Supply chain disruption recovery in the evolving crisis-Evidence from the early COVID-19 outbreak in China.

The speed of recovery from supply chain disruption has been identified as the predominant factor in building a resilient supply chain. However, COVID-19 as an example of an evolving crisis may challenge this assumption. Infection risk concerns may influence production resumption decision-making because any incidents of infection may lead to further shutdowns of production lines and undermine firms' long-term cash flows. Sampling 244 production resumption announcements by Chinese manufacturers in the early COVID-19 crisis (February-March 2020), our analysis shows that, generally, investors react positively to production resumptions. However, investors perceived the earlier production resumptions were higher risk (indicated by declined stock price). Such concerns were exacerbated by more locally confirmed cases of COVID-19 but were less salient for manufacturers with high debts (liquidity pressure). This study calls for a reassessment of the current disruption management mindset in response to new evolving crises (e.g., COVID-19) and provides theoretical, practical, and policy implications for building resilient supply chains.

The effects of supply chain diversification during the COVID-19 crisis: Evidence from Chinese manufacturers.

Resilience amidst a crisis is vital to survival in the turbulent contemporary business environment. Diversifying the supply chain has been proposed as an important means to build this capability. However, there is insufficient empirical evidence demonstrating the merits of supply chain diversification during a crisis. Sampling 1434 Chinese manufacturing firms amidst the COVID-19 crisis, our two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression analyses show that firms with a diversified supply base are associated with a larger supply stream (increased abnormal inventory) and increased profitability during the COVID-19 crisis, including both the disruption and recovery periods. In addition, firms with a diversified customer base are associated with a larger demand stream (reduced abnormal inventory) during the COVID-19 crisis (both disruption and recovery periods) but show increased profitability only during the recovery period. Our study contributes to the literature on supply chain risk, disruption, diversification, and inventory management. We also discuss the practical implications of supply chain structure design in building resilience.

High-dose intravenous vitamin C attenuates hyperinflammation in severe coronavirus disease 2019.

OBJECTIVE: High-dose intravenous vitamin C (HIVC) is a major concern when treating patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study was to assess the clinical efficacy of HIVC on hyperinflammation in patients with severe COVID-19. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19, a subset of whom was treated with HIVC. The medical records were screened for demographic data, laboratory findings, and medications, as well as initial and repeated values of multiple inflammatory markers for analysis. RESULTS: A high percentage of patients presented with hyperinflammation based on inflammatory marker levels above the upper limit of normal (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, 80.1%; interleukin-6, 91.5%; and tumor necrosis factor-α, 67.4%). Eighty-five (36%) patients received HIVC therapy. After treatment with HIVC, the levels of inflammatory markers displayed a significant decrease compared with those of patients without HIVC. Furthermore, the percentages of reduction in inflammatory marker levels were higher in patients receiving HIVC compared with those in patients treated without HIVC. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that HIVC was independently associated with percentages of reduction in levels of inflammatory markers. CONCLUSIONS: HIVC has the potential benefit of attenuating hyperinflammation by reducing inflammatory marker levels in patients with severe COVID-19.

Hyper-Inflammatory Response Involves in Cardiac Injury Among Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019.

BACKGROUND: Inflammation can facilitate development of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and cardiac injury is associated with worse clinical outcomes. However, data are relatively scarce on the association between hyper-inflammatory response and cardiac injury among COVID-19 patients. METHODS: The study was designed based on severe and critically ill patients with COVID-19. Information on clinical characteristics and laboratory examinations was collected from the electronic medical records and analyzed. RESULTS: There were 32.4% (n = 107) of patients with cardiac injury. The median age was 67 years, and 48.8% (n = 161) of patients were men. Hypertension was the most common in 161 (48.8%) patients, followed by diabetes (16.7%, n = 55) and coronary heart disease (13.3%, n = 44). Compared to cases without cardiac injury, those with cardiac injury were older, had higher proportions of coronary heart disease, and leukocyte counts, significantly elevated concentrations of N-terminal pro-B-Type natriuretic peptide, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R), IL-6, and IL-8, but lower lymphocyte counts. A significant positive correlation was observed between high-sensitivity troponin I and inflammatory cytokines. Logistic regression analysis showed that hs-CRP, TNF-α and IL-6 were independent risk factors for cardiac injury. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac injury was associated with elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines among severe and critically ill patients with COVID-19, suggesting that hyper-inflammatory response may involve in cardiac injury.

Weaving public health and safety nets to respond the COVID-19 pandemic.

How do governments take strategic actions in weaving public health and safety nets to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic? Embracing Moore's strategic action framework, this study investigates how municipal governments can configure authorizing environment-operational capacity-public value attributes to weave public health and safety nets, in order to prevent and control the public health and safety emergency. Leveraging fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) with a sample of 323 Chinese cities, we identify a distinctive taxonomy of four equally effective configurations of urban actions in blocking COVID-19 transmission: social reassurance, proactive defence, decisive resiliency, and strengthened coercion. Overall, this study provides a novel insight of public health and safety management into battles against COVID-19 in human society.