Pandemic Containment Research Articles

Impact of natural views on mental health during COVID-19 quarantine: A natural experiment

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the daily lives of people, and countries worldwide have implemented public health measures that restricted social contact and interactions. Individuals in isolation displayed increased mental health issues, for whom windows are a crucial means of connecting with the outside world. However, few studies have discussed the effect of having a window view on the mental health of individuals in quarantine. This study uses a natural experiment to address this knowledge gap. Between January 27, 2022 and June 19, 2022, individuals in Taiwan who were assigned to quarantine hotel room with various window views were recruited through Facebook groups. Participants completed a baseline assessment at the beginning of their quarantine period that included room and window conditions and mental health conditions, followed by a posttest assessment of the same mental health measures. Questions related to window conditions included the proportions of natural and urban landscapes viewable from their hotel windows, human activities they could observe (flow of people), and their viewshed broadness. Subsequently, this study investigated how visual access to greenness influenced the positive mental health, depression, and stress of the participants before and during quarantine. In total, 81 participants participated. The results of this study indicated that viewing vegetation and the ratio of windows to walls were associated with improved mental health, reduced symptoms of depression, and reduced stress. Specifically, an open view in the room was associated with lower levels of depression (p < 0.001) and stress (p < 0.000). Additionally, viewing people through windows was associated with reduced depressive symptoms (p < 0.006). The results of this study can inform policies for pandemic containment, but also broadly for health care, hospitals, and other related fields.

Effects of public concerns on favorable attitudes to pandemic containment policies: a two-wave panel survey study in Hong Kong.

Regions worldwide experienced uncontrolled COVID-19 outbreaks at different times, leading to increased health concerns yet decreased support for stringent containment measures. We aimed to understand this contradiction by examining the factors influencing attitudes toward COVID-19 containment policies in Hong Kong. Using two waves of panel data collected before and after the 2022 major outbreak N = 1148), we determined that concerns over politicization and economic implications, rather than health concerns, led to a decline in favorable attitudes. The study also revealed that political stance moderated the effect of politicization but not economic concern. Based on these findings, we offer several suggestions for public health institutions to improve public favorability: Institutions should undertake sustained efforts to reduce the politicization of containment policies. Providing economic support measures and detailed explanations to the public can help mitigate concerns. Additionally, institutions should respond more promptly to the public's economic concerns during health crises.

Trends in hospitalisations for lower respiratory infections after the COVID-19 pandemic in France

We aimed to evaluate the impact of the pandemic and post-pandemic periods on hospital admissions for LRTI, with a focus on patients with chronic respiratory disease (CRD). From July 2013 to June 2023, monthly numbers of adult hospitalisations for LRTI (excluding SARS-CoV-2) were extracted from the French National Hospital Discharge Database. They were modelled by regressions with autocorrelated errors. Three periods were defined: (1) early pandemic and successive lockdowns; (2) gradual lifting of restrictions and widespread SARS-CoV-2 vaccination; (3) withdrawal of restriction measures. Pre-pandemic incidence was 96 (90.5 to 101.5) per 100,000 population. Compared with the pre-pandemic period, no more seasonality and significant reductions were estimated in the first two periods: -43.64% (-50.11 to -37.17) and -32.97% (-39.88 to -26.05), respectively. A rebound with a positive trend and a seasonal pattern was observed in period 3. Similar results were observed for CRD patients with no significant difference with pre-pandemic levels in the last period (-9.21%; -20.9% to 1.67%), albeit with differential changes according to the type of CRD. COVID-19 pandemic containment measures contributed to changes in LRTI incidence, with a rapid increase and return to a seasonal pattern after their lifting, particularly in patients with CRD.

Dynamic changes in the circulation of respiratory pathogens in children during and after the containment of the 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic in Kunming, China.

We aimed to determine the changes in the frequency of respiratory pathogens and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during containment of the 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic and elucidate the epidemiological interference that may have occurred after lifting pandemic measures. A total of 4,770 Nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected from children with ARTIs from the First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province between January 2022 and December 2023 and subjected to nucleic acid testing for 13 types of respiratory pathogens and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The frequency of pathogens among children from 2020 to 2022 was in the following order: HRV > Mp > HADV > H3N2 > HMPV and HRV > HRSV > HPIV > H1N1 > H3N2. In weeks 1 to 3 of 2023, the frequency of pathogens significantly declined, and then H1N1 rebounded significantly in 2023. HRV, HRSV, and H3N2 showed a shift in the season of high frequency. Patterns of multi-pathogen infections were more complex in 2023 than in 2022, with HRV having a higher frequency and co-infection rate than other pathogens. These changes may have been associated with interference caused by the resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 prevalence, in addition to being influenced by changes in pandemic containment and lifting measures. The frequency rate of common respiratory pathogens among children was not significantly different and remained high. The study findings help elucidate the aforementioned unique historical period and effectively control respiratory tract infections to reduce the harm to pediatric health caused by respiratory pathogens.

Birth rate decline in the later phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of policy interventions, vaccination programmes and economic uncertainty

Abstract STUDY QUESTION What are the factors influencing the decline in the birth rates observed in higher-income countries in the later phase of the COVID-19 pandemic? SUMMARY ANSWER Our results suggest that economic uncertainty, non-pharmaceutical policy interventions, and the first wave of the population-wide vaccination campaign were associated with the decline in birth rates during 2022. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY During the COVID-19 pandemic, birth rates in most higher-income countries first briefly declined and then shortly recovered, showing no common trends afterwards until early 2022, when they unexpectedly dropped. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION This study uses population-wide data on monthly total fertility rates adjusted for seasonality and calendar effects provided in the Human Fertility Database (HFD). Births taking place between November 2020 and October 2022 correspond to conceptions occurring between February 2020 and January 2022, ie, after the onset of the pandemic but prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The data cover 26 countries, including 21 countries in Europe, the United States, Canada, Israel, Japan and the Republic of Korea. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS First, we provided a descriptive analysis of the monthly changes in the total fertility rate (TFR). Second, we employed linear fixed effects regression models to estimate the association of explanatory factors with the observed seasonally adjusted total fertility rates. Our analysis considered three broader sets of explanatory factors: economic uncertainty, policy interventions restricting mobility and social activities outside the home, and the progression of vaccination programmes. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE We found that birth trends during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with economic uncertainty, as measured by increased inflation (p &amp;lt; 0.001), whereas unemployment did not show any link to births during the pandemic (p = 0.677). The stringency of pandemic policy interventions was linked to a postponement of births, but only in countries with lower institutional trust and only in the early phase of the pandemic (p = 0.003). In countries with higher trust, stricter containment measures were positively associated with birth rates, both for conceptions in the first year of the pandemic (p = 0.019) and, albeit only weakly significant, for conceptions later in the pandemic (p = 0.057). Furthermore, we found a negative association between the share of the population having received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination and total fertility rates (p &amp;lt; 0.001), whereas the share of the population having completed the primary vaccination course (usually consisting of two doses) was linked to a recovery of birth rates (p &amp;lt; 0.001). LARGE SCALE DATA N/A LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Our research is restricted to higher-income countries with relatively strong social support policies provided by the government as well as wide access to modern contraception. Our data did not allow analyses of birth trends by key characteristics, such as age, birth order and social status. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS This is the first multi-country study of the drivers of birth trends in the later phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past, periods following epidemics and health crises were typically associated with a recovery in births. In contrast, our results show that the gradual phasing out of pandemic containment measures, allowing increased mobility and a return to more normal work and social life, contributed to declining birth rates in some countries. In addition, our analysis indicates that some women avoided pregnancy until completion of the primary vaccination protocol. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This study did not use any external funding. The authors acknowledge funding from their home institution, the Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and from the Open-Access Fund of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. For the purpose of open access, the authors have applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript versions arising from this submission. All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

COVID-19 and the biopolitics of stigma in public housing: dividing practices and community boundaries in pandemic times

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 ‘hard lockdowns’ in Melbourne, Australia in 2020 targeted public housing estates thus trading on perceptions of risk associated with public housing as some of the most stigmatised sites in post-industrial cities. This article draws on interviews with Melbourne public housing tenants on their experience of COVID-19 lockdowns to analyse the place of stigma in residents’ accounts. Pairing Wacquant et al's (2014) concept of 'territorial stigma' with sociological work on the biopolitics of stigma we consider the dynamics of stigma, tracing how it functions to delimit community boundaries and justify pandemic containment measures. Residents navigate multiple layers of stigma, including stereotypes of public housing, normative judgements of neighbouring residents, and a broader public housing system riven with structural issues. Members of these communities are both the targets of stigma and seek to distance themselves from those seen as vectors of stigma. Our participants report mobilising social distancing strategies couched in normative assessments of perceived risk based on physical appearance, presumed drug use and past conduct. We explore the implications of these enactments of territorial stigma and trace the logics of abjection that construct public housing as deprived urban zones, home to abject ‘Others’ perceived as threatening the health of the community.

Mobility restrictions and firms' decisions to adopt digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic: across industry sectors study

PurposeDespite the importance of digital technology in mitigating the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures, limited research attention has been devoted to the impact of movement restrictions on digital business transformation in North Africa. This paper investigates the impact of mobility restrictions on firms' decisions to adopt digital technologies across sectors, emphasizing the challenges associated with accessing both customers and suppliers.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses the ERF COVID-19 MENA Monitor Enterprise survey (2021), covering 3,978 enterprises across three North African countries: Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. The analysis employed the linear probability model (LPM) to account for observable and unobservable heterogeneity across countries and over time.FindingsThe results indicated that mobility restrictions have a positive impact on firms' decisions to adopt digital solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic across most industry sectors. Notably, firms operating in manufacturing, trade, retail and services demonstrated a higher likelihood to adopt technologies. However, the analysis revealed some variations in the impact of mobility restrictions across sectors and countries.Originality/valueThis study has several contributions. First, this study is unique in utilizing firm-level data gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate the impact of mobility restrictions on firms' decisions to adopt digital solutions. Second, the study examines the influence of mobility restrictions on digitalization across industry sectors, to the best of our knowledge, no empirical study has specifically focused on the digital business transformation across sectors.

Changes in subjective well-being and stress of older adults before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study in Switzerland.

Despite the concerns about older adults' overall quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, they often demonstrated better resilience, adaptability, and subjective well-being (SWB) than younger individuals. However, longer-term trends remain unclear. This study aims to describe older adults' trajectories in SWB dimensions before, during, and after the pandemic spanning 2017-2022. This study used piecewise growth curve analysis on a subsample of the Swiss Household Panel to investigate the population-average (n individuals = 3086; n = observations = 13,780) trajectories of SWB dimensions and stress among adults aged 65 and older between 2017 and 2022. We also tested whether these trajectories differed by age, gender, and household income. Life satisfaction and positive affect remained stable among older people during the pandemic (2019-2021) but declined after. Negative affect increased during the pandemic and decreased afterward, while stress levels increased slightly before and significantly after the pandemic. The trajectories did not differ by gender or household income, but the oldest-old (> 75-year-old) had a more significant decline in positive affect and life satisfaction pre-pandemic (2017-2019) and stress during the pandemic (2020-2021). Research shows that older adults possess adaptation skills and emotional competencies, which enable them to navigate pandemic challenges. However, we show that the post-pandemic era presents more substantial challenges for this older population, who perhaps face more difficulties adapting to the new uncertain post-pandemic world. Further research needs to examine if these findings replicate in other contexts, for instance, where pandemic containment measures have been more stringent.

The Impact of Differential COVID-19 Pandemic Containment Policies on International Trade and Capital Flows

ABSTRACT This article develops a two-period two-country model to examine the impact of differential COVID-19 pandemic containment policies on international trade and capital flows. The theoretical analysis shows that asymmetric labor supply shocks resulting from the pandemic generate capital outflows from more affected countries to less affected ones, with the former running current account deficits. The greater the asymmetry in supply shocks, the more pronounced the impact on cross-border capital and trade flows. As the pandemic abated, these flows reversed, creating significant fluctuations over the pandemic cycle. However, globalization acted as a risk-sharing mechanism, moderating potential welfare losses. Using panel data from 42 countries, we investigate how specific containment policies like workplace closures and home isolation mandates affect trade and capital flows. Contrary to findings using higher frequency data, our empirical results confirm key predictions of our model, suggesting more stringent temporary containments, while dampening economic activity initially, may reduce COVID-19 cases and induce current account surpluses and capital inflows over a longer horizon.

Nigerians’ perception of newspaper framing of COVID-19 stories and adherence to government’s containment policy (2020–2021)

There is a known fact that the public depends largely on the media for information. However, such information might not have been perceived rightly as sent by the media. Hence, the objective of this study is to examine the extent to which information on the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic containment policy flows from the government to the public through the pages of newspapers. Aside from examining how these policies were framed, it seeks to also find out if Nigerians perceived the coverage by newspapers as relevant for them to comply with them. Adopting a descriptive methodological approach which systematically differs from most previous studies because substantial studies on the subject matter use qualitative methods. Findings reveal that Newspapers’ framing of COVID-19 stories does not correlate with public adherence to the government’s containment policy and the volume of newspaper coverage of COVID-19 stories does not correlate with public perception of the importance of the government containment policy on the disease. The study concluded that even though advancement in technology has given rise to the use of other media such as social media, the efficacy/potency and relevance of the newspaper cannot be brushed aside despite this advancement. It is, however, recommended that further studies should be conducted to examine the challenges faced by press through Key Informant Interview (KII) in the carrying coverage on the COVID-19 pandemic in other to strike balance.

A home health management app designed in the post-epidemic era using empirical evidence based on the demand collection of elderly users

In the context of the epidemic, the daily routines of China’s elderly populace underwent substantial transformations. The implementation of home-based pandemic containment strategies led to heightened levels of social isolation and loneliness, exerting a discernible influence on the subjective well-being of this demographic. Consequently, residing in retirement apartments has emerged as a more advantageous alternative for elderly individuals capable of self-care. To meet their life and emotional needs and improve their sense of well-being, we used the KANO model to design a health management app for the self-care of older persons. We summarised the functional requirements for the self-care of elderly people, distributed questionnaires to generate a list of requirements, and conducted data analysis. We optimised the low-fidelity prototype based on the usability test results combined with relevant interface design elements to implement emotional interaction design practices for older persons’ self-care. Furthermore, we completed a design evaluation and program optimisation of the design practice to guide the final visual design. The research findings identify the core principles of interactive design for elderly users to enable visual design specifications for improving the lives of the elderly population. This research highlights the need to design more appropriate products that meet demographic characteristics. This work contributes to strengthening the connection between elderly people and society while bridging the ‘digital divide’ based on this population’s cautious approach to technologies and declining abilities to learn.

Effectiveness of Point of Entry Health Screening Measures among Travelers in the Detection and Containment of the International Spread of COVID-19: A Review of the Evidence.

COVID-19 remains a communicable disease with the capacity to cause substantial damage to health and health systems. Enhanced health screening at points of entry (POEs) is a public health measure implemented to support early detection, prevention and response to communicable diseases, such as COVID-19. The purpose of this study was to review the available evidence on the effectiveness of POE health screening in the detection and containment of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was registered under PROSPERO and followed PRISMA guidelines in which the literature between 2019 and 2022 was retrieved from Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Global Health, CINAHL, Embase, Google Scholar and international organizations. A total of 33,744 articles were screened for eligibility, from which 43 met the inclusion criteria. The modeling studies predicted POE screening able to detect COVID-19 in a range of 8.8% to 99.6%, while observational studies indicated a detection rate of 2% to 77.9%, including variants of concern depending on the screening method employed. The literature also indicated these measures can delay onset of the epidemic by 7 to 32 days. Based on our review findings, if POE screening measures are implemented in combination with other public health interventions such as rapid tests, they may help detect and reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Retailing in college towns: spatial location and multimodal commuting

ABSTRACT College town retailers face specific challenges given their unique context. Our study contributes to retailing research by examining college towns to explicate the impact of store-university distance and commuting multimodality. Our research questions are: (1) how does store-university distance moderate the relationship between university foot traffic and retailer foot traffic? (2) How does university foot traffic interact with multimodal commuting in affecting retailer foot traffic? (3) What moderating effects did changes in the containment and health responses during the COVID-19 pandemic exert upon these relationships? Using foot traffic data from 157 Walmart and Target stores in 38 college towns from 2018–2020, we find that university foot traffic positively impacts store visits. Moreover, this positive effect is weakened as the store to university distance increases but is strengthened with greater commuting multimodality. In addition, we find that pandemic related containment and health measures amplify both the negative effect exerted by the distance between the store and university and the positive effect exerted by commuting multimodality upon the relationship between university visits and store visits. This research provides information that can be utilised by government officials and retail managers to enhance consumer accessibility to retail stores in college towns.

No Panic in Pandemic: The Impact of Individual Choice on Public Health Policy

Problem definition: Public health interventions, such as social distancing and lockdown, play an important role in containing infectious disease outbreaks, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Yet, these interventions could cause significant financial losses because of the disruption to regular socioeconomic activities. Moreover, an individual’s activity level is influenced not only by public health policies but also by one’s perception of the disease burden of infection. Strategic planning is required to optimize the timing and intensity of these public health interventions by considering individual responses. Methodology/results: We use the multinomial logit choice model to characterize individual reactions to the risk of infection and public health interventions and integrate it into a repeated Stackelberg game with the susceptible-infected-recovered disease transmission dynamics. We find that the individual equilibrium activity level is higher than the socially optimal activity level because of an individual’s ignorance of the negative externality imposed on others. As a result, implementing lockdown and social distancing policies at moderate disease prevalence may be equivalently critical, if not more, compared with their implementations when the disease prevalence is at its peak level. To verify these findings, we conduct numerical studies based on representative COVID-19 data in Minnesota. Managerial implications: Our results call for policymakers’ attention to consider the impact of individuals’ responses in the planning for different pandemic containment measures. Individuals’ responses in the pandemic may significantly affect the optimal implementation of lockdown and social distancing policies. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0514 .

Cascading risks, interdependent rights, and the progression of vulnerability in the context of pandemic containment measures: Implications for anticipatory action and the humanitarian-development nexus

This paper articulates a human rights-based approach to addressing cascading risks in the context of pandemic containment measures. It sets out to highlight how the principle that human rights are interdependent and interrelated, reflected in normative standards articulated by human rights treaty body mechanisms, can inform anticipatory action and work at the humanitarian-development nexus. Grounding a human rights-based approach in the political-ecological understanding of the progression of vulnerability, it considers how lockdown interfered with the right to freedom of movement and the right to work, which in turn had cascading effects on the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the right to adequate housing and the right to water and sanitation, amongst others. Informed by Scott et al.’s (2023) Framework for Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality (FIRE), the paper outlines specific entry points for integrating this approach at points along the humanitarian-development nexus continuum, grounded in an appreciation of root causes, dynamic pressures and unsafe conditions characteristic of the progression of vulnerability. The article calls for pilot studies to explore the impact of an integrated human rights-based approach to cascading pandemic risk.

The impact of COVID‐19 pandemic on the Thai economy and the effectiveness of monetary policy: A Bayesian DSGE model approach

AbstractThis study estimates a medium‐scale dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model for the Thai economy to evaluate the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic containment policy on key macroeconomic aggregates. The shock to labor supply is considered as the main transmission channel. The paper discussed the role of monetary policy in regard to economic recovery and also identified the dominant shocks driving the business cycle. Thai quarterly series from 2011Q1 to 2021Q2 is used for the Bayesian estimation of the model. Though the pandemic shock caused a sharp decline in output, consumption and investment, the results suggest a fast recovery in the growth rates of the variables in about 2.5 years. At the same time, the dominant shocks that account for output variation in the medium to long term are investment, labor supply and productivity shocks. Monetary policy is effective in shortening the recovery due to its impact on private investment. The key drivers of Thai household consumption in the long run are investment, labor supply and productivity shocks. On average, the investment shock appears to be the key driver of the business cycle at all horizons.

Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in the Rhine-Neckar/Heidelberg Region 01/2021 – 07/2023

In January 2021, the monitoring of circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2 was initiated in Germany under the Corona Surveillance Act, which was discontinued after July 2023. This initiative aimed to enhance pandemic containment, as specific amino acid changes, particularly in the spike protein, were associated with increased transmission and reduced vaccine efficacy.Our group conducted whole genome sequencing using the ARTIC protocol (currently V4) on Illumina's NextSeq 500 platform (and, starting in May 2023, on the MiSeq DX platform) for SARS-CoV-2 positive specimen from patients at Heidelberg University Hospital, associated hospitals, and the public health office in the Rhine-Neckar/Heidelberg region. In total, we sequenced 26,795 SARS-CoV-2-positive samples between January 2021 and July 2023. Valid sequences, meeting the requirements for upload to the German electronic sequencing data hub (DESH) operated by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), were determined for 24,852 samples, and the lineage/clade could be identified for 25,912 samples.The year 2021 witnessed significant dynamics in the circulating variants in the Rhine-Neckar/Heidelberg region, including A.27.RN, followed by the emergence of B.1.1.7 (Alpha), subsequently displaced by B.1.617.2 (Delta), and the initial occurrences of B.1.1.529 (Omicron). By January 2022, B.1.1.529 had superseded B.1.617.2, dominating with over 90%. The years 2022 and 2023 were then characterized by the dominance of B.1.1.529 and its sublineages, particularly BA.5 and BA.2, and more recently, the emergence of recombinant variants like XBB.1.5.Since the global dominance of B.1.617.2, the identified variant distribution in our local study, apart from a time delay in the spread of new variants, can be considered largely representative of the global distribution.om a time delay in the spread of new variants, can be considered largely representative of the global distribution.

Mechanism of surfactant interactions with feline coronavirus: A physical chemistry perspective

HypothesisSurfactants are inexpensive chemicals with promising applications in virus inactivation, particularly for enveloped viruses. Yet, the detailed mechanisms by which surfactants deactivate coronaviruses remain underexplored. This study delves into the virucidal mechanisms of various surfactants on Feline Coronavirus (FCoV) and their potential applications against more pathogenic coronaviruses. ExperimentsBy integrating virucidal activity assays with fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering and laser Doppler electrophoresis, alongside liposome permeability experiments, we have analyzed the effects of non-ionic and ionic surfactants on viral activity. FindingsThe non-ionic surfactant octaethylene glycol monodecyl ether (C10EO8) inactivates the virus by disrupting the lipid envelope, whereas ionic surfactants like Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate and Cetylpyridinium Chloride predominantly affect the spike proteins, with their impact on the viral membrane being hampered by kinetic and thermodynamic constraints. FCoV served as a safe model for studying virucidal activity, offering a faster alternative to traditional virucidal assays. The study demonstrates that physicochemical techniques can expedite the screening of virucidal compounds, contributing to the design of effective disinfectant formulations. Our results not only highlight the critical role of surfactant-virus interactions but also contribute to strategic advancements in public health measures for future pandemic containment and the ongoing challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

Chronologie de la certification ISO 9001:2015 et enquête de satisfaction au sein du centre d’investigations cliniques plurithématique (CIC-P) de l’historique hôpital Saint-Louis en période de pandémie du COVID-19

The main objectives of multidisciplinary clinical investigation center (CIC-P) are to facilitate the availability of new drugs for patients, to enhance the visibility and attractiveness of French clinical research, to improve the quality of early phase trials, and to enhance the value of academic research by evaluating molecules in rare diseases. Since 2017, the CIC-P has been committed to a quality approach process, launching in 2018 its first satisfaction survey on patient care and clinical trial management of all its employees. A second satisfaction survey targeted by profession type was to be launched in 2020, in view of the requirements of the ISO 9001:2015 standard, but the process was interrupted following the coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The successful reorganization of the CIC-P activity during the first containment of the COVID-19 pandemic was driven by the implementation of a quality management system that promotes continuous improvement through the organization and involvement of all the staff. This voluntary and participative approach motivated the CIC-P to apply for the organizational sesame. The ISO 9001:2015 certification of CIC-P aims at increasing its performance, to satisfying its customers and to fully integrate its activities in a continuous improvement process, according to the requirements of this international standard, through the deployment of quality tools such as The Deming wheel (PDCA), an indispensable tool for transformation and reorganization; the analysis of the environment by the strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis tool; the analysis and management of risks by the FMEA method, and all with performance indicators (SMART) and precise objectives at each stage of a project/process. The implementation of satisfaction questionnaires remains the essential tool for evaluating the expectations and needs of interested parties, but also for improving the quality of CIC-P activities and services. All these tools put in place have allowed us to continuously improve the means of production and to constantly improve our organization.

Mathematical Optimization Strategy for Effectiveness Profile Estimation in Two-Dose Vaccines and Its Use in Designing Improved Vaccination Strategies Focused on Pandemic Containment.

Since late 2019, most efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic have focused on developing vaccines. By mid-2020, some vaccines fulfilled international regulations for their application. However, these vaccines have shown a decline in effectiveness several weeks after the last dose, highlighting the need to optimize vaccine administration due to supply chain limitations. While methods exist to prioritize population groups for vaccination, there is a lack of research on how to optimally define the time between doses when two-dose vaccines are administrated to such groups. Under such conditions, modeling the real effect of each vaccine on the population is critical. Even though several efforts have been made to characterize vaccine effectiveness profiles, none of these initiatives enable characterization of the individual effect of each dose. Thus, this paper presents a novel methodology for estimating the vaccine effectiveness profile. It addresses the vaccine characterization problem by considering a deconvolution of relevant data profiles, treating them as an optimization process. The results of this approach enabled the independent estimation of the effectiveness profiles for the first and second vaccine doses and their use to find sweet spots for designing efficient vaccination strategies. Our methodology can enable a more effective and efficient contemporary response against the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as for any other disease in the future.