Digital marketing of online food delivery services in a social media platform before and during COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the promotion of food and beverage and marketing strategies used by online food delivery services (OFDS) in a social media platform before and during the pandemic in Brazil. DESIGN: Publicly available data were extracted from OFDS Instagram accounts. Posts published 6 months immediately before and after the first case of COVID-19 in Brazil were randomly sampled. Two independent authors coded the posts' content. Food and beverage items featured in posts were classified according to the NOVA food system classification. Marketing strategies were coded according to protocols from previous studies. SETTING: Top three OFDS Instagram accounts in Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: Posts published in the period studied (n 304). RESULTS: During the pandemic, the proportion of posts featuring at least one food item decreased from 71·6 % to 40·2 %, and the proportion of ultra-processed foods decreased from 57·6 % to 27·9 %. Before the pandemic, the most widely used marketing strategies were branding elements (80·7 %), product imagery (unbranded) (48·9 %) and partnerships/sponsorship (35·2 %). While during the pandemic, branding elements (62·2 %) continued to be the most applied, but were followed by the use of videos/graphics interchange format/boomerangs (34·1 %) and corporate social responsibility (31·7 %). The most frequent COVID-19 marketing strategies were 'social responsibility in the pandemic' (30·5 %), 'combatting the pandemic' (28·0 %) and 'accelerating digitalisation' (20·7 %). CONCLUSIONS: OFDS advertisements on a social media platform placed less emphasis on food items, but improved the nutritional quality of foods and beverages featured in posts. A COVID-washing approach was highlighted, especially through the use of social responsibility marketing during the pandemic.

Food environments and the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: analysis of changes observed in 2020.

Evidence of changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in food security and nutrition conditions, as well as in different food environments, has called researchers' attention to substantial changes taking place in individuals' dietary habits. The aim of this study is to present and address changes that have already happened in food environments, during the first COVID-19 pandemic year, in a middle-income country. Multiple changes were observed and had direct impact on the population, among them, worsened health and nutrition indicators and advanced dietary inequalities, as well as on its food profile in different life cycles, if one takes into consideration aspects such as food availability, financial access and dietary quality.

EFFECT OF EARLY TREATMENT WITH FLUVOXAMINE ON RISK OF EMERGENCY CARE AND HOSPITALIZATION AMONG PATIENTS WITH COVID-19: THE TOGETHER RANDOMIZED PLATFORM CLINICAL TRIAL (preprint)

BackgroundRecent evidence indicates a potential therapeutic role of fluvoxamine for COVID-19. In the TOGETHER randomized platform clinical trial for acutely symptomatic patients with COVID-19, we assessed the efficacy of fluvoxamine vs. placebo in preventing either extended emergency room observation or hospitalization due to COVID-19. Herein, we report the preliminary findings. MethodsThis placebo-controlled, randomized, adaptive, platform trial conducted among symptomatic Brazilian adults confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2 included eligible patients with a known risk factor for progression to severe disease. Patients were randomly assigned to either fluvoxamine (100 mg twice daily for 10 days) or placebo. The primary endpoint was a composite outcome of emergency room observation for >6 hours or hospitalization from COVID-19 up to 28 days post randomization using intention to treat. Modified intention to treat (mITT) explored patients receiving at least 24 hours of treatment before a primary outcome event. Secondary outcomes included viral clearance at day 7, time to hospitalization, mortality, and adverse drug reactions. We used a Bayesian analytic framework to determine effects along with probability of success of intervention compared to placebo. The trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04727424) and is ongoing. FindingsThe study team screened 9020 potential participants for this trial. The trial was initiated on June 2, 2020, with the current protocol reporting randomization from January 15, 2021 to August 6th 2021, when the trial arms were stopped for superiority. A total of 3238 patients were allocated to fluvoxamine (n=739), placebo (n=733) and other treatments (n=1766). Herein, we report the effectiveness of fluvoxamine vs. a concurrent placebo control. The average age of participants was 50 years (range 18-102 years); 57% were female. The proportion of patients observed in an emergency room for >6 hours or admitted to hospital due to COVID-19 was lower for the fluvoxamine group compared to placebo (77/739 vs 108/733; Relative Risk [RR]: 0.71; 95% Bayesian Credible Interval [95% BCI]: 0.54 - 0.93), with a probability of superiority of 99.4% surpassing the prespecified superiority threshold of 97.6% (risk difference 4.3%). Of the composite primary outcome events, 88% were hospitalizations. Findings were similar for the mITT analysis (RR0.68, 95% BCI : 0.50- 0.91). We found no significant relative effects between the fluvoxamine and placebo groups on viral clearance at day 7 (Odds ratio [OR]: 0.75; 95% Confidence Intervals [95% CI]: 0.53 - 1.07), mortality (OR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.36 - 1.30), time to death (Hazard ratio [HR]: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.58 - 1.08), days hospitalized (Mean Difference (MD) 1.22 days; 95% CI: 0.98 - 1.53), number of days ventilated (MD 1.10; 95% CI: 0.70 - 1.73) or other secondary outcomes. Data capturing all 28 days of follow-up will be reported after August 26th, 2021. InterpretationTreatment with fluvoxamine (100 mg twice daily for 10 days) among high-risk outpatients with early diagnosed COVID-19, reduced the need for extended emergency room observation or hospitalization. FundingThe trial was supported by FastGrants and The Rainwater Foundation.

Anosmia: A marker of infection by the new corona virus.

The diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is based on the identification of common symptoms such as fever, tiredness and dry cough. Anosmia and ageusia are also in fact symptoms of the infection with the new coronavirus and recently were considered as symptoms by the World Health Organization. In this case report we present the new onset anosmia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The patient, 31-year-old, reported olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions as initial symptoms of mild-to-moderate form of the COVID-19. Therefore, chemosensory dysfunctions should serve as a warning to health professionals as a possible marker of infection with the new corona virus.