Inter-regional environmental inequality under lasting pandemic exacerbated by residential response.

Pandemics greatly affect transportation, economic and household activities and their associated air pollutant emissions. In less affluent regions, household energy use is often the dominant pollution source and is sensitive to the affluence change caused by a persisting pandemic. Air quality studies on COVID-19 have shown declines in pollution levels over industrialized regions as an immediate response to pandemic-caused lockdown and weakened economy. Yet few have considered the response of residential emissions to altered household affluence and energy choice supplemented by social distancing. Here we quantify the potential effects of long-term pandemics on ambient fine particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) and resulting premature mortality worldwide, by comprehensively considering the changes in transportation, economic production and household energy use. We find that a persisting COVID-like pandemic would reduce the global gross domestic product by 10.9 % and premature mortality related to black carbon, primary organic aerosols and secondary inorganic aerosols by 9.5 %. The global mortality decline would reach 13.0 % had the response of residential emissions been excluded. Among the 13 aggregated regions worldwide, the least affluent regions exhibit the greatest fractional economic losses with no comparable magnitudes of mortality reduction. This is because their weakened affluence would cause switch to more polluting household energy types on top of longer stay-at-home time, largely offsetting the effect of reduced transportation and economic production. International financial, technological and vaccine aids could reduce such environmental inequality.

Reflections on City Planning and Transportation System under the Normalization of COVID-19 Pandemic Based on Network Survey in the Era of Big Data

In order to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on urban transportation and provide policy recommendations for city and transportation planning and management under the normalization of the pandemic, this article conducted an online survey to examine urban mobility change in Beijing. Combined with the current status of transportation operations, this article studied the opportunities and challenges faced by future urban transportation planning, construction and management. The results show that the travel numbers declined during the pandemic and people prefer to travel by cars and bicycles. In the end, this article put forward reflections on city planning and transportation system including creating an efficient life and commuting circle, reshaping the street space to be more friendly for active mobility, building the on-demand and resilient transportation system and promoting the integration of advanced technologies and traffic governance to enhance the resilience of transports system and achieve the smooth operation of urban transportation.

Early predictive factors of progression from severe type to critical ill type in patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The current worldwide pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed a serious threat to global public health, and the mortality rate of critical ill patients remains high. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that early predict the progression of COVID-19 from severe to critical illness. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included adult patients with severe or critical ill COVID-19 who were consecutively admitted to the Zhongfaxincheng campus of Tongji Hospital (Wuhan, China) from February 8 to 18, 2020. Baseline variables, data at hospital admission and during hospital stay, as well as clinical outcomes were collected from electronic medical records system. The primary endpoint was the development of critical illness. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to identify independent factors that were associated with the progression from severe to critical illness. RESULTS: A total of 138 patients were included in the analysis; of them 119 were diagnosed as severe cases and 16 as critical ill cases at hospital admission. During hospital stay, 19 more severe cases progressed to critical illness. For all enrolled patients, longer duration from diagnosis to admission (odds ratio [OR] 1.108, 95% CI 1.022-1.202; P = 0.013), pulse oxygen saturation at admission <93% (OR 5.775, 95% CI 1.257-26.535; P = 0.024), higher neutrophil count (OR 1.495, 95% CI 1.177-1.899; P = 0.001) and higher creatine kinase-MB level at admission (OR 2.449, 95% CI 1.089-5.511; P = 0.030) were associated with a higher risk, whereas higher lymphocyte count at admission (OR 0.149, 95% CI 0.026-0.852; P = 0.032) was associated with a lower risk of critical illness development. For the subgroup of severe cases at hospital admission, the above factors except creatine kinase-MB level were also found to have similar correlation with critical illness development. CONCLUSIONS: Higher neutrophil count and lower lymphocyte count at admission were early independent predictors of progression to critical illness in severe COVID-19 patients.