Epidemiological and Economic Effects of Lockdown
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Effect of Fireworks, Chinese New Year and the COVID-19 Lockdown on Air Pollution and Public Attitudes
Special Issue on COVID-19 Aerosol Drivers, Impacts and Mitigation (VII) Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 20: 2318–2331, 2020 ISSN: 1680-8584 print / 2071-1409 online Publisher: Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2020.06.0299 Effect of Fireworks, Chinese New Year and the COVID-19 Lockdown on Air Pollution and Public Attitudes Peter Brimblecombe1,2, Yonghang Lai3* 1 Department of Marine Environment and Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan 2 Aerosol Science Research Center, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan 3 School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong ABSTRACT Concentrations of primary air pollutants are driven by emissions and weather patterns, which control their production and dispersion. The early months of the year see the celebratory use of fireworks, a week-long public holiday in China, but in 2020 overlapped in Hubei Province with lockdowns, some of > 70 days duration. The urban lockdowns enforced to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic give a chance to explore the effect of rapid changes in societal activities on air pollution, with a public willing to leave views on social media and show a continuing concern about the return of pollution problems after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Fireworks typically give rise to sharp peaks in PM2.5 concentrations, though the magnitude of these peaks in both Wuhan and Beijing has decreased under tighter regulation in recent years, along with general reductions in pollutant emissions. Firework smoke is now most evident in smaller outlying cities and towns. The holiday effect, a reduction in pollutant concentrations when normal work activities are curtailed, is only apparent for NO2 in the holiday week in Wuhan (2015–2020), but not Beijing. -
COVID-19: How Hateful Extremists Are Exploiting the Pandemic
COVID-19 How hateful extremists are exploiting the pandemic July 2020 Contents 3 Introduction 5 Summary 6 Findings and recommendations 7 Beliefs and attitudes 12 Behaviours and activities 14 Harms 16 Conclusion and recommendations Commission for Countering Extremism Introduction that COVID-19 is punishment on China for their treatment of Uighurs Muslims.3 Other conspiracy theories suggest the virus is part of a Jewish plot4 or that 5G is to blame.5 The latter has led to attacks on 5G masts and telecoms engineers.6 We are seeing many of these same narratives reoccur across a wide range of different ideologies. Fake news about minority communities has circulated on social media in an attempt to whip up hatred. These include false claims that mosques have remained open during 7 Since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown. Evidence has also shown that pandemic, the Commission for Countering ‘Far Right politicians and news agencies [...] Extremism has heard increasing reports of capitalis[ed] on the virus to push forward their 8 extremists exploiting the crisis to sow division anti-immigrant and populist message’. Content and undermine the social fabric of our country. such as this normalises Far Right attitudes and helps to reinforce intolerant and hateful views We have heard reports of British Far Right towards ethnic, racial or religious communities. activists and Neo-Nazi groups promoting anti-minority narratives by encouraging users Practitioners have told us how some Islamist to deliberately infect groups, including Jewish activists may be exploiting legitimate concerns communities1 and of Islamists propagating regarding securitisation to deliberately drive a anti-democratic and anti-Western narratives, wedge between communities and the British 9 claiming that COVID-19 is divine punishment state. -
Social Media, Misinformation and the Covid-19 Pandemic
SOCIAL MEDIA, MISINFORMATION AND HOW CAN PEOPLE IDENTIFY ONLINE MISINFORMATION THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC RELATED TO COVID-19? Developed with assistance from David Hill, MD > Online misinformation is common, but during the COVID-19 pandemic it has become “viral.” It is important to check the source for any information you read online. > A good rule of thumb: if you are looking for scientific information, it is best to access it from scientific or federal websites (Centers for Disease Control, US Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, US Health and Human Services) or from state and local health departments because they vet the information and provide reliable sources. HOW CAN PEOPLE POINT OUT MISINFORMATION IN A CONSTRUCTIVE MANNER? > Avoid telling someone to take a post down. This can create “forbidden fruit” and actually encourage others to share it. If you are going to point out misinformation, it is best to also provide links to credible sources with accurate information. HOW CAN SOCIAL MEDIA BE HELPFUL TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC? > Social media is a great way to share resources and confirm information. > It allows us to socialize when we may be stuck at home due to social-distancing measures. > It also provides a way to check in with your friends and family to see how they are managing during the pandemic. HOW CAN SOCIAL MEDIA BE HELPFUL TO HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS DURING THE PANDEMIC? > Social media helps health care professionals to stay up-to-date with rapidly evolving information. They can see information when it is released, as well as expert reactions to it. -
Fight, Flight Or Lockdown Edited
Fight, Flight or Lockdown: Dorn & Satterly 1 Fight, Flight or Lockdown - Teaching Students and Staff to Attack Active Shooters could Result in Decreased Casualties or Needless Deaths By Michael S. Dorn and Stephen Satterly, Jr., Safe Havens International. Since the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, there has been considerable interest in an alternative approach to the traditional lockdown for campus shooting situations. These efforts have focused on incidents defined by the United States Department of Education and the United States Secret Service as targeted acts of violence which are also commonly referred to as active shooter situations. This interest has been driven by a variety of factors including: • Incidents where victims were trapped by an active shooter • A lack of lockable doors for many classrooms in institutions of higher learning. • The successful use of distraction techniques by law enforcement and military tactical personnel. • A desire to see if improvements can be made on established approaches. • Learning spaces in many campus buildings that do not offer suitable lockable areas for the number of students and staff normally in the area. We think that the discussion of this topic and these challenges is generally a healthy one. New approaches that involve students and staff being trained to attack active shooters have been developed and have been taught in grades ranging from kindergarten to post secondary level. There are however, concerns about these approaches that have not, thus far, been satisfactorily addressed resulting in a hot debate about these concepts. We feel that caution and further development of these concepts is prudent. Developing trend in active shooter response training The relatively new trend in the area of planning and training for active shooter response for K-20 schools has been implemented in schools. -
SOCIAL DISTANCING + COVID-19: Staying Home During a Pandemic Saves Lives
SOCIAL DISTANCING + COVID-19: Staying home during a pandemic saves lives It is important that people understand the seriousness of this situation. In just a week’s time, Louisiana went from zero positive cases of COVID-19 to more than 100 cases. This is one of the highest per capita rates of COVID-19 cases in the entire country, and it is expected to continue unless we each change our behaviors. Right now, everyone is urged to take aggressive measures to contain this virus. We all have a role to play in protecting not just ourselves but our neighbors, friends and everyone else we interact with. What is social distancing and how does it work? When we look at what has worked in stopping the spread of COVID-19 in other countries, it’s protective measures to encourage “social distance.” o Social distancing is a public health practice that aims to prevent sick people from coming into close contact with healthy people in order to reduce opportunities for disease transmission. o Social distancing can include large-scale measures like closing schools and bars, as well as individual decisions such as avoiding crowds and minimizing non- essential travel. With COVID-19, the goal of social distancing is to slow down the outbreak to reduce the chance of infection among high-risk populations and to reduce the burden on health care systems and workers. Experts call this “flattening the curve” – successful social distancing can prevent surges in illness that could overwhelm health care systems. Social distancing can help lower the pace and extent of spread of COVID-19. -
The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions on Dogs & Dog Owners in the UK
The impact of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on dogs & dog owners in the UK 26th August 2020 Table of contents Executive summary 1 Introduction 2 Dog demographics 4 Gastrointestinal health 4 Dog owners 5 Owners’ bond with their dogs 5 Owners’ feelings about their dog during lockdown 6 Contingency planning 8 Management of dogs 9 Routine changes 9 Exercise 9 Walk location 9 On/off lead walking 9 Frequency of walking 9 Duration of walking 9 Meeting other dogs 9 House rules 9 Time left alone 10 Dog behaviour 12 Behaviour towards adults 12 Behaviour towards children 13 General observations 14 Reactivity 14 Attention seeking behaviour 14 Behaviour on walks 14 Separation-related behaviour 14 Behaviour when about to be left 14 Behaviour when left 14 Enrichment, games and training 16 Toys 17 Puppies: socialisation/habituation 18 Conclusions 19 Future work 20 Appendix 21 Dogs Trust 1 Executive summary Lifestyle changes ensued for many people across the United Kingdom Dog behaviour (UK) in the Spring of 2020 due to ‘lockdown’ restrictions imposed to • Dogs’ behaviour towards household members was reported curb the spread of a newly emerged virus, SARS-CoV-2, which caused by owners to have changed considerably during lockdown, a global pandemic of the disease known as COVID-19. with large increases seen in the proportion of dogs reported to display attention-seeking and ‘clingy’ behaviours. Compared with More than 6,000 dog owners living in the UK completed our online February, there was an 82% increase in the proportion of owners survey between the 4th – 12th May 2020 (the most restrictive phase of who reported that their dog whined or barked when someone the lockdown measures). -
The Lockdown
TEACHING TEACHING The New Jim Crow TOLERANCE LESSON 6 A PROJECT OF THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER TOLERANCE.ORG THE NEW JIM CROW by Michelle Alexander CHAPTER 2 The Lockdown We may think we know how the criminal justice system works. Television is overloaded with fictional dramas about police, crime, and prosecutors—shows such as Law & Order. A charismatic police officer, investigator, or prosecutor struggles with his own demons while heroically trying to solve a horrible crime. He ultimately achieves a personal and moral victory by finding the bad guy and throwing him in jail. That is the made-for-TV ver- sion of the criminal justice system. It perpetuates the myth that the primary function of the system is to keep our streets safe and our homes secure by BOOK rooting out dangerous criminals and punishing them. EXCERPT Those who have been swept within the criminal justice system know that the way the system actually works bears little resemblance to what happens on television or in movies. Full-blown trials of guilt or innocence rarely occur; many people never even meet with an attorney; witnesses are routinely paid and coerced by the government; police regularly stop and search people for no reason whatso- ever; penalties for many crimes are so severe that innocent people plead guilty, accepting plea bargains to avoid harsh mandatory sentences; and children, even as young as fourteen, are sent to adult prisons. In this chapter, we shall see how the system of mass incarceration actually works. Our focus is the War on Drugs. The reason is simple: Convictions for drug offenses are the single most Abridged excerpt important cause of the explosion in incarceration rates in the United States. -
Effects of Social Distancing on the Spreading of COVID-19
www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Efects of social distancing on the spreading of COVID‑19 inferred from mobile phone data Hamid Khataee1, Istvan Scheuring2,3, Andras Czirok4,5 & Zoltan Neufeld1* A better understanding of how the COVID‑19 pandemic responds to social distancing eforts is required for the control of future outbreaks and to calibrate partial lock‑downs. We present quantitative relationships between key parameters characterizing the COVID‑19 epidemiology and social distancing eforts of nine selected European countries. Epidemiological parameters were extracted from the number of daily deaths data, while mitigation eforts are estimated from mobile phone tracking data. The decrease of the basic reproductive number ( R0 ) as well as the duration of the initial exponential expansion phase of the epidemic strongly correlates with the magnitude of mobility reduction. Utilizing these relationships we decipher the relative impact of the timing and the extent of social distancing on the total death burden of the pandemic. Te COVID-19 pandemic started in late 2019 and within a few months it spread around the World infecting 9 million people, out of which half a million succumbed to the disease. As of June 2020, the transmission of the disease is still progressing in many countries, especially in the American continent. While there have been big regional diferences in the extent of the pandemic, in most countries of Europe and Asia the initial exponen- tial growth has gradually transitioned into a decaying phase 8. An epidemic outbreak can recede either due to reduction of the transmission probability across contacts, or due to a gradual build up of immunity within the population. -
SARS-Cov-2 Variants ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SARS-CoV-2 variants ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report was developed by PHG Foundation for FIND (the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics). The work was supported by Unitaid and UK aid from the British people. We would like to thank all those who contributed to the development and review of this report. Lead writers Chantal Babb de Villiers (PHG Foundation) Laura Blackburn (PHG Foundation) Sarah Cook (PHG Foundation) Joanna Janus (PHG Foundation) Reviewers Devy Emperador (FIND) Jilian Sacks (FIND) Marva Seifert (FIND/UCSD) Anita Suresh (FIND) Swapna Uplekar (FIND) Publication date: 11 March 2021 URLs correct as of 4 March 2021 SARS-CoV-2 variants CONTENTS 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3 2 SARS-CoV-2 variants and mutations .................................................................................... 3 2.1 Definitions of variants of concern ...................................................................................... 4 2.2 Initial variants of concern identified ................................................................................... 5 2.3 Variants of interest ............................................................................................................ 7 3 Impact of variants on diagnostics ........................................................................................ 7 3.1 Impact of variants of concern on diagnostics ................................................................... -
Instructor Quick Start Guide Lockdown Browser™ and Respondus Monitor
™ LockDown Browser Instructor Quick Start Guide and (Blackboard Learn Edition) Respondus Monitor™ WHAT IS RESPONDUS LOCKDOWN BROWSER? BUILDING BLOCK INSTALLATION Respondus LockDown Browser is a custom browser that The “Respondus LockDown Browser Building Block” must locks down the testing environment in Blackboard. When be installed by the Blackboard system administrator. If the students use LockDown Browser to take a Blackboard test, system administrator has made the Building Block available they are unable to print, copy, go to other websites, access for all courses, then the Respondus LockDown Browser other applications, or close a test until it is submitted for tool will appear under the available tools for your course. grading. Tests created for use with LockDown Browser It will also appear under the Course Tools section of the cannot be accessed with standard browsers, either. Control Panel. LockDown Browser functions much like a standard browser, If the Building Block has been installed by the system but some options have been removed or work differently. administrator but it doesn’t appear in your course, follow The list below highlights some of these differences. these steps make it available. 1. Login to your course and expand the Control Panel. 2. Expand the Customization menu and click Tool Availability. 3. Click the Available checkbox beside the Respondus LockDown Browser row. 4. Click Submit to enable the Building Block for your course. PREPARING A TEST To set up a test in Blackboard that requires students to use LockDown Browser, follow these steps: 1. Make sure the test has been deployed in the Blackboard course. -
Interim Pre-Pandemic Planning Guidance: Community
Interim Pre-pandemic Planning Guidance: Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Mitigation in the United States— Early, Targeted, Layered Use of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions NT O E F D M E T F R E A N P S E E D U N A I IC TE R D S ME TATES OF A OF TRAN NT SP E O M R T T R A A T P I O E N D U N A I C T I E R D E M ST A ATES OF Page 2 was blank in the printed version and has been omitted for web purposes. Page 2 was blank in the printed version and has been omitted for web purposes. Interim Pre-Pandemic Planning Guidance: Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Mitigation in the United States— Early, Targeted, Layered Use of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions February 2007 Page 4 was blank in the printed version and has been omitted for web purposes. Page 4 was blank in the printed version and has been omitted for web purposes. Contents I Executive Summary ........................................................................ 07 II Introduction .................................................................................. 17 III Rationale for Proposed Nonpharmaceutical Interventions .......................... 23 IV Pre-pandemic Planning: the Pandemic Severity Index ............................. 31 V Use of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions by Severity Category ................... 35 VI Triggers for Initiating Use of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions ................... 41 VII Duration of Implementation of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions.......................... 45 VIII Critical Issues for the Use of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions ................... 47 IX Assessment of the Public on Feasibility of Implementation and Adherence ..... 49 X Planning to Minimize Consequences of Community Mitigation Strategy ....... 51 XI Testing and Exercising Community Mitigation Interventions .................... -
Assessing the Impact of Human Mobility to Predict Regional Excess
medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.19.21257056; this version posted May 22, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license . Assessing the Impact of Human Mobility to Predict Regional Excess Death in Ecuador Leticia Cuéllar, Irene Torres*, Ethan Romero-Severson, Riya Mahesh, Nathaniel Ortega, Sara Pungitore, Ruian Ke, and Nicolas Hengartner Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA *Fundación Octaedro, Quito, Ecuador January 31, 2020 Abstract COVID-19 outbreaks have had high mortality in low- and medium-income countries such as Ecuador. Human mobility is an important factor influencing the spread of diseases possibly leading to a high burden of disease at the country level. Drastic control measures, such as complete lockdown are effective epidemic controls, yet in practice, one hopes that a partial shutdown would suffice. It is an open problem to determine how much mobility can be allowed while controlling an outbreak. In this paper, we use statistical models to relate human mobility to the excess death in Ecuador while controlling for demographic factors. The mobility index provided by GRANDATA, based on mobile phone users, represents the change of number of out-of-home events with respect to a benchmark date (March 2nd, the first date the data is available). The study confirms the global trend that more men are dying than expected compared to women, and that people under 30 show less deaths than expected.