DOCSLIB.ORG

Mental-Health-Needs-Of-The-Covid-19

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Mental-Health-Needs-Of-The-Covid-19 Global Mental Health Mental health needs of the COVID-19 patients and staff in the Fangcang shelter hospital: cambridge.org/gmh a qualitative research in Wuhan, China 1 1,2 1 1 3 Policy and Systems Jing Lu ,MinZhao , Qianying Wu , Chenyi Ma ,XiangdongDu, Xinchuan Lu3,QiufangJia3 and Chuanwei Li3 Original Research Paper 1Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; 2Suzhou Cite this article: Lu J, Zhao M, Wu Q, Ma C, Guangji Hospital, Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China and 3Shanghai Key Du X, Lu X, Jia Q, Li C (2021). Mental health Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai, China needs of the COVID-19 patients and staff in the Fangcang shelter hospital: a qualitative research in Wuhan, China. Global Mental Abstract Health 8, e33, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1017/ gmh.2021.23 Background. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Fangcang shelter hospitals were opened in Wuhan, China, to isolate and care for patients with mild or mod- Received: 16 December 2020 erate symptoms. The patients and staff in the hospitals faced mental health challenges. This Revised: 8 May 2021 paper reports the experiences and mental health needs from them. Accepted: 7 June 2021 Method. Following the qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted in the Key words: EastWest Lake Fangcang Shelter Hospital, Wuhan on March 2020. Data collection and ana- COVID-19; Fangcang shelter hospital; medical lysis was based on grounded theory. Open coding was adapted and a structured codebook was workers; mental health; patients; qualitative developed through coding seminars. The themes and subthemes were then confirmed through research; Wuhan thematic analysis. The findings were further explained and integrated in a theoretical Author for correspondence: framework. Chuan Wei Li, E-mail: [email protected] Results. A total of 10 COVID-19 patients and 13 staff, including doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, and policemen participated in the interviews. They have common needs, as well as their own needs. The perspectives from the staff also did complement for needs of the patients. The mental health needs were generalized into four themes, that is, basic needs, information and communication, emotional needs, and social support, each with several subthemes. In addition, there were some external factors that regulated the internal needs, which were sum- marized in a theoretical framework. Conclusions. The study indicates the directions on hospital management, mental health ser- vices, policy making, and social work to meet the mental health needs of the inpatients and staff from temporary shelter hospitals like Fangcang in Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Background At the end of 2019, the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was discovered in Wuhan, China, and quickly evolved into a serious epidemic outbreak (Lu et al., 2020). After that, COVID-19 spread rapidly around the world, becoming a public health emergency. According to the World Health Organization (Organization), more than 61 million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19 by 30 November 2020, and more than 1.4 mil- lion people have died. As the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, Wuhan was heavily burdened on the city’s medical system. In order to solve the problem of insufficient beds in the designated hospitals and accelerate the admission of patients, many Fangcang shelter hospitals (FSHs) had been opened (Chen et al., 2020) since 5 February 2020 in Wuhan. FSHs were temporary medical facilities that converted from public venues, such as stadiums and exhibition halls, to isolate and care for patients with mild or moderate symptoms of COVID-19. A total of more than 12 000 confirmed COVID-19 patients had been treated in FSHs (Shu et al., 2020), which © The Author(s), 2021. Published by played a crucial role in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 (Zhou et al., 2020; Wang Cambridge University Press. This is an Open et al., 2020a, 2020b). Access article, distributed under the terms of COVID-19 had caused mental health impacts on both the patients and the medical health the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), workers. The patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 experienced fear of the conse- which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution quences of infection, and also boredom, loneliness, and anger (Xiang et al., 2020) in their and reproduction, provided the original article quarantine. The frontline medical workers were also heavily pressured by risk of infection, is properly cited. inadequate protection, overwork, lack of contact with their families, and exhaustion (Kang et al., 2020a). A cross-sectional study (Kang et al., 2020b) of 994 medical workers in Wuhan found that about 63% of them had mental health problems. Since the FSHs are greatly different from the designated hospitals on patient populations and environments, it is necessary to explore the mental health status of the patients and Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.8, on 29 Sep 2021 at 16:42:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2021.23 2 Jing Lu et al. staff in FSHs. The previous quantitative studies (Dai et al., 2020; Table 1. Semi-structured interview outlines Gu et al., 2020;Liet al., 2020) focused on psychological symp- Participants Questions toms of the participants, but did not include their experiences, feelings, needs, or the effects of some external factors. Patients 1. How is your life in the Fangcang shelter hospital? Therefore, in the study, mental health needs are defined as all self- 2. What is your inner feeling and thought recently? reported thoughts and needs that may be related to mental health. Qualitative design is adopted to explore various mental health 3. What problems are you facing and how to solve it? Do needs of the COVID-19 patients and the staff with different occu- you need any help for that? pations in the FSH, so as to develop recommendations for the 4. How do the virus and the hospitalization affect you? mental health service, FSH management, and policy making. 5. What do you think about the future life after leaving the hospital? Method Staff 1. What do you think about the patients and your relationship with them? Study design, setting, and participants 2. How is your work in the Fangcang shelter hospital? Qualitative research can improve the description and explanation 3. What is your inner feeling and thought recently? of complex, real-world phenomena such as mental health needs (Bradley et al., 2007). In this study, semi-structured interviews 4. What problems are you facing and how to solve it? Do you need any help for that? were conducted and reported following the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) standards (Tong 5. How does the emergency support work in Wuhan et al., 2007). affects you? The face-to-face interviews were carried out in the EastWest Lake Fangcang Shelter Hospital. The interviewer (CWL), who worked in the hospital as a member of the Psychological In every interview, we tried to validate previous findings and Assistance Team from JiangSu, obtained permission for inter- looked for new relevant factors. The conversations continued views from the management. The EastWest Lake Fangcang until the interviewer found no new meaningful viewpoints Shelter Hospital was one of the first three FSHs built in Wuhan emerging. and began to accept COVID-19 patients, mainly of mild symp- A total of 19 interviews were completed, with 23 participants toms, from 7 February 2020. There were 1440 beds, three (10 patients and 13 staff). All the 10 patients and six staff were wards, and several departments including medical, nursing, phar- interviewed individually, and the rest seven staff were interviewed macy, and radiology. The highest number of patients in the hos- in 2–3 persons. They worked together in the hospital. In the inter- pital was 1434 and the total number including all the staff was views, they complemented and contrasted the answers of one more than 3000 (Radio). The medical workers in the hospital another. were mainly from the assistance teams of Xinjiang, Ningxia, Guangdong, and Fujian. Data analysis The confirmed COVID-19 patients and the staff that aged more than 18 years and stayed more than 1 week in the hospital The audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and checked for received our verbal invitation. And the individuals who responded accuracy. All the thoughts, emotions, and demands of the partici- to our invitation formed a convenience sample. They were asked pants in the 19 completed interviews were included in the data to talk about their experience in the FSH after giving the informed analysis. consents. All the interviews took place in independent spaces. The analysis was also based on grounded theory (Corbin and Strauss, 1990). Using the method of open coding, three research- ers (JL, CWL, and QYW), including the interviewer, openly iden- Data collection tified the data into concepts with practical meanings, and then The semi-structured interview outlines (Table 1) were completed compared, combined, and classified the concepts to generate and modified under the guidance of specialists in infectious dis- codes. A structured codebook was developed as dataset of the eases, psychiatry and psychology. We then conducted pre- inductive codes. In the coding seminars of the research team, interviews and make several adjustments to the problem the codebook was supplemented and modified until no new descriptions. codes were proposed. The thematic analysis was then performed According to arrangement of the hospital, the interviews were using the similar comparative analytic process used to produce carried out on 7 March 2020, the day before the hospital was offi- codes, which was a key component of grounded theory.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • WEATHERING COVID-19: Lessons from Wuhan and Milan for Urban Governance and Sustainability
    Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Faculty Scholarship 7-2020 WEATHERING COVID-19: Lessons from Wuhan and Milan for Urban Governance and Sustainability Xiangming Chen Trinity College, [email protected] Yi Teresa Wu Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/facpub Part of the Asian Studies Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Global Crisis ver the first few months of WEATHERING COVID-19: 2020, the novel coronavirus, O which erupted in the Chinese city of Wuhan around 1 January, Lessons from Wuhan and engulfed around 200 countries and regions, infected over 12 million people and killed over 550,000 as of 8 July. Milan for Urban Governance This rapid spread from one locality to the entire world has quickly mobilised and Sustainability our responses to fighting COVID-19. Little collective response, however, has BY XIANGMING CHEN AND YI TERESA WU taken place, leaving most nations to muster their own resources to stem the virus within their closed borders. This has facilitated comparing nation-based data on new cases, death counts and relative performances in containing the The global spread of COVID-19 great cities of the East and West – virus. However, it has overshadowed a has exposed the world’s largest and Wuhan and Milan – have responded local focus on responses to COVID-19, densest urban centres to bearing to the deadly virus, with their especially by the most affected cities. the brunt of this pandemic. The internal and external strengths and invisible virus has forced thriving constraints. We also take the reader The invisible virus has forced metropolises to empty their streets deep into the two cities’ neighbour- and shops to dead spaces absent of hoods for a realistic sense of how thriving metropolises to people and activity.
    [Show full text]
  • China's Mental Health Support in Response to COVID-19
    Ju et al. Globalization and Health (2020) 16:102 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-020-00634-8 DEBATE Open Access China’s mental health support in response to COVID-19: progression, challenges and reflection Yumeng Ju1†, Yan Zhang1,2†, Xiaoping Wang1,2, Weihui Li1,2, Roger M. K. Ng3* and Lingjiang Li1* Abstract The continued spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a serious impact on everyone across the globe, both physically and psychologically. In addition to proactive measures addressing physical survival needs and health protection, China has launched a mental health support system to cope with the widespread psychological stress during the pandemic and its aftermath. In this debate, the authors attempted to depict and reflect upon the overall framework of China’s mental health support, with particular reference to the psychological intervention in response to COVID-19 over the last few months. Although a lot of effort has been made to meet the mental health needs, the accessibility, acceptability and effectiveness of the support system still have much room for improvement. Therefore, it is very important to re-think the predicament and challenge on ways of enhancing public mental health emergency responses in China. The concepts of universality, timeliness and scientific rigour were proposed as a possible reform in preparation for large-scale natural or man-made disasters in the coming future. Keywords: China, COVID-19, Mental health, Psychological intervention, Preparedness Background quarantine and isolation), and a large number of fake Over the last few months, the continued spreading of news and media reports have increased emotional dis- coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a tress among the public [10].
    [Show full text]
  • Neurological Implications of Non-Critically Ill Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 in a Fangcang Shelter Hospital in Wuhan, China
    ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 26 August 2020 doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00895 Neurological Implications of Non-critically Ill Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 in a Fangcang Shelter Hospital in Wuhan, China Nao Yan †, Zhipeng Xu †, Bin Mei, Yongzhe Gao, Dongwei Lv and Junjian Zhang* Department of Neurology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China Edited by: Avindra Nath, Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new viral respiratory disease National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and has become a pandemic. Fever, weakness, and dry cough are the main clinical United States manifestations. However, little is known about neurological symptoms of non-critically ill Reviewed by: COVID-19 patients. Jiawei Wang, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Objective: To investigate the neurological symptoms and implications of patients with Medical University, China non-critically ill COVID-19 patients. Tory P. Johnson, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study investigated all COVID-19 University, United States patients admitted to Wuhan East-West Lake Fangcang shelter hospital. Demographic *Correspondence: data, clinical manifestations, comorbidities, radiological data, the result of nucleic acid Junjian Zhang [email protected] test, and treatments were collected and analyzed. †These authors have contributed Results: Among 1,682 patients with confirmed non-critically ill COVID-19, 509 patients equally to this work and share (30.3%) had neurological symptoms, including myalgia (311, 18.5%), headache (216, first authorship 12.8%), fatigue (83, 4.9%), and dizziness (15, 0.9%). One hundred and fourteen patients Specialty section: (6.8%) were the expansion of pulmonary infection according to their chest CT images and This article was submitted to medical history.
    [Show full text]
  • Can Aerosols and Wastewater Be Considered As Potential Transmissional Sources of COVID-19 to Humans?
    European Journal of Environment and Public Health 2020, 4(2), em0047 e-ISSN: 2542-4904 https://www.ejeph.com Review Article Can Aerosols and Wastewater be Considered as Potential Transmissional Sources of COVID-19 to Humans? Soraia El Baz 1*, Boujamâa Imziln 1 1 Laboratory of Microbial Biotechnologies, Agrosciences and Environment (BioMAgE), Cadi Ayyad University, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, P.O. Box 2390, Marrakech 40000, MOROCCO *Corresponding Author: [email protected] Citation: El Baz, S. and Imziln, B. (2020). Can Aerosols and Wastewater be Considered as Potential Transmissional Sources of COVID-19 to Humans?. European Journal of Environment and Public Health, 4(2), em0047. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejeph/8324 ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Received: 18 Apr. 2020 In view of the current situation regarding the COVID-19 disease, recently, published studies have proved the Accepted: 23 May 2020 higher aerosol and surface stability of COVID-19. This virus, can survive long time on wastewater and aerosol. Therefore, its transmission via contaminated waste surfaces and airborne transmission through aerosols can occur besides close-distance contacts. This article discusses the potential presence of the COVID-19 pandemic on aerosol, wastewater and sewage sludge. This article highlights the need for health protection, which should be considered to curb the rapid spread of COVID‐19. An eventual development of new specific techniques would be of great interest for controlling the environmental dissemination of these viruses in the current and eventual future outbreaks. Finally, levels of infectious virus in poor countries like Africa could be increase, due to lack of wastewater treatment. So, it is clear that to limit the transmission of COVID-19, a high disinfection methods and sustainable international collaborative work are required.
    [Show full text]
  • Macroeconomic Impact of COVID-19 in China and Policy Suggestions
    PricewaterhouseCoopers: Macroeconomic Impact of the COVID-19 in China and Policy Suggestions The outbreak of the COVID-19 not only threatens people’s lives and safety, but also has a significant impact on China’s economic development this year. Based on our close monitoring of the current situation, PwC analyzes the impact of the outbreak on economic growth and individual industries, and proposes countermeasures and macro policy recommendations. Part 1 I. The status and prospect Since the first case confirmed on December 8, 2019, the COVID-19 disease that broke out in Wuhan has continued to spread for 2 months. According to the official data reported on “Sina News”, as of 14:00 on February 10, 2020, the cumulative total of confirmed cases ran up to 40,235 nationwide, while suspect cases were 23,589, and 909 people died. Among them, Hubei Province, the worst-afflicted area, reported 29,631 confirmed cases (16,902 in Wuhan) and 871 deaths (681 in Wuhan). Among other provinces, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Henan each had more than 1,000 confirmed cases. There is no doubt that the severity of this new outbreak has exceeded the SARS 17 years ago, whether in terms of confirmed cases or deaths. Chart 1: Cumulative Nationwide Movements of the COVID-19 Number cases of Number cases of Source: Sina News It is worth noting that, since governments at all levels have significantly strengthened their prevention and control measures after the Spring Festival, cities with severe outbreaks, such as Wuhan, have in fact “sealed up”. In addition, most imported cases in other cities outside Hubei have passed the incubation period.
    [Show full text]
  • My Epidemic Story a Guided Activity Workbook for Children, Families, Teachers and Caregivers
    MY EPIDEMIC STORY A GUIDED ACTIVITY WORKBOOK FOR CHILDREN, FAMILIES, TEACHERS AND CAREGIVERS A simple and straightforward guide that encourages mental health, creative expression, learning and coping. Use it to help children, teenagers and families overcome and go beyond bad memories and fears. Gilbert Kliman, M.D., Edward Oklan, M.D., Harriet Wolfe, M.D. The Children’s Psychological Health Center Culturally modified by China American Psychoanalytic Alliance: Elise Snyder, M.D., You Chen, M.D., Ping Hu, Maranda Sze, Ph.D., Xijie Yang, Ph.D. Copyright © May 20, 2008 The Children’s Psychological Health Center, Inc. 2105 Divisadero St., San Francisco, CA 94115 www.childrenspsychologicalhealthcenter.org Single copy use by downloading at no charge. A Guided Activity Workbook for Children’s Mental Health from The Children’s Psychological Health Center, Inc. 2105 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94115 (415)292-7119 www.childrenspsychologicalhealthcenter.org a nonprofit agency Mass reproduction, translation, modification and distribution rights available by license to governments, schools, mental health agencies and relief organizations. Single copy printing and copying without charge. First Edition as My Earthquake Story Some illustrations by Anne Kuniyuki Oklan, R.N.,are from a prior edition. © Copyright: 1989 Children’s Psychological Health Center, Inc. All rights reserved. My Epidemic Story edition © Copyright: February 16, 2020 Translation and further modification in collaboration with The China American Psychoanalytic Alliance 2 Preface Children, families, and whole societies are facing mental health challenges amidst epidemics such as the current novel Coronavirus has produced. Adult leadership is required to reduce maladaptive responses by children. This guided activity workbook is a small step in that preventive direction.
    [Show full text]
  • COVID-19 Publications - Week 04 2021 944 Publications
    Update January 24 - January 31, 2021, Dr. Peter J. Lansberg MD, PhD Weekly COVID-19 Literature Update will keep you up-to-date with all recent PubMed publications categorized by relevant topics COVID-19 publications - Week 04 2021 944 Publications PubMed based Covid-19 weekly literature update For those interested in receiving weekly updates click here For questions and requests for topics to add send an e-mail [email protected] Reliable on-line resources for Covid 19 WHO Cochrane Daily dashbord BMJ Country Guidance The Lancet Travel restriction New England Journal of Medicine Covid Counter JAMA Covid forcasts Cell CDC Science AHA Oxford Universtiy Press ESC Cambridge Univeristy Press EMEA Springer Nature Evidence EPPI Elsevier Wikipedia Wiley Cardionerds - COVID-19 PLOS Genomic epidemiology LitCovid NIH-NLM Oxygenation Ventilation toolkit SSRN (Pre-prints) German (ICU) bed capacity COVID reference (Steinhauser Verlag) COVID-19 Projections tracker Retracted papers AAN - Neurology resources COVID-19 risk tools - Apps COVID-19 resources (Harvard) Web app for SARS-CoV2 mutations COVID-19 resources (McMasters) COVID-19 resources (NHLBI) COVID-19 resources (MEDSCAPE) COVID-19 Diabetes (JDRF) COVID-19 TELEMEDICINE (BMJ) Global Causes of death (Johns Hopkins) COVID-19 calculators (Medscap) Guidelines NICE Guidelines Covid-19 Korean CDC Covid-19 guidelines Flattening the curve - Korea IDSA COVID-19 Guidelines Airway Management Clinical Practice Guidelines (SIAARTI/EAMS, 2020) ESICM Ventilation Guidelines Performing Procedures on Patients With
    [Show full text]
  • COVID-19 Resources for Clinical Chemistry Laboratories
    COVID-19 Resources for Clinical Chemistry Laboratories Last updated: 8 September 2020 The following is a list of resources related to the laboratory management of the COVID-19 outbreak. Jump to section • Resources from governing bodies • Personal safety and use of PPE • Disease transmission • Diagnostic testing • Clinical features and the role of laboratory testing • Paediatrics • Maternal medicine • Treatment for COVID-19 • Research This collection of resources reflects a rapidly changing situation. We have not critically appraised all resources cited here for scientific validity but tried to present information that is believed to help laboratory professionals in formulating their local policies in a better- informed manner. The interim advice or conclusions presented here may change as more information is gathered. If you wish to add a resource or have any other feedback, please get in touch via the contact details below: Dr Simon Thompson Chemical Pathology Registrar, NSW Health Pathology [email protected] Contents Resources from governing bodies ................................................................................. 3 Australian Government advice ....................................................................................... 3 NSW Health ................................................................................................................... 3 World Health Organisation ............................................................................................. 3 RCPA ............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • COVID-19 - Exposure Office Hours Telephone Triage Protocols | Adult | 2021
    COVID-19 - Exposure Office Hours Telephone Triage Protocols | Adult | 2021 DEFINITION ⦁ Exposed (close contact) to a person who has been diagnosed (confirmed by testing) or suspected to have COVID-19. ⦁ Patient is well and has no common COVID-19 symptoms (i.e., cough, fever, shortness of breath, muscle aches). ⦁ Questions about COVID-19. Close Contact COVID-19 Exposure is defined as: ⦁ Living in the same house with a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 case. ⦁ Being within 6 feet (2 meters) of a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 case for a total of 15 minutes or more during a 24 hour period. Examples of such close contact include kissing or hugging, sharing eating or drinking utensils, carpooling, close conversation, or performing a physical examination (relevant to healthcare providers). ⦁ OR having direct contact with infectious secretions of a confirmed COVID-19 case (e.g., being coughed on). ⦁ See CDC website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/. The following are not Close Contact exposures: ⦁ Walking by a person who has COVID-19. ⦁ Being outdoors and keeping safe distancing (6 feet; 2 meters). Congregate Setting is defined as: ⦁ A congregate setting is a place where a group of people live or work in close proximity to each other. ⦁ Examples are correctional facilities, long term care facilities, homeless shelters, and meat-packing plants. Note to Triager: ⦁ During a time of community spread of COVID-19, patients with cough, fever, shortness of breath, or other compatible COVID symptoms should be suspected as having COVID-19. ⦁ Triagers should use their clinical judgment, but generally will want to use the COVID-19 - Diagnosed or Suspected guidelines when a patient calls with cough, shortness of breath, or a combination of typical COVID symptoms and there is community spread.
    [Show full text]
  • Clinical and Historical Features Associated with Severe COVID-19 Infection: a Systematic Review
    medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.23.20076653; this version posted April 27, 2020. 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 . Clinical and historical features associated with severe COVID-19 infection: a systematic review Pigoga, JL1, MPH; Friedman, A1,2, MSc; Broccoli, M3, MD; Hirner, S4, MS; Naidoo, AV1, FCEM(SA); Singh, S1, FCEM(SA); Werner, K1, MSc; Wallis, LA1, MBChB, FRCEM, PhD Author affiliations 1. Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa 2. University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA 3. Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 4. University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA ABSTRACT Background: There is an urgent need for rapid assessment methods to guide pathways of care for COVID-19 patients, as frontline providers need to make challenging decisions surrounding rationing of resources. This study aimed to evaluate existing literature for factors associated with COVID-19 illness severity. Methods: A systematic review identified all studies published between 1/12/19 and 19/4/20 that used primary data and inferential statistics to assess associations between the outcome of interest - disease severity - and historical or clinical variables. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and the WHO Database of Publications on Coronavirus Disease were searched. Data were independently extracted and cross- checked independently by two reviewers using PRISMA guidelines, after which they were descriptively analysed.
    [Show full text]
  • Bioaerosol Size Effect in COVID-19 Transmission
    Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 7 April 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202004.0093.v1 Communication Bioaerosol Size Effect in COVID-19 Transmission Marcelo I. Guzman 1,* 1 Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-(859)-323-2892 Abstract: The fast spread of COVID-19 constitutes a worldwide challenge to the public health, educational, and trade systems, affecting the overall wellbeing of human societies. The high transmission and mortality rates of this virus, and the unavailability of a vaccine and antidote, resulted in the decision of multiple governments to force measurements of social distancing. Thus, it is of general interest to consider the validity of the proposal for keeping a social distancing of at least 6.0 ft (1.8 m) from persons with COVID-19. The eventual exposure to the bioaerosol can result in the deposition o the pathogen in the respiratory track of the host causing disease and an immunological response. In the atmospheric context, the work evaluates the effect of aerodynamic particle size in carrying RNA copies of the novel coronavirus. A COVID-19 carrier person talking, sneezing, or coughing at distance of 1.8 m can still provide a pathogenic bioaerosol load with submicron particles that remain viable in air for up to 3 hours for exposure of healthy persons near and far the source in a stagnant environment. The deposited bioaerosol creates contaminated surfaces, which if touched can act as a path to introduce the pathogen by mouth, nose, or eyes and cause disease.
    [Show full text]
  • The Warehouse Ethical Sourcing Report 2021
    ETHICAL SOURCING REPORT 2021 2 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION APPENDICES 04. CEO introduction 22. 2019 – 2020 KPI table 05. Programme at a glance 23. Factory policy poster 06. Top 20 source countries 24. Apparel tier 1 factory list 2020 SUMMARY 26. Apparel tier 2 factory list 08. 2020 summary 36. Apparel brand list 10. Her Project updates 37. Other categories factory list Getting the most from this report 12. COVID-19 updates 49. Country wage & working hour table A brief overview of our programme and progress in 2020 can be viewed on pages 5 and 8. Our key areas of focus 13. Responding to forced labour risks and achievements can be found on pages 10 to 20. SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS Finally, the appendices from page 22 reveal performance trends over the past two years, and feature our factory 16. Better Cotton Initiative policy poster, brand and factory lists and source country wage and working hour data. 17. Forest Stewardship Council OUR POLICY IN PRACTICE 19. Policy in practice ETHICAL SOURCING REPORT 2021 INTRODUCTION. ETHICAL SOURCING REPORT 2021 4 CEO’S INTRODUCTION. APPENDICES programme. I believe, given our scale and challenges and achievements to date, diversity, this is the leading programme as well the road ahead. We invite both of its kind within the New Zealand retail your encouragement and suggestions for Ethical Sourcing is just one programme sector. improvement. within The Warehouse’s suite of “Sustainable & affordable” initiatives. Within The Warehouse Group’s 2020 Finally, I want to express my sincere Sustainable & affordable is The POLICY IN PRACTICE POLICY Annual Report, I pledged that COVID-19 gratitude to our ethical sourcing Warehouse’s guiding statement and will not slow down our commitment specialists and their colleagues within branding device representing our to becoming one of New Zealand’s our 200 person strong sourcing team.
    [Show full text]