RESTRICTIONS ON RESIDENT CONTACT IN ASSISTED LIVING DURING COVID-19: A MIXED-METHODS STUDY

Efforts to protect assisted living residents from COVID-19 by limiting contact warrant attention. Assisted living was developed as a social model where care is provided in a home-like environment. Given the social dimensions of assisted living, we sought to better understand the effects of COVID-19-based restrictions in assisted living. We surveyed (online) assisted living community (ALC) administrators (N=130) between October 2020 and March 2021 as part of a larger project on COVID-19 in Florida. We then interviewed a subset of participants (N=26). Administrators of chain-affiliated ALCs (compared to non-chain) were 2.7 times more likely to report resident-contact limitations had disrupted care (p=0.02). Larger ALCs (25 or more beds) were marginally more likely to report care disruptions (p<0.10). Three main themes emerged from our qualitative interviews – varying interpretation of COVID-19 guidelines, effect of precautions on residents, assisted living as a home. Policy implications of these findings will be discussed.

A Pandemic Resilient Framework for Sustainable Soil Health and Food Security: Response beyond COVID-19

The vulnerability of the highly contagious coronavirus pandemic has bushwhacked the entire world and crippled the global development to a state of tremendous medical emergency. All the vital sectors of society such as the agriculture, industry, trade, and economics, education have perceived serious blows. The medical research for suitable medications is underway;however, patient history reveals that a highly immune body can bear the infection without any morbidity or mortality. This phenomenon brings forward the necessity of research and policy enactment for ensuring a nutrition-sensitive agricultural system. Soil serving as the medium of crop growth, also inculcates several researchable issues like carbon sequestration, balanced fertilization, bio-fortification, composting and rearing beneficial microbes, wastewater treatment, soil pollution remediation, and remote-sensing-based land capability studies. The post COVID-19 period soil research should integrate other agricultural disciplines to strive for the coveted sustainable goal of a hunger-free world where food and nutrition security persists for disease resilience. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Amitava Rakshit, Somsubhra Chakraborty, Manoj Parihar, Vijay Singh Meena, P.K. Mishra, H.B. Singh;individual chapters, the contributors.