Confinment Affects the Dietary Habits, Physical Activity, and Lifestyle of Work from Home Population in the State of Gujarat

The COVID-19 pandemic in India is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. India, which has the second-highest population in the world, is suffering from COVID-19 disease. By May18th the country India investigated ~1 lakh (0.1 million) infected cases from COVID-19, and as of 11th July, the cases equalled 8 lakhs. Social distancing and lockdown rules were employed in India due to COVID-19 influenced food habits and lifestyles with potential negative health impact on Indian population. The current research is an attempt to explore physical health; dietary habits; lifestyle changes in working population in state of Gujarat during the lockdown. Approximately, 200 participants from the state of Gujarat were included in the study. They were asked to complete a questionnaire with questions around changes in body weight, junk food consumption or healthy food consumption, physical activities, lifestyle changes before and after the pandemic, sleep quality, screening time, etc.

The Future of UK Work-family Rights: The Case for More Flexible Working

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted both the significant impacts that the UK lockdown rules have had for working women with caring responsibilities, and the potential of flexible working practices to redefine the ways in which people work. This paper will first examine the current UK right to request flexible working and its limitations particularly: the requirement for 26 weeks continuity of employment; the wide discretion that employers have to refuse such requests; the lack of ability to challenge employer’s decisions; and the limited ability to make subsequent requests and/or to make temporary changes. The paper will then critically examine the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s consultation ‘Making Flexible Work the Default’, which addresses the some of these concerns, namely, to change it to a day-one right to request. This examination will consider whether a greater shift to flexible working as the default position, and a redefining of working practices and the work-life paradigm, can have a positive impact for working persons, especially those with caring responsibilities and/or other work-life conflicts. In particular, the paper will critically analyse whether a societal shift to more flexible working can redress the impact of the pandemic for working women with caring responsibilities. In doing so, the paper will reflect on whether this shift represents a challenge to the traditional unburdened worker norm or whether it will continue to reinforce traditional gender roles. Further areas for reform and development will also be identified, including enhanced rights for working fathers and a recognition of new and emerging areas of work-life conflict, such as Menopause in the Workplace, as highlighted by the Women and Equalities Commission’s inquiry on this topic.

Remaking academic library services in Zimbabwe in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic

The outbreak of the global COVID -19 pandemic has affected all aspects of life, access to higher education has not been out of danger as evidenced by the enforcement of official closures, enforcement lockdown and social distancing rules by governments throughout the world. However, while the COVID-19 pandemic has presented the world with numerous socioeconomic challenges, it has also helped to spur creativity and information as evidenced by the responses of academic libraries that have seen a heighted use of digital platforms to support education, teaching and research. The study sought to establish how librarians in Zimbabwe responded to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the implications of the pandemic on library service delivery. A qualitative research was adopted for the study. Using snowballing, interviews were used to gather data beginning with the library association's branch leadership. The researchers ensured that the questions were aligned to the research objectives. The interview schedule included open and closed questions to enable participants to provide further details relating to the phenomenon under study. The participants were guaranteed their rights to consent, privacy and anonymity in the introduction of the interview schedule. An The study reveals that there has been an increase in the use online platforms for accessing information especially library's webpages, electronic books and journals. The use of library online resources from distance locations also rose following closure of campuses. Library patrons' perceptions towards electronic resources significantly improved as they realized that they were equally useful as the print. Findings from the study provide useful recommendation on how librarians can remodel their services to match new demands presented by the COVD-19 pandemic. The study provides a starting point upon which further research on the effect of COVID-19 or other similar pandemics have on library service delivery.

Compliance with the first UK covid-19 lockdown and the compounding effects of weather

The effectiveness of containment measures has been shown to depend on both epidemiological and sociological mechanisms, most notably compliance with national lockdown rules. Yet, there has been growing discontent with social distancing rules during national lockdowns across several countries, particularly among certain demographic and socio-economic groups. Using a highly granular dataset on compliance of over 105,000 individuals between March and May 2020 in the United Kingdom (UK), we find that compliance with lockdown policies was initially high in the overall population during the earlier phase of the pandemic, but that compliance fell substantially over time, especially among specific segments of society. Warmer temperatures increased the non-compliance of individuals who are male, divorced, part-time employed, and/or parent of more than two children. Thus, while epidemiologically the virus spread was naturally more limited during the warmer period of 2020, sociologically the higher temperature led to lower individual-level compliance with public health measures. As long as new strains emerge, governments may therefore be required to complement vaccination campaigns with targeted and time limited restrictions. Since non-complying individuals at the beginning of the pandemic share certain characteristics with vaccination sceptics, understanding their compliance behaviour will remain essential for future policymaking.

Citizen Compliance with Pandemic Rules in China: Exploring the Effects of Emotional States, Peer Influence, and Policing

In December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was first detected in Wuhan, China. Soon after, China became the first country in the world to enforce strict restrictions in an effort to mitigate the spread of the disease. Relying on survey data from 600 Chinese citizens in urban China, this study assessed the extent of citizen compliance and factors related to public compliance to pandemic lockdown and mitigation rules during the initial peak of the pandemic in January, 2020. Using multivariate regressions, we explored the effects of three sets of factors on Chinese citizens’ compliance to pandemic mitigation rules: negative emotions during the pandemic, peer modeling of compliance, and the prevalence of formal social control in the forms of police presence and performance. Our regression analyses suggest that all three mechanisms influence Chinese citizens’ level of compliance with counter-pandemic rules. Nevertheless, the strengths of their effects varied, with peer influence showing the strongest effect on compliance, followed by police presence and fear of contracting COVID-19.

Caught COVID-19? Covidiot!

Abstract. Many governments’ COVID-19 prevention messages highlighted individual accountability and the stigmatization of individuals who violate lockdown rules. The present study examined French people’s ( N = 567) attributions of humanness to and willingness to punish (i.e., whether the target deserved medical care, helping intentions toward the target) an individual who respected versus violated the rules of the country’s first (March to May) versus second (November to December) lockdowns. Participants attributed less humanness to and were more willing to punish the deviant target than the compliant target. These effects were stronger during the first lockdown than during the second lockdown. Perceived threat of COVID-19 to the national ingroup moderated these effects, and attributions of humanness mediated willingness to punish the target.

Changing sexual behaviours amongst MSM during the COVID-19 restrictions in Wales: a mixed methods study

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions stopped people freely engaging in sexual behaviour. We explored sexual behaviour amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) using mixed methods during the multiple lockdowns in Wales.MethodsAn online survey was advertised on social media platforms (focusing on Welsh LGBT groups), from June 2020 to July 2020. MSM over 16 years were invited to take part if they were resident in Wales. Qualitative interviews were undertaken as part of a study examining knowledge and awareness of sexual health. Interviews were conducted between September 2020 and February 2021 via Zoom©. Interview data was analysed thematically and integrated with survey data.ResultsThe survey received 70 responses, 60% (n = 42) reported not having sexual activity during lockdown. Restrictions altered the number of new sexual partners per week with over 80% (n = 56) not having any new sexual partners for the 12 weeks of the first lockdown. However, as the weeks progressed following the first lockdown there was an increase in the number of new sexual partners. Interview data indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had a large impact on reducing sexual behaviour with other MSM in Wales. ‘Lockdown fatigue’ was viewed to result in different levels of adherence to the lockdown rules depending on the lockdown being discussed. Of those engaging in sex outside the rules, ‘shame’ was commonly reported. The restrictions were believed to have a positive impact on reducing the spread of sexually transmitted infections.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions had a significant impact on sexual behaviours among MSM in Wales, with the majority fully adhering to the lockdown rules. Although the population were largely compliant with the lockdown restrictions, lockdown fatigue may suggest that any future lockdowns might not have the same effect.

Contemporary Ashkenazic Hebrew: The Grammatical Profile of an Overlooked Twenty-First-Century Variety

Abstract Ashkenazic Hebrew is a unique language variety with a centuries-long history of written use among Central and Eastern European Jews. It has distinct phonological and grammatical features attested in texts composed by Ashkenazic Jews (e.g. adherents of the Hasidic and Maskilic movements) in Europe prior to the twentieth century. While Ashkenazic Hebrew is commonly believed to have been replaced by Israeli Hebrew in the twentieth century, this traditional written variety of the language actually continues to thrive in contemporary Diaspora Haredi (strictly Orthodox) communities, chiefly the Hasidic centres of New York, London, Montreal and Antwerp. This fascinating and understudied form of Hebrew is used widely and productively in the composition of a rich variety of original documents for a Hasidic audience (about e.g. Covid transmission, United States educational stipulations, Zoom schooling, lockdown rules, etc.). In this article we demonstrate that contemporary Ashkenazic Hebrew has many shared orthographic, phonological, grammatical and lexical features with its Eastern European antecedent. These include: orthography of loanwords based on Yiddish conventions (e.g. חולי הקאראנא xóylay ha-koróna ‘those ill with coronavirus’); morphology of plural loan nouns (בקאלידזשעס be-kóleǧes‘in colleges’, הפראגראמע״ן haprográmen ‘the programmes’); retention of the definite article with inseparable prepositions (בהשכונה be-ha-šxíne‘in the neighbourhood’);

EXPRESSIVES ILLOCUTIONARY IN MEME OF COVID-19

This study discusses illocutionary expressive in the comic of COVID-19. Expressive speech acts are actions that express what is felt by the speaker, for example, such as statements of likes, dislikes, pain, sorrow, upset, and so on. The method used is descriptive method. The data sources used include https://twitter.com/ warstek.com/status/1239762134579343360?s=20. The results obtained are a form of disappointment with regulations during COVID-19 such as the lockdown rules, the rules for returning to the village, disappointment in seeing the conditions of lectures on campus, fear when watching news on television, and disappointment because the lockdown was extended. The impact of this research as a form of expression of public aspirations through mass media is increasingly open.

The Covid-19 Pandemic: Limited Water Access and the Precarity of Women Fishers at Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe.

Man-made reservoirs are constructed to meet certain purposes and Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe, was designed for hydroelectric power generation. However, it has developed other multiple uses, and the growth of fisheries on the lake has had a significant impact on the livelihoods of local communities. The declaration of Covid-19 as a pandemic in Zimbabwe in March 2020 was quickly followed by the imposition of national lockdowns with varying levels of severity up to the present day. This was done to curtail the spread of the disease, meanwhile enhancing the nation's capacity in terms of acquiring testing kits, constructing more admission and quarantine centres as well as educating the people about ways to keep safe. In response to the calls by the government to monitor the movement of people and compliance of the lockdown rules, the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZNPWMA), the governing body of the Lake Kariba fisheries, imposed rules that have significantly impacted the fishing communities at Lake Kariba. Both gillnet fishers and rod and line fishers have been impacted, but our focus here is on women rod and line fishers. Using the precarious livelihoods conceptual frameworks, we show how the changes in water management during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns has generated high levels of precariousness on the livelihoods of women at Kariba. We define precariousness as the condition of uncertainties brought to the women fishers by changes in water restrictions. The precarity of women was induced by several factors. For instance, the women fishers reported that restrictions to accessing fish in areas with high catches impacted them. They are also now obliged to pay exorbitant fishing fees in a way to discourage them to fish; they were frequently chased away from the Lake by ZNPWMA officers; they had limited amount of time to fish due to curfews; and failure to comply results in heavy fines imposed on them among other challenges. We show how these challenges interact with the current Zimbabwe socio-economic crisis to worsen the precariousness and vulnerability of women fishers at Lake Kariba. Data presented in this manuscript are based on participant observation and interviews with women fishers at Lake Kariba.

A study on the Quality and Compliance of Breast Cancer Patients in Single Center Hospital Indonesia: Impact of Coronavirus Disease-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: In Indonesia, especially in Surakarta, the emergence of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID)-19 pandemic made breast cancer survivors unable to continue their therapy schedule or follow-up due to lockdown rules in their residence area. Some survivors had confirmed COVID-19, or the health services began to limit their treatment of patients. Breast cancer itself is not an emergency case. AIM: This research is to see the behavior patterns of breast cancer survivors in Surakarta using the UNS-CASKQ14 questionnaire, whether there is anxiety about contracting COVID-19 or cancer itself that eliminates the fear of COVID-19. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study used the Indonesian version of the UNS-CASKQ14 questionnaire on 88 breast cancer survivors through the Google Form application from December 2020 - February 2021. RESULTS: The level of understanding about COVID-19 correlated with the level of education (p 0.019; r 0.429). The level of understanding also correlated with the type of financing (p 0.016; r 0.318). There was a correlation between the level of education and the level of knowledge about the therapeutic program that had to be undertaken (p 0.007; r 0.472). The financing factor used by the respondents to undergo a therapy program also affects them (p 0.028; r 0.248). The behavior of survivors during the pandemic had a statistically significant correlation to the level of education (p 0.032; r 0.313). There was a correlation with the type of financing (p 0.027; r 0.323). CONCLUSION: The high understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic made 97.9% of survivors afraid of contracting COVID-19, thus affected changes in behavior patterns and gave psychological effects in undergoing therapy during the pandemic.

Neuropsychiatric Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Alzheimer's Disease: A Comparative Study of Total and Partial Lockdown.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related lockdown may have a negative effect on the neuropsychiatric status of Alzheimer's disease (AD) cases. In this study, it was aimed to find future implications by evaluating the neuropsychiatric conditions of AD cases during total and partial lockdown periods. It is a prospective, cross-sectional, and multicenter study that includes AD cases which have been followed for at least 1 year by outpatient clinics from different regions of Turkey. Sociodemographic data, comorbidities, mobility, existence of social interactions, clinical dementia rating (CDR) scale, and neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) for total and partial lockdown were questioned by the caregivers with the help of case files of the patients. A total of 302 AD cases were enrolled to the study (mean age: 78±8 years, mean duration of education: 5.8±9 years). The total comorbidity ratio was found to be 84%, with the most frequent comorbidity being hypertension. The mean NPI score was 22.9±21 in total lockdown and 17.7±15 in partial lockdown, which is statistically significantly different. When lockdown periods were compared with the total scores of NPI scores according to gender, existence of social interactions, mobility, and comorbidities were found higher in the total lockdown than the partial lockdown. When switching from total lockdown to partial lockdown, the presence of comorbidities, mobility, and CDR were found to be factors that had a significant effect on NPI scores. In regression analysis, CDR score was found as the most effective parameter on the neuropsychiatric status of AD cases for both lockdown periods. When lockdown-related restrictions were reduced, the neuropsychological conditions of AD cases were significantly improved. Lockdown rules should be considered with these data in mind.

Effect analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic on the electricity consumption of Bangladesh

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our way of life and has brought challenges on a scale never seen before. Lockdown and various other social distancing rules have been implemented in order to slow down new infections. This has led to a drastic change in people's lifestyle and has altered the pattern of electricity consumption. In this paper, the effect of lockdown on the overall electricity consumption of Bangladesh is analysed. Also, a neural network-based prediction model is developed to predict the electricity consumption during a lockdown or estimate the future consumption given a lockdown is announced in the future. Furthermore, in order to compare the change in electricity consumption for commercial, residential, and industrial areas, power measurements for the lockdown and the post lockdown period are analysed in detail. Results show a significant decline in the overall electricity consumption of Bangladesh during the period of lockdown. In addition, the commercial and industrial areas showed a considerable reduction in electricity consumption. However, the changes in electricity consumption in residential areas are found negligible. This study will aid in to provide a clearer understanding on the electricity consumption pattern in the case of further lockdowns or in the event of another outbreak in the future.

The effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the UK construction industry and the process of future-proofing business

PurposeCOVID-19 was officially declared as a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organisation on 11th March 2020, before the UK was put into lockdown on the 23rd March 2020. Organisations had to reconsider their policies and procedures to allow their businesses to continue. This paper aims to focus on the effects of COVID-19 that the UK construction sector has had to undertake to enable businesses while employees had to adhere to COVID-19 lockdown rules. In addition, how the sector can positively continue once normality has returned within the industry. In doing so, this paper understands the historical issues within the construction sector and has had an effect during COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research methodology approach was taken to help obtain live information. In total, 19 semi-structured interviews from 15 organisations related to the construction sector were conducted to collect data. This information was evaluated using thematic analysis to arrive at the results, inferences and recommendations to the sector.FindingsThis research has revealed that companies have had to adopt a three-stage process to overcome a new dimensional challenge of COVID-19. These include: 1. Making quick decisions during the first stage of the pandemic. 2. Producing new policies and procedures to restart businesses enabling staff to return to the workplace safely. 3. Implementing methods to future-proof organisations against any potential pandemics. To help organisations future-proof their business five C’s are recommended.Originality/valueThis paper provides a rich insight into the understanding and awareness of the effects of COVID-19 and the changes that the construction sector has had to undertake to adhere to the lockdown rules while remaining productive. This research contributes towards informing policymakers on some of the lessons learned during the management of the COVID-19 pandemic from a construction sector perspective.