Thermal responses of face-masked pedestrians during summer: An outdoor investigation under tree-shaded areas.

During the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, most citizens were cooperative towards the face-masking policy; however, undeniably, face masking has increased complaints of thermal discomfort to varying degrees and resulted in potential health hazards during summer. Thus, a thermal comfort survey was conducted under tree-shaded areas generally preferred by pedestrians to explore the thermal response of face-masked pedestrians. Thirty-two subjects, with and without masks, participated in walking experiments, and their thermal parameters and physiological indicators were recorded; moreover, the subjects were asked to fill in subjective questionnaires. The results showed that although tree shades significantly reduced the average radiant temperature, dampness in the mask may cause some discomfort symptoms, among which intense sweating (54.55%) and tachycardia (42.18%) accounted for the largest proportion. Based on thermal indices, it could be concluded that face-masking does not significantly affect the thermal comfort of subjects walking in shaded areas. Notably, a 30-min walk in tree-shaded areas with face masking does not adversely affect human health or quality of life. Thus, the present assessment of the thermal safety of humans in shaded environments provides reference data for determining thermal comfort levels during outdoor walking with face masking.

Food Safety in Post-COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Countermeasures.

Understanding food safety hazard risks is essential to avoid potential negative heath impacts in the food supply chain in a post-COVID-19 pandemic era. Development of strategies for virus direction in foods plays an important role in food safety and verification. Early warning, tracing, and detection should be implemented as an integrated system in order to mitigate thecoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, in which the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is critical as it not only concerns screening of populations but also monitoring of possible contaminated sources such as the food supply chain. In this review, we point out the consequences in different aspects of our daily life in the post-COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of the food supply chain and the food industry. We summarize the possible transmission routes of COVID-19 in the food supply chain before exploring the development of corresponding detection tools of SARS-CoV-2. Accordingly, we compare different detection methods for the virus in foods, including different pretreatments of food matrices in the virus detection. Finally, the future perspectives are proposed.