Contextual variables associated with stress and well-being in early childhood households during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for science, policy, and practice

Background: As the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) unfolded across the US in the spring of 2020, many families with young children experienced uniquely challenging circumstances. In addition to concerns about the health and well-being of themselves and their children, many parents and caregivers faced changes in employment status, loss of income, and sudden changes in childcare availability. Interrelated challenges occurred in safety net programs, including rapid increases in the numbers eligible for such programs (especially related to income loss), lack of access to face-to-face delivery of services in critical areas such as childcare and child protection, and the need for new services such as emergency childcare for workers in essential jobs. Alongside these distressing developments, social distancing introduced further practical and mental health challenges, for which there was no precedent to inform best practices. Methods: This presentation will describe a rapid response project initiated in April 2020 involving weekly nationally representative surveys of households with children under 5. The primary purpose of the surveys was to gather actionable science-based, data-driven information to inform federal and state policy about the best ways manage the situation in order to buffer children from long-term toxic stress effects, and to support parents and other caregivers. Results: We will present results of analyses using longitudinal interrupted time-series analyses of the weekly survey data to document trends in child, family, and relational well-being across time, and predictors of specific outcomes including parent and child mental health. Conclusions: We will also discuss impacts of the project on policy.

Norwich COVID-19 testing initiative pilot: evaluating the feasibility of asymptomatic testing on a university campus.

BACKGROUND: There is a high prevalence of COVID-19 in university-age students, who are returning to campuses. There is little evidence regarding the feasibility of universal, asymptomatic testing to help control outbreaks in this population. This study aimed to pilot mass COVID-19 testing on a university research park, to assess the feasibility and acceptability of scaling up testing to all staff and students. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional feasibility study on a university research park in the East of England. All staff and students (5625) were eligible to participate. All participants were offered four PCR swabs, which they self-administered over two weeks. Outcome measures included uptake, drop-out rate, positivity rates, participant acceptability measures, laboratory processing measures, data collection and management measures. RESULTS: 798 (76%) of 1053 who registered provided at least one swab; 687 (86%) provided all four; 792 (99%) of 798 who submitted at least one swab had all negative results and 6 participants had one inconclusive result. There were no positive results. 458 (57%) of 798 participants responded to a post-testing survey, demonstrating a mean acceptability score of 4.51/5, with five being the most positive. CONCLUSIONS: Repeated self-testing for COVID-19 using PCR is feasible and acceptable to a university population.