Stringent Containment Research Articles

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.

Antimicrobial resistance: Molecular drivers and underlying mechanisms

Ancient humans evaded lethal, tropical infections by migrating away from pathogen reservoirs to colder regions where the climate served as a physiological barrier to growth of pathogenic microorganisms. In the contemporary world, aversion of bacterial infections is being dominantly governed by a plethora of antimicrobial drugs which are deemed to be a boon to the society owning to their instant effectiveness, fewer stringent containment and transportation requirements, wider accessibility and economic feasibility. Nonetheless, antibiotic effectivity gradually declined as more microbes began evolving tolerance mechanisms (drug inactivation, drug efflux, drug target modification and more) against them. Invention of sensitive technologies paved way for fresh revelations including how conjugative plasmids in tandem with other mobile genetic elements (MGEs) contribute to the expansion of AMR gene pool. In this commentary, we revise the multifaceted processes associated with the origin (in microbial and human populations), advancement (antibiotic misuse, excessive use of antimicrobial resistance genes as selective markers in cloning pursuits) and dissemination of AMR, thereby, resolving confusions, unveiling new facts and targets that could lay the groundwork for novel therapies.

Challenges in Technical Education in Bolivia During COVID-19 Pandemic

This research delves into the profound effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on technical and technological education within Bolivia’s Higher Education sub-sector, particularly focusing on Technical and Technological Training Institutes. The interruption of practical teaching, inherent in the curriculum of these institutes, due to stringent containment measures imposed by the Bolivian State since 2020, has presented significant challenges for both educators and students. Through a comprehensive examination employing interviews, surveys, and focus groups, the study identifies key concerns such as limited internet access, insufficient ICT proficiency, and pedagogical hurdles specific to technical subjects. The transition to virtual learning has widened the pedagogical gap in technical education, exacerbated by disparities in technological resources, particularly impacting rural educators and those teaching practical courses. Economic vulnerability among technical professionals, especially in the informal sector, underscores the necessity for financial literacy and access to credit. As Bolivia moves towards resuming in-person classes, the study advocates for sustained teacher training in ICTs, development of virtual labs for practical subjects, and targeted social programs to support vulnerable technical professionals.

Engineering stringent genetic biocontainment of yeast with a protein stability switch

Synthetic biology holds immense promise to tackle key problems in resource use, environmental remediation, and human health care. However, comprehensive safety measures are lacking to employ engineered microorganisms in open-environment applications. Genetically encoded biocontainment systems may solve this issue. Here, we describe such a system based on conditional stability of essential proteins. We used a destabilizing domain degron stabilized by estradiol addition (ERdd). We ERdd-tagged 775 essential genes and screened for strains with estradiol dependent growth. Three genes, SPC110, DIS3 and RRP46, were found to be particularly suitable targets. Respective strains showed no growth defect in the presence of estradiol and strong growth inhibition in its absence. SPC110-ERdd offered the most stringent containment, with an escape frequency of <5×10−7. Removal of its C-terminal domain decreased the escape frequency further to <10−8. Being based on conditional protein stability, the presented approach is mechanistically orthogonal to previously reported genetic biocontainment systems.

Healthcare Systems and COVID-19 Mortality in Selected OECD Countries: A Panel Quantile Regression Analysis.

The pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has exerted an unprecedented impact on the health of populations worldwide. However, the adverse health consequences of the pandemic in terms of infection and mortality rates have varied across countries. In this study, we investigate whether COVID-19 mortality rates across a group of developed nations are associated with characteristics of their healthcare systems, beyond the differential policy responses in those countries. To achieve the study objective, we distinguished healthcare systems based on the extent of healthcare decommodification. Using available daily data from 2020, 2021, and 2022, we applied quantile regression with non-additive fixed effects to estimate mortality rates across quantiles. Our analysis began prior to vaccine development (in 2020) and continued after the vaccines were introduced (throughout 2021 and part of 2022). The findings indicate that higher testing rates, coupled with more stringent containment and public health measures, had a significant negative impact on the death rate in both pre-vaccination and post-vaccination models. The data from the post-vaccination model demonstrate that higher vaccination rates were associated with significant decreases in fatalities. Additionally, our research indicates that countries with healthcare systems characterized by high and medium levels of decommodification experienced lower mortality rates than those with healthcare systems involving low decommodification. The results of this study indicate that stronger public health infrastructure and more inclusive social protections have mitigated the severity of the pandemic's adverse health impacts, more so than emergency containment measures and social restrictions.

The Sequential Extraction of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Bottom Ash: Heavy Metals Mobility and Sustainable Application of Ashes

This manuscript focuses on the sustainable utilization of municipal waste incineration ashes in construction, taking into account their substantial concentration of beneficial elements and the potential environmental pollution caused by the leaching of toxic elements due to naturally occurring processes. To assess heavy metal mobility in ashes, a sequential extraction method based on the European Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) was applied. It enables the determination of heavy metal fractions and provides valuable insights into their potential environmental impact and bioavailability. More than 80% of Cd, and Zn, and over 75% of Cu, exhibited strong associations with the most mobile exchangeable fraction, while over 60% of Al and Fe were predominantly bound to reducible. The distribution of As and Cr was relatively balanced between exchangeable and oxidizable fractions, whereas 100% of Pb was exclusively associated with oxidizable fractions, indicating immobilization of this element in the ash. The calculated Risk Assessment Codes and Individual Contamination Factors indicated a quite high to very high risk level for the element’s mobility and environmental contamination. For elements like Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn, higher concentrations in the samples are associated with higher overall environmental risk. For elements like As and Cr, higher concentrations in the samples are associated with lower overall environmental risk. Studied ash exhibits potential as a resource, but equally it demands rigorous environmental management to ensure responsible utilization. The observed metal mobilization underscores the necessity for stringent containment and treatment measures to mitigate the risk of environmental contamination.

Navigating economic turmoil: Chilean businesses during COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine rollouts

ObjectivesThis study evaluates the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns, differentiated by their stringency, on the sales of Chilean businesses across various size categories and industries throughout 2020 and 2021. It also explores the role of the vaccination campaign and the implementation of the Mobility Pass in mitigating the negative economic effects of stringent containment measures. MethodsThe study uses administrative data from the Chilean Internal Revenue Service (SII), examining sales across different business sizes and industries, from March 2020 to December 2021. Through an econometric analysis, we estimate the effects of lockdowns on business sales during two distinct periods: initial reliance on dynamic non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) pre-vaccine, and a subsequent stage characterized by high vaccine uptake and reduced NPI stringency. ResultsLockdowns significantly reduced sales across all business sizes and most industries during the first period, with microenterprises and certain service sectors experiencing the highest decline. The national vaccination campaign and the introduction of the Mobility Pass in the second period appears to have mitigated the negative effects of lockdowns, primarily benefiting micro and small firms. ConclusionsThe study highlights the trade-offs between health and economic outcomes during the pandemic, stressing the importance to alleviate mobility restrictions post-vaccine rollout to ease the economic strain on businesses. The findings call for targeted support measures for MSMEs and vulnerable industries affected by NPIs.

Neoliberalism and governmental and individual responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic: A cross‐national analysis

AbstractGiven the deficiencies of traditional government capacity indicators and cultural factors (e.g., individualism) in explaining the discrepancies of different agents' responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, the present study proposed and examined the role of neoliberalism, a novel cultural tradition of knowledge emphasizing the principles of free markets and self‐governance, as an additional explanation of the discrepancies in the governmental and individual responses to the pandemic. Analyzing policy responses of 106 nations and personal responses from 105,203 individuals in 104 nations during the first wave of the pandemic, we found that nation‐level neoliberalism (delineated by the economic freedom index) negatively predicted the nonlinear trajectories of government policy responses to contain the pandemic. Specifically, in more neoliberal countries, stringent containment policy responses showed a sharper decline in the later stage of the first wave of the pandemic. Moreover, nation‐level neoliberalism negatively predicted individuals' pandemic‐protective attitudes and behaviors. All these effects are independent of and incremental to those of nation‐level individualism. In conclusion, this study sheds light on how neoliberalism could lead to negative consequences during large‐scale, long‐lasting public threats, offering practical guidance for adjusting public crisis management in the future.

Political Manipulation Behind the COVID-19 ‘Color Code’ in Italy?

During the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Italian government implemented stringent containment measures (lockdown) to curb the spread of the virus. However, in the subsequent wave, a regional approach was adopted, categorizing areas into different colored zones with varying restrictions based on local risk levels. This study aims at investigating whether, in addition to health considerations, political factors such as the facilitation of mobility flows influenced the imposition of regional restrictions. The underlying premise is that if restrictions are solely driven by public health factors as mandated by law, the probability of assigning a particular color to a region should be determined solely by these health-related factors. Using probit and logit models on a regional panel dataset, our findings suggest potential indications of political manipulation.

Business resilience: Lessons from government responses to the global COVID-19 crisis

This study explores the survival of firms across countries, and what factors contribute to their ability to withstand large-scale exogenous shocks, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. Using corporate default risk as a measure of non-resilience, our empirical results from 97 countries reveal that stringent COVID-19 containment measures created a significant resilience test for businesses worldwide. Further tests suggest that cash holdings, knowledge assets, international sales, and access to foreign capital markets are crucial for global businesses to pull through exogenous shocks. Country-level institutional qualities also play an essential role in shaping business resilience during a crisis. Our study is the first to comprehensively analyze the drivers of business resilience across diverse countries using the COVID-19 outbreak as a major global crisis, providing a nuanced understanding of this topic in international business.

Fueling conspiracy beliefs: Political conservatism and the backlash against COVID‐19 containment policies

AbstractAmid the COVID‐19 pandemic, people have witnessed a deluge of conspiracy theories and disinformation. As the coronavirus poses a significant threat to individuals' lives, these conspiracy theories are dangerous, as they erode public trust and undermine government efforts to fight the virus. This paper examines the political determinants of COVID‐19 conspiracy beliefs. Particularly, we analyze how government policy responses to the pandemic and individuals' ideological predispositions interact to shape people's tendencies to believe conspiracy theories. Using survey data from 22 advanced industrial countries, we show that political conservatives are more prone to conspiracy beliefs than liberals. More importantly, this tendency is reinforced when the government adopts stringent containment policies. Our results suggest that governments' policy efforts to contain the coronavirus can trigger an unintended backlash from political conservatives. This study has important implications for the behavioral and attitudinal effects of government containment policies that are often overlooked.

Tracking economic fluctuations with electricity consumption in Bangladesh

This paper establishes electricity consumption as an indicator for tracking economic fluctuations in Bangladesh. It presents monthly data on national electricity consumption since 1993 and subnational daily consumption data since February 2010. Electricity consumption is strongly correlated with other high-frequency indicators of economic activity, and it has declined during natural disasters and the COVID-19 lockdowns. The paper estimates an electricity consumption model that explains over 90% of the variation in daily consumption based on a quadratic trend, seasonality, within-week variation, national holidays, Ramadan, and temperature. Deviations from the model prediction can act as an indicator of subnational economic fluctuations. For example, electricity consumption in Dhaka fell around 40% below normal in April and May 2020 during the first COVID-19 lockdown and remained below normal afterwards. The later lockdowns, in contrast, had much smaller impacts, in line with less stringent containment measures and more effective adaptation.

Polarized Politics: Protest Against COVID-19 Containment Policies in the USA

Abstract Protest against containment policies in U.S. states is fueled by two drivers: the stringency of containment policies and the partisan control over the governorship and legislatures in each state. In our analysis of the period from March 2020 to March 2022, we find more protest events in states fully controlled by Democrats than in Republican controlled states both in a sample consisting of all states and a balanced sample in which we constrain observations to those red and blue states with on average similarly stringent containment policies. Protest was therefore politicized, and we find that partisanship exerts a roughly equal substantive effect on the number of protest events as the stringency of containment policies. If we assume no direct effect of partisanship on protest but allow for causal heterogeneity along partisan lines in the effect of containment policies, we find that the same increase in the stringency of policies evokes a stronger protest response in blue states than in red states.

Heightened risk of unintended pregnancy among sex workers and sex worker organizations' response during the stringent COVID-19 containment measures in East and Southern Africa.

The UNFPA 2022 State of the World Population (SWOP) report recognises that certain populations of young women and girls are at a higher risk of unintended pregnancy, but did not adequately address the grave situation of female sex workers (FSWs), who experience the worst sexual and reproductive health outcomes, especially during humanitarian crises. This study assesses the risks of unintended pregnancy among FSWs and sex worker organizations? response during the stringent COVID-19 containment measures in East and Southern Africa (ESA). A mixed-methods approach consisting of a desk review, key informant interviews and an online survey was used for data collection. Key informants and survey respondents included representatives of sex worker-led organisations and networks, organisations providing services to sex workers, development partners, advocacy organisations and donors, with priority given to key informants who had direct experience of providing services to sex workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 21 key informants were interviewed and 69 respondents participated in the online survey, with representation from 14 out of 23 countries in the ESA region. The study findings show that the disruption to livelihoods and threats to human rights occasioned by the stringent COVID-19 containment measures intersected with sex workers' access to contraception and risk of unintended pregnancy. Looking to the uncertain future of humanitarian crises, the study concludes by outlining critical issues that need to be addressed to ensure resilience of SRHR services for populations in vulnerable positions, such as sex workers.

COVID‐19 intensity across U.S. states and the liquidity of U.S. equity markets

AbstractWe study the effects of COVID‐19 intensity on equity market liquidity across U.S. states. We exploit cross‐sectional variation in cases and deaths to investigate any association with the deterioration of stock liquidity of firms whose headquarters or operations are in the corresponding state(s). Our motivation stems from several underlying economic channels such as order processing costs, inventory costs, and adverse selection costs. We find strong negative relations between pandemic intensity and various intra‐day liquidity measures. Our results are more pronounced for firms operating in states with more stringent containment and health measures and within industries with greater risk exposure.

Recombinant Cedar Virus: A Henipavirus Reverse Genetics Platform.

The isolation of Cedar virus, a nonpathogenic henipavirus that is closely related to the highly pathogenic Nipah virus and Hendra virus, provides a new platform for henipavirus experimentation and a tool to investigate biological differences among these viruses under less stringent biological containment. Here, we detail a reverse genetics system used to rescue two replication-competent, recombinant Cedar virus variants: a recombinant wild-type Cedar virus and a recombinant Cedar virus that express a green fluorescent protein from an open reading frame inserted between the phosphoprotein and matrix genes. This recombinant Cedar virus platform may be utilized to characterize the determinants of pathogenesis across the henipaviruses, investigate their receptor tropisms, and identify novel pan-henipavirus antivirals safely under biosafety level-2 conditions.

The Post-pandemic Impact on Nature and the Need for Sustainable Recovery Strategies

Covid-19 pandemic is not only threatening public health, it also caused major decline in several other sectors when most countries in the world taking stringent containment measures to flatten the infection curve. But, it also led to the reduction in water and air pollutions that gives advantage to the environment. Since the transportation and industrial activities reduced dramatically, the emission of greenhouse gasses significantly reduced at the lowest rate. It allows the quality of air in the main cities getting better, while the natural environment could recover slowly. In addition, some animals are observed to get their natural life back and the environment including wildlife is having a recovery period and enjoyable time during this moment. However, it might not last very long, since another issue arise affecting environment again. The plastic pollution is reported to increase due to littered disposable mask and glove to the streets, escalators, drains, rivers, beaches and ocean. Littered surgical masks and medical gloves are clogging major waterways. At the same time, marine mammals such as seabirds and turtles are at risk of severe injuries and death as they mistakenly see the bright colours of latex gloves and masks as food to consume. Besides, the lockdown has almost negligible effect to climate crisis according to the recent studies since it has little impact to overall CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. At the meantime, rebound effect is expected to occur more significantly months after the lockdown order is lifted especially with large government investment to promote a rapid return to economic recovery. Therefore, while we are fighting the pandemic for the good of all people and the country, we should also put environmental care into our consideration. Islam teaches us several principles related to environment protection that comprise of the concept of guardianship on earth, preservation of environment, the mercy and manner towards animals and environment, recognition to other creatures and their contribution to humans, including a reminder from God to keep ecological sustainability through the concept of balance. The lesson from Islamic teachings is necessary especially during this recovery period from the pandemic. This chapter ended with list of policy recommendation on how to properly reset, restore and recover a nation in the post-lockdown period without the expense of environment.

Pandemic Meets Endemic: The Role of Social Inequalities and Failing Public Health Policies as Drivers of Disparities in COVID-19 Mortality among White, Black, and Hispanic Communities in the United States of America.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed the United States of America (U.S.) under enormous strain, leaving it with higher deaths during the first wave of the outbreak compared to all other advanced economies. Blacks and Hispanics were among those hardest hit by the virus-a fact attributed to enduring problems related to the social determinants of health adversely affecting Communities of Color (CoC). In this study, we ask which distinct factors relating to policy stringency and community vulnerability influenced COVID-19 mortality among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics during the first year of the pandemic. To address this question, we utilized a mix of correlational and regression analyses. Findings point to the highly divergent impact of public policy and vulnerability on COVID-19 mortality. Specifically, we observed that state-led measures aimed at controlling the spread of the virus only improved mortality for Whites. However, pre-existing social determinants of health (i.e., population density, epidemiological and healthcare system factors) played a significant role in determining COVID-19 outcomes for CoC, even in the face of stringent containment measures by states. This suggests that state-led policy to address present and/or future public health crises need to account for the particular nature of vulnerability affecting Blacks and Hispanics in the U.S.

Who Loves Lockdowns? Public Service Motivation, Bureaucratic Personality, and Support for COVID-19 Containment Policy

Policies adopted to curb the spread of COVID-19 impose limits on individual freedom and although some citizens have consistently supported containment policy, others have resisted. Beyond political orientation, however, little research has explored the attitudinal basis of support for stringent virus containment policy. We argue that individuals with high levels of public service motivation (PSM) will more readily accept the sacrifices entailed by containment policy and thereby express stronger support for it. Second, we argue that the positive relationship between PSM and containment policy support is both mediated by trust in government and moderated by bureaucratic personality, the latter denoting a favorable orientation towards rules in general. Using a country-wide sample of 568 South Korean citizens collected in the fall of 2021, we estimate a conditional process model of support for COVID-19 policy stringency. We find that PSM has both a direct and indirect relationship with support via trust in government and that the indirect effect is moderated by bureaucratic personality, though not in the expected direction. We also report the results of a post hoc analysis which suggests interesting differences in how individuals evaluate rules that limit individual versus organizational freedom.

Enhancing empowerment in young adults during the COVID-19 era in Italy through the Photovoice technique

The spread of COVID-19 has led to increasingly stringent containment measures. After the first period of lockdown, there has been an easing of measures worldwide. However, this choice has helped bring about a second wave to be faced by many states. The present research was conducting during the period in which it was necessary for the population to find strategies for living with COVID-19. The proposed action research envisaged the use of Photovoice and, due to social distancing, was carried out online. A total of 250 young adults were involved with the aim of bringing out individual and community solutions for effective coexistence with COVID-19. The data, collected through a triangulation process, were analysed on the basis of grounded theory and the support of NVivo 12. The results highlight how online Photovoice is an effective tool for implementing individual and community empowerment and for identifying solutions to live with COVID-19.