ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has led many countries to implement restrictions on individual freedom to stop the contagion. The imposition of lockdowns has affected many socio-economic aspects and, in particular, eating habits, highlighting the need to analyse the healthiness of new consumption patterns. The aim of our study was to investigate the changes in adherence to the Mediterranean diet, a dietary model universally recognized as healthy, that have occurred both during and since the lockdown. The subsequent profiling of consumers allowed us to understand which sociodemographic and psychographic factors favoured the development of more or less adherence to Mediterranean diet consumption patterns. The study was conducted by administering a questionnaire to a representative sample of Italians and New Yorkers. Both groups, defined by deep socio-economic differences and by their own eating habits compared to the Mediterranean diet model, were affected by similar lockdown measures. The data collected were processed by cluster analysis that allowed to identify four homogeneous groups with respect to the adherence to the Mediterranean diet model. The results highlight a worrying situation with respect to the impacts of the pandemic on maintaining a proper dietary style according to the principles of the Mediterranean diet. In fact, there has been a general worsening trend due to an increase in consumption, in part linked to emotional eating, which is a cause for concern about the potential future impacts on the health of consumers. The study highlights the need, therefore, to implement actions by public decision-makers aimed at raising the awareness of citizens on the issue of correct eating habits and at developing adequate food policies to stem the trend towards unhealthy diets.
ABSTRACT
While the role played by air pollution and meteorological conditions on SARS-Cov-2 transmission is still subject of a scientific controversy, we have extended our analysis on this association by studying the impact of particulate on the beginning of the second wave in Emilia-Romagna (Italy), in the period October-November 2020. Again, we found many clues in favour of this hypothesis, with new results that shed a particular light on the time varying effect of the particulate on the virus spread. Specifically, we found a strong magnitude of correlation between the PM10 particulate and CoViD-19 infections, peaking at 6–7th day lags for contagions, while this magnitude drops to a medium level value with 9–11th day lags. This is of special interest, if we consider that the specialized literature suggests a median CoViD-19 incubation period of almost 6 days before that infected people display symptoms. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Going into 2021 many European countries have faced subsequent strong waves of COVID-19 infections that forced governments to reestablish many of the restrictions imposed in the 2020 spring, after a period of relative calm in the summer when the pandemic seemed to be under control. Here, we examine the period prior to the resurgence of the pandemic in autumn, following the interregional mobility due to Italian tourism. Further to a preliminary analysis, we investigate on the spread of the pandemic in Italy during the summer 2020, relating the number of infections with tourism data. In particular, we put the focus on the internal tourism (as international mobility was restricted at the time) between the various Italian regions for the summer holidays. The intuition is that tourist flows, due to the lift of travel restriction in the period when most people went on vacation, has been a determining factor in bringing back the virus, in areas where there were only a handful of cases, thus kick starting the second wave that hit Italy in autumn. © 2021 ACM.