Conclusion

This conclusion of the compendium of essays by Anthony E. Clark summarizes the content and significance of his research on the history of Catholicism in China. It was written as the COVID-19 virus was sweeping across the globe, and Clark reflects upon the comparisons between the virus' outbreak at Wuhan in 2019 and two French Catholic missionaries, François-Régis Clet, and Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, who were martyred in the Wuchang district of Wuhan in the mid-nineteenth century. Also considered in this conclusion is the trend among scholars to depict China's relationship with the West and Christianity as one of "conflict” or "cooperation,” highlighting the two extremes of either irreconcilable difference or congruous sameness. Clark concludes this collection of essays with the suggestion that the historical exchange between China and the West has been rather an admixture of conflict and cooperation, but defined mostly as a relationship of friendship. © 2020, The Author(s).

Well-being and working from home during COVID-19

Purpose The authors track the well-being of individuals across five European countries during the course of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and relate their well-being to working from home. The authors also consider the role of pandemic-policy stringency in affecting well-being in Europe. Design/methodology/approach The authors have four waves of novel harmonised longitudinal data in France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Sweden, covering the period May-November 2020. Well-being is measured in five dimensions: life satisfaction, a worthwhile life, loneliness, depression and anxiety. A retrospective diary indicates whether the individual was working in each month since February 2020 and if so whether at home or not at home. Policy stringency is matched in per country at the daily level. The authors consider both cross-section and panel regressions and the mediating and moderating effects of control variables, including household variables and income. Findings Well-being among workers is lower for those who work from home, and those who are not working have the lowest well-being of all. The panel results are more mitigated, with switching into working at home yielding a small drop in anxiety. The panel and cross-section difference could reflect adaptation or the selection of certain types of individuals into working at home. Policy stringency is always negatively correlated with well-being. The authors find no mediation effects. The well-being penalty from working at home is larger for the older, the better-educated, those with young children and those with more crowded housing. Originality/value The harmonised cross-country panel data on individuals' experiences during COVID-19 are novel. The authors relate working from home and policy stringency to multiple well-being measures. The authors emphasise the effect of working from home on not only the level of well-being but also its distribution.

Expanding COVID-19 Vaccine Availability: Role for Combined Orthogonal Serology Testing (COST)

BACKGROUND: The persisting Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and limited vaccine supply has led to a shift in global health priorities to expand vaccine coverage. Relying on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) molecular testing alone cannot reveal the infection proportion, which could play a critical role in vaccination prioritization. We evaluated the utility of a combination orthogonal serological testing (COST) algorithm alongside RT-PCR to quantify prevalence with the aim of identifying candidate patient clusters to receive single and/or delayed vaccination. METHODS: We utilized 108,505 patients with suspected COVID-19 in a retrospective analysis of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR vs. IgG-nucleocapsid (IgG_NC) antibody testing coverage in routine practice for the estimation of prevalence. Prospectively, an independent cohort of 21,388 subjects was simultaneously tested by SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR and IgG_NC to determine the prevalence. We used 614 prospective study subjects to assess the utility of COST (IgG_NC, IgM-spike (IgM_SP), and IgG-spike (IgG_SP)) in establishing the infection proportion to identify a single-dose vaccination cohort. RESULTS: Retrospectively, we observed a 6.3% (6871/108,505) positivity for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR, and only 2.3% (2533/108,505) of cases had paired IgG_NC serology performed. Prospectively, IgG_NC serology identified twice the number of COVID-positive cases in relation to RT-PCR alone. COST further increased the number of detected positive cases: IgG_NC+ or IgM_SP+ (18.0%);IgG_NC+ or IgG_SP+ (23.5%);IgM_SP+ or IgG_SP+ (23.8%);and IgG_NC+ or IgM_SP+ or IgG_SP+ (141/584 = 24.1%). CONCLUSION: COST may be an effective tool for the evaluation of infection proportion and thus could define a cohort for a single dose and/or delayed vaccination.