City Lockdown Research Articles

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on the variation of sea surface chlorophyll-a in Bohai Sea, China

To prevent the pandemic of COVID-19, Chinese government implemented restrict city lockdown policy, which directly changed human daily habitats and customs, and further influence environment. Using the GOCI-derived sea surface chlorophyll-a Level-2 products, the impacts of city lockdown policy on sea surface chlorophyll-a in the coastal regions of Bohai Sea were evaluated by difference-in-differences (DiD) model. To improve the spatiotemporal coverage of the remote sensing data, data interpolating empirical orthogonal functions were employed to reconstruct the sea surface chlorophyll-a data. The results of DiD model showed that the city lockdown policy will contribute to a significant increment (with the range 1.12–1.14 mg/m3) of sea surface chlorophyll-a within 15 km from the coastline; meanwhile, the impact strength weakens with the distance to coastline increases. Applying the DiD model for the cities with human development index larger than 0.77, the inference is more prominent and significant with the increment (1.15–1.29 mg/m3) of sea surface chlorophyll-a; while non-significant increment of sea surface chlorophyll-a was detected for the cities with a human development index smaller than 0.77. The detected 15 km delimiter can be regarded as a guidance for environmental manager to make sampling strategies.

‘I will stay here’: public space and social inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The implementation of city lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic exposed some social inequalities in Mexico. The paper evaluates the effects of the closure of the Alameda Central, a public park in the Historic Centre of Mexico City. It examines how its closure affected some vulnerable populations, including homeless people, beggars, street vendors, buskers, and male sex workers, to the extent that they resisted leaving or found ways to return to public space. The research shows how Mexican COVID-19 policies tended to overlook the diversity of populations making use of public space, and their various necessities.

The Impact of City Lockdown and Air Pollution on the Spread of Covid-19

The Impact of City Lockdown and Air Pollution on the Spread of Covid-19

Acute Appendicitis Following COVID-19 Infection in Pediatric Patients: A Single Center's Study in Greece.

This study investigated the potential association between the previous severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) positive infection, as well as vaccination, and the presentation of acute appendicitis in pediatric patients. It has been three years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and city lockdowns and self-protective measures have been applied worldwide. In an effort to contribute to the research on the probable long-term complications of the COVID-19 infection as well as the vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, the current study was designed and investigated patients' health records in the post-quarantine era. A retrospective analysis of patients admitted and treated surgically for acute appendicitis from January 2022 to June 2022 was conducted. Demographic and personal data, as well as the COVID-19 infection history of each child, were recorded. The patients who were negative for a previous COVID-19 infection were excluded. For the rest of the sample, the time-to-onset of acute appendicitis, the severity of appendicitis (complicated or uncomplicated), and the vaccination status of the patients were examined. Regarding the time-to-onset of appendicitis, we divided the patients into three groups: group A with a time-to-onset < 3 months, group B with a time-to-onset of 3-6 months, and group C with a time-to-onset of >6 months. Statistical analysis followed and was considered significant if p < 0.05. Sixty-six children with a mean age of 10.5 years (range 1-15 years) were admitted for acute appendicitis during the determined period. After excluding 30 children that were negative for previous COVID-19 infection, we divided the patients into three groups: group A-23 children, group B-7 children, and group C-6 children. A statistically significant incidence of acute appendicitis diagnosis in <3 months after laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection (p < 0.01) was found. The incidence of complicated appendicitis was greater in patients with a positive SARS-CoV-2 history, with an estimated odds ratio of 1.8 (p > 0.05). The majority of the children (92%) had not received a COVID-19 vaccination. For the vaccinated children, the relative risk for complicated appendicitis was equal to 1.5 (p > 0.05). The results of our study demonstrate a potential positive relationship between COVID-19 infection and subsequent acute appendicitis in pediatric patients. There are also some speculations on the presentation of complicated cases of appendicitis following COVID-19 infection or vaccination, but these need to be further proven. Further data are required to better understand this potential complication of COVID-19 infection as well as the role of vaccines in the current post-vaccine era.

중국 재난관리 법제의 과제

This study tried to examine the disaster management failures that appeared in the process of the lockdown of China's large cities, Wuhan and Shanghai due to COVID-19, based on China's disaster management law, Emergency Response Act. COVID-19 is a respiratory infectious disease that directly threatens the lives of all mankind, and is acting as a major obstacle to the development of the global society through exchanges and cooperation that have been carried out since the beginning of time. The largest global recession since World War II, disrupting production and supply chains, restricting movement for exchange and cooperation, and resulting in shrinking consumption and employment shrinkage in closely intertwined political and economic problems. brought Humanity has reached the era of the 4th industrial revolution based on science and technology, and in the global pandemic of COVID-19, it has proven that no country can be free from it. Paradoxically, if a new respiratory epidemic like COVID-19 emerges again, it paradoxically disproves that individuals or countries cannot survive alone. Since the early 2000s, China has also experienced an increasing frequency of epidemic disasters that spread across China in an instant, and in the future, there will be another unknown and huge epidemic. It was a lesson learned at the cost of enormous human and material damage that China's initial response to COVID-19 was the most reliable means of response. After the lockdown in Wuhan on January 23, 2020 and Shanghai on March 28, 2022, a pandemic continued, and mutations continued after the lockdown was lifted on June 1, The reality is that sporadic infections continue and have not been declared an endemic. The initial failure to respond to public health incidents is a sudden event, and it can be said that it is a task of the Emergency Response Act, a legal system that manages not only COVID-19 but also new respiratory infectious diseases in the future. China's public health and medical system played an important role in the process of coping with COVID-19, but it also exposed its shortcomings. This paper tried to suggest an improvement plan by deriving the problems that appeared according to the stages of COVID-19 management for disaster management stipulated in the Emergency Response Act, China's basic disaster law.

Children are the Biggest Victims in the Covid-19 Pandemic A Reflection on the Zero-covid Policy and Strict City Lockdown Regulations in China

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020 in China, the Chinese government has been implementing zero-covid policies and strict city lockdown regulations to control the spread of the pandemic. Nevertheless, the emergence of a new strain of virus the Omicron - has changed the situation. According to the WHO, the Chinese governments zero-covid approach is not sustainable facing the more transmissible Omicron variant. Therefore, in order to confront and adapt to new circumstances of the pandemic, it is imperative to evaluate and reconsider the zero-covid policies and lockdown regulations and inspect their harms and benefits on the society. Besides huge economic loss due to lockdowns and quarantines, lockdown policies have detrimental impacts towards the psychological well-beings and cognitive development of children and adolescents. From the standpoint of children and adolescents, this paper is going to evaluate the zero-covid policies through Cost-Benefit Analysis. Moreover, the pandemic is perceived by many governments, especially the Chinese governments,as involving a moral dilemma: the Trolley Problem, which involves either sacrificing a group of people or one person. The Cost-Benefit Analysis of this paper is going to expand around the framework of the Trolley Problem and discuss the impacts of zero-covid policies of the Chinese government, especially on the two groups of people: the children and adolescents and the elderlies.

Assessing CO2 Emissions of Online Food Delivery in Japan

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown of cities have led to the rapid growth of online food delivery (OFD). Moreover, there are concerns that OFD platforms may impose offers on users in order to continue to increase their market share, leading to numerous environmental issues such as overconsumption and a significant increase in plastic packaging waste. Most studies have focused on the environmental impacts associated with food packaging and have been mostly limited to China. However, less research has been carried out on the overall CO2 emissions of an OFD order including food. In this study, the CO2 emissions of an OFD order were assessed by considering the production, distribution, consumption and disposal of the ingredients, based on lifecycle thinking and existing secondary data, for three representative food groups (Western food, Japanese food and Chinese food) in Japan. This study found that the food production of an OFD order accounts for more than 70% of the CO2 emissions of the entire process, especially food ingredient production. Policy support and initiatives such as OFD platforms being able to serve different quantities of food based on actual consumer demand to avoid food waste, as well as changes in delivery methods, would help reduce the CO2 emissions of OFD.

Systematic literature review on impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding measures on mobility

The unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak has significantly influenced our daily life, and COVID-19’s spread is inevitably associated with human mobility. Given the pandemic’s severity and extent of spread, a timely and comprehensive synthesis of the current state of research is needed to understand the pandemic’s impact on human mobility and corresponding government measures. This study examined the relevant literature published to the present (March 2023), identified research trends, and conducted a systematic review of evidence regarding transport’s response to COVID-19. We identified key research agendas and synthesized the results, examining: (1) mobility changes by transport modes analyzed regardless of government policy implementation, using empirical data and survey data; (2) the effect of diverse government interventions to reduce mobility and limit COVID-19 spread, and controversial issues on travel restriction policy effects; and (3) future research issues. The findings showed a strong relationship between the pandemic and mobility, with significant impacts on decreased overall mobility, a remarkable drop in transit ridership, changes in travel behavior, and improved traffic safety. Government implemented various non-pharmaceutical countermeasures, such as city lockdowns, travel restrictions, and social distancing. Many studies showed such interventions were effective. However, some researchers reported inconsistent outcomes. This review provides urban and transport planners with valuable insights to facilitate better preparation for future health emergencies that affect transportation.

Agent-based simulation of COVID-19 containment measures: the case of lockdowns in cities.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12076-023-00336-w.

Influence of Nutritional Guidance/Consulting on Glycemic Control During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Objective The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a global restriction of public behavior due to lockdowns in various major cities. Lifestyle changes and reduced rates of outpatient lifestyle guidance/consulting may have had some impact on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. This study analyzed the impact of changes in the frequency of nutritional guidance/consulting (NGC) during the COVID-19 pandemic on outpatient care for type 2 diabetes. Methods Among 785 patients, 67 who received regular NGC during the COVID-19 pandemic were assigned to the continuation group (CG), 143 whose NGC was discontinued after the pandemic were assigned to the discontinuation group (DG), and 575 who did not receive regular NGC regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic status were assigned to the irregular NGC group (IGG). The three groups were followed up for two years. Analyses among the three categories were performed using the chi-square test or an analysis of covariance. Results The number of diabetes medications after the declaration of the COVID-19 emergency did not markedly increase in the CG (2.0±1.4 to 2.1±1.5, p>0.05) but significantly increased from 2.2±1.4 to 2.6±1.4 in the DG (p<0.005) and from 2.2±1.4 to 2.4±1.4 in the IGG (p<0.005). The increase in HbA1c adjusted for confounders was unchanged at 0.12%±1.06% for the CG and -0.07%±1.29% for the IGG but was significantly increased at 0.19%±1.49% for the DG (p<0.05). Conclusion In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, regular nutritional guidance may be important for maintaining good glycemic control, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scepticism or conspiracy? A discourse analysis of anti-lockdown comments to online newspaper articles

ABSTRACT This paper addresses responses to news about the imposing of a local lockdown in a UK city. The opposition to the measure shows it to be controversial as does the associated rejection of the grounds for taking action against covid more generally, which comes alongside the devaluing of expertise, resistance to public health responses, a proliferation of conspiracy theories and misinformation and the harm that can be caused by focussing on non-adherence to covid measure. The research question for this analysis is therefore: how are arguments about the local lockdown discursively formulated in online discussions? Discursive analysis of online discussions following four newspaper articles identified six arguments used that range from scepticism to conspiratorial: scepticism over (1) the prevalence and; (2) severity of covid; (3) lockdowns generally do not work and (4) the specific city lockdown will not work; (5) lockdowns are overly risk averse; and (6) there are hidden political motives for lockdowns. The discussion shows how both the ‘conspiratorial’ and non-conspiratorial arguments are potentially harmful from a public health perspective.

The economic impacts of COVID-19 and city lockdown: Early evidence from China

As the first major developing country heavily struck by the COVID-19 pandemic, China adopted the world's most stringent lockdown interventions to contain the virus spread. Using macro- and micro-level data, this paper shows that both the pandemic and lockdown policies have had negative and significant impacts on the economy. Gross regional product (GRP) fell by 9.5 and 0.3 percentage points in cities with and without lockdown interventions, respectively. These impacts represent a dramatic recession from China's average growth of 6.74% before the pandemic. The results indicate that lockdown explains 2.8 percentage points of the GDP loss. We also document significant spill-over effects of the pandemic in adjacent areas but no such effects of lockdown. Reduced labor mobility, land supply, and entrepreneurship are among the most significant mechanisms underpinning the impacts of the pandemic and lockdown. Cities with higher share of secondary industry, higher traffic intensity, lower population density, lower internet access, and lower fiscal capacity suffered more. However, these cities seem to have recovered well from the recession and quickly closed the economic gap in the aftermath of the pandemic and city lockdown. Our findings have broader implications for the global interventions in pandemic containment.

What Are the Differences in Psychological Outcomes Between People Who Posted COVID-19-Related Content on Social Media and Those Who Did Not?

During the lockdown of cities and home quarantine, media became the only way for people to conveniently get coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)-related information. And media engagement was closely related to psychological outcomes. But fewer researchers took COVID-19-related posting behaviors into consideration. Therefore, the present study aimed at examining the differences in psychological outcomes between people who posted COVID-19-related content on social media and those who did not. The present study included 917 participants (304 males, 613 females) who had answered the questionnaires of media engagement, positive affect, negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress, satisfaction with life, death anxiety, and meaning in life. Results of t-tests showed that the Post group had lower levels of negative affect, anxiety, stress, and death anxiety than the Not Post (Npost) group. Network comparison tests indicated that the Npost group's network and the Post group's network differed in global strength, two edge-weights, and node centrality indices. The results indicated that more attention should be paid to people who did not post any COVID-19-related content, especially when they have higher levels of stress and depression to prevent comorbidities. And for people who posted content, more attention should be paid when they have a higher level of negative affect.

COVID-19 pandemic, port congestion, and air quality: Evidence from China

The emergency of COVID-19 leads to almost all unnecessary activities being banned because of city lockdowns, which results in the economy and human mobility being strictly restricted. While affecting economic development, it has brought some environmental benefits. As a critical link to collection and distribution, ports have been deeply impacted by COVID-19, including quarantine time and operational efficiency, and even cause unexpected port congestion. This study empirically examines the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic, port congestion and air quality in Chinese port cities using classical and system panel models. We find that the COVID-19 pandemic and port congestion significantly influence air quality in port cities. Managerial implications include the ensuring of port workers’ shifts, the unblocking of port logistics, and the cooperation between transportation, customs, and quarantine departments, which can reduce the time of ships at berths and improve the air quality in port cities.

Assessment of Self-Care Methods for Acute Dental Pain Among Adults During COVID-19 Dissemination and the Implementation of Teledentistry in Makkah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

This cross-sectional study aims to explore the prevalence ofacute dental pain, different self-care methods done by adults to manage this pain, and the utilization of teledental platformsduring the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period. The study was conducted in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. A total of 727 participants answered the study questionnaire, which was distributed as an online survey on different social media platforms. The modified dental pain screening questionnaire (M-DePaQ) was used to obtain dental pain-related characteristics of subjects. Also, self-care and formal-care strategies for pain relief questionnaire for most recent toothache and additional questions developed by the authors related to virtual clinics were used to determine the need for implementation of teledentistry and remote dental consultations. Data was entered in SPSS (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) and analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and binary logistic regression. Around 39% out of 727 participants experienced dental pain during the COVID-19 Makkah city lockdown; 58%of them reported that the pain was related to a tooth.The majority reported that it was exaggerated with coldbeverages and foods [67.1%]. A chi-square association test showed that the age group between 20-30 significantly used the Sehaty(Lean, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) application more than other age groups. Additionally, women were notably found to use home remedies more frequently than men. Furthermore, individuals with a bachelor's degree believed more in the importance of having a virtual dental clinic during the periods of lockdown. During the COVID-19 pandemic, acute dental pain and self-medication were found common among this study population.The practice of self-medication was also documentedfrequently, therefore, it is important to educate the general population on the proper way to manage dental pain. However, The use of teledentistry services was found uncommon, so to improve patient care especially when accessibility to professional treatment is difficult, the implementation of teledental services need to be considered.

Comparing the centrality symptoms of major depressive disorder samples across junior high school students, senior high school students, college students and elderly adults during city lockdown of COVID-19 pandemic—A network analysis

IntroductionRecently, in the view of network analysis, depression has been conceptualized as a complex and dynamic network model combining individual symptoms. To date, no studies have systematically examined and compared depressive symptom networks across different populations. MethodsA total of 36,105 participants were recruited and asked to complete the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 among junior high school students, senior high school students, college students, and elderly adults who were more susceptible to depression during the COVID-19 lockdown in China. In the analysis, we applied the optimal cutoff score ≥ 8 for students and a score ≥ 6 for elderly adults to identify 5830 participants who were likely to be depressed. The index of “strength” was used to identify central symptoms in the network structure. ResultsThe results showed that Sad Mood was the most central symptom among junior high school students, senior high school students, and college students, but the most central symptom in the elderly was Guilt. Among the top three central symptoms, Suicide Ideation was unique to senior high school students, while Anhedonia was most prevalent among college students. Guilt - Suicide Ideation, Anhedonia – Energy, Anhedonia - Sad Mood, and Sleep – Energy showed the strongest association among junior and senior high school students, college students, and elderly adults, respectively. NCT (i.e., Network Comparison Test) suggested that the network's global connectivity was ultimately inconsistent, but the network structure remained roughly intact. ConclusionIn treatment, targeting central symptoms may be critical to alleviating depression.

Contact network analysis of COVID-19 Delta variant outbreak in urban China —based on 2,050 confirmed cases in Xi’an, China

BackgroundThe purpose of this paper is to study how the Delta variant spread in a China city, and to what extent the non-pharmaceutical prevention measures of local government be effective by reviewing the contact network of COVID-19 cases in Xi’an, China.MethodsWe organize the case reports of the Shaanxi Health Commission into a database by text coding and convert them into a network matrix. Then we construct a dynamic contact network for the corresponding analysis and calculate network indicators. we analyze the cases’ dynamic contact network structure and intervals between diagnosis time and isolation time by using data visualization, network analysis method, and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression.ResultsThe contact network for this outbreak in Xi’an is very sparse, with a density of less than 0.0001. The contact network is a scale-free network. The average degree centrality is 0.741 and the average PageRank score is 0.0005. The network generated from a single source of infection contains 1371 components. We construct three variables of intervals and analyze the trend of intervals during the outbreak. The mean interval (interval 1) between case diagnosis time and isolation time is − 3.9 days. The mean of the interval (interval 2) between the infector’s diagnosis time and the infectee’s diagnosis time is 4.2 days. The mean of the interval (interval 3) between infector isolation time and infectee isolation time is 2.9 days. Among the three intervals, only interval 1 has a significant positive correlation with degree centrality.ConclusionsBy integrating COVID-19 case reports of a Chinese city, we construct a contact network to analyze the dispersion of the outbreak. The network is a scale-free network with multiple hidden pathways that are not detected. The intervals of patients in this outbreak decreased compared to the beginning of the outbreak in 2020. City lockdown has a significant effect on the intervals that can affect patients’ network centrality. Our study highlights the value of case report text. By linking different reports, we can quickly analyze the spread of the epidemic in an urban area.

Agent-based model using GPS analysis for infection spread and inhibition mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 in Tokyo

Analyzing the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic outbreak based on actual data while reflecting the characteristics of the real city provides beneficial information for taking reasonable infection control measures in the future. We demonstrate agent-based modeling for Tokyo based on GPS information and official national statistics and perform a spatiotemporal analysis of the infection situation in Tokyo. As a result of the simulation during the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 in Tokyo using real GPS data, the infection occurred in the service industry, such as restaurants, in the city center, and then the infected people brought back the virus to the residential area; the infection spread in each area in Tokyo. This phenomenon clarifies that the spread of infection can be curbed by suppressing going out or strengthening infection prevention measures in service facilities. It was shown that pandemic measures in Tokyo could be achieved not only by strong control, such as the lockdown of cities, but also by thorough infection prevention measures in service facilities, which explains the curb phenomena in real Tokyo.

Lockdown as an Empirical Strategy to Curb Air Pollution: Evidence from a Quasi‐Natural Experiment

AbstractIn this study, three approaches namely parallel, sequential, and multiple linear regression are applied to analyze the local air quality improvements during the COVID‐19 lockdowns. In the present work, the authors have analyzed the monitoring data of the following primary air pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and carbon monoxide (CO). During the lockdown period, the first phase has most noticeable impact on airquality evidenced by the parallel approach, and it has reflected a significant reduction in concentration levels of PM10 (27%), PM2.5 (19%), NO2 (74%), SO2 (36%), and CO (47%), respectively. In the sequential approach, a reduction in pollution levels is also observed for different pollutants, however, these results are biased due to rainfall in that period. In the multiple linear regression approach, the concentrations of primary air pollutants are selected, and set as target variables to predict their expected values during the city's lockdown period.The obtained results suggest that if a 21‐days lockdown is implemented, then a reduction of 42 µg m−3 in PM10, 23 µg m−3 in PM2.5, 14 µg m−3 in NO2, 2 µg m−3 in SO2, and 0.7 mg m−3 in CO can be achieved.

Evolution and Control of COVID-19 Epidemic in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong SAR has adopted universal masking, social distancing, testing of all symptomatic and high-risk groups for isolation of confirmed cases in healthcare facilities, and quarantine of contacts as epidemiological control measures without city lockdown or border closure. These measures successfully suppressed the community transmission of pre-Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants or lineages during the first to the fourth wave. No nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 infection was documented among healthcare workers in the first 300 days. The strategy of COVID-19 containment was adopted to provide additional time to achieve population immunity by vaccination. The near-zero COVID-19 situation for about 8 months in 2021 did not enable adequate immunization of the eligible population. A combination of factors was identified, especially population complacency associated with the low local COVID-19 activity, together with vaccine hesitancy. The importation of the highly transmissible Omicron variant kickstarted the fifth wave of COVID-19, which could no longer be controlled by our initial measures. The explosive fifth wave, which was partially contributed by vertical airborne transmission in high-rise residential buildings, resulted in over one million cases of infection. In this review, we summarize the epidemiology of COVID-19 and the infection control and public health measures against the importation and dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 until day 1000.