ABSTRACT
Regardless of their healthcare systems' maturity and quality, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a slew of unexpected problems and harmful effects for people worldwide. Georgia responded to the pandemic's first wave (March-April 2020) with well-managed and well-coordinated activities based on the pandemic management principles: Find-Test-Trace-Isolate-Detect. Epidemiological monitoring, mobility limitations, and practical communication efforts were used to prevent and limit the spread of the infection, resulting in remarkable morbidity and mortality reductions. Due to pandemic fatigue, summer tourism brought increased mobility, disregard for mask-wearing, distancing habits and multiplication of regional clusters and two-rounds of Parliamentary elections with numerous mass meetings. All of these developments culminated in a remarkably different second wave with the pandemic hampering the growth of tourism, a significant sector of the Georgian economy that accounts for 8% of GDP and employs around 150, 000 people. It also exponentially increased morbidity and high mortality (40-55 daily deaths) in October-November 2020. The most popular tourist destinations in Georgia are Tbilisi, Ajara, Kvemo Kartli, Imereti, and Mtskheta-Mtianeti. COVID-19 severely harmed Georgia's tourism industry, especially international arrivals. In 2020, compared to 2019, international tourist visits to Georgia decreased by 80%. This research focuses on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected Georgia's tourism industry in terms of structure and geography. The study was conducted from March to December 2020. It employs the following methods: data collection, processing, an analysis from official Georgian sources, as well as the results of the authors' sociological survey, a review of academic and media articles on the subject, and preliminary analysis using GIS technologies. The key finding is that the COVID-19 pandemic had the greatest negative impact on Georgia's tourism market causing significant economic harm. International tourism dropped sharply, but domestic tourism remained nearly unchanged from previous years, revealing tourists' new regional preferences. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the novel and highly infectious COVID-19 has resulted in hundreds of millions of infections and millions of deaths globally. Infected individuals experience upper and lower respiratory complications that range in severity and may lead to wide-spread inflammation and generalized hypoxia or hypoxemia that impacts multiple organ systems, including the central and peripheral nervous systems. According to the data available today, the neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19 infection are described in detail. Based on these studies, it can be assumed that SARS-CoV-2 may be neurotropic and / or contribute to or create conditions conducive to direct or indirect damage to the nervous system. The aim of the study was to identify complications of COVID-19 infection in patients with neuromuscular diseases (myasthenia gravis, chronic polyneuropathy, myopathy). 20 patients with generalized form of myasthenia gravis, 8 patients with chronic polyneuropathy and 5 patients with progressive muscular dystrophy infected with SARS-CoV-2 were examined. There were 15 women and 5 men among patients with myasthenia, age-50-69 years, among patients with chronic polyneuropathy – 3 women, 5 men, age 25-74 years;There were 3 women and 2 men, aged 36-73 years, among patients with progressive muscular dystrophy. Patients were examined within a time interval of 3 weeks to 2 months after confirmed COVID-19 infection. All of them underwent computed tomography of the chest, clinical electroneuromyography study, titers of antibodies against acetylcholine receptors, titin and MUSK were determined in patients with myasthenia gravis. In patients with myopathy, the level of creatine phosphokinase (CPK), LIA-ANA test, general blood analysis, C-reactive protein was determined. Myopathy was confirmed by genetic diagnosis. Based on the results obtained, it can be assumed that not only comorbid pathology occurs as a result of infection with COVID-19, but the COVID-19 virus can also be considered as a modifying factor in the course of the disease. © 2022 Bull. Georg. Natl. Acad. Sci.