Critical Reflections on the COVID-19 Pandemic from the NHS Frontline

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the way we live, work, and interact with each other. Nowhere was the pandemic more profoundly experienced than on the frontline of healthcare. From overwhelmed Intensive Care Units to shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and clap for carers, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) became the focal point for the pandemic response. Utilising data from online survey responses (N = 16) complemented by four online interviews and one face-to-face interview (N = 5) with NHS workers primarily during the height of the pandemic, this article offers a preliminary analysis on the challenges the UK's healthcare workers faced through working in conditions of crisis management. The article particularly addresses NHS workers' amplification of fear, anxiety, and exhaustion;the absence of widespread solidarity;and implications of the absence of coherent governmental messaging upon the workforce. We situate this discussion within a critical account of neoliberal political economy, the theoretical framework of social harm, and the absence to explicate the harmful conditions of the pandemic's frontline. While the data are confined to the UK's NHS workers, its findings are relevant to other countries across the world that enacted similar responses to deal with COVID-19.

Fractured academic space: digital literacy and the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The study focussed on information literacy practices, specifically on how higher education staff managed the transition from established and routinised in-person teaching, learning and working practices to institutionally mandated remote or hybrid working patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The qualitative study forms part of a broader research project, examining how information literacy and information practices unfolded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Phase Three of this project, which forms the subject of this paper, employed semi-structured interviews to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace and, in particular, the role that technology and digital literacy plays in enabling or constraining information literacy practices necessary for the operationalisation of work. Findings: The complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a fracturing of workplace information environments and worker information landscapes by disrupting all aspects of academic life. The study recognises that whilst the practice of information literacy is predicated on access to modalities of information, this practice is also shaped by material conditions. This has implications for digital literacy which, in attempting to set itself apart from information literacy practice, has negated the significant role that the body and the corporeal modality play as important sources of information that enable transition to occur. In relation to information resilience, the bridging concept of fracture has enabled the authors to consider the informational impact of crisis and transition on people's information experiences and people's capacity to learn to go on when faced with precarity. The concept of grief is introduced into the analysis. Originality/value: This study presents original research. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Risk, vaccine hesitancy and information literacy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction. This study seeks to identify how vaccine-hesitant people inform themselves about the Covid-19 vaccine. Prior research has positioned insufficient information or a lack of information skills as linked to vaccine hesitancy but has neglected to account for the role that information literacy plays within processes of becoming informed. Method. 14 semi-structured interviews were held online with vaccine-hesitant people in the UK. Interviews were audio-recorded and professionally transcribed;questions explored the information sources and activities that participants used to become informed about the COVID-19 vaccine. Analysis. Data were coded by each researcher using constant comparative techniques used in constructivist grounded theory methods before being jointly discussed in several online sessions. Results. Initial outcomes of this study suggest that vaccine hesitant and hesitant- influenced action is shaped through the employment of information strategies that bring multiple forms of vaccination risk into being, including social and other health risks. Conclusions. The study has implications for the teaching of information literacy, in particular the conceptualisation that being informed is an affirmative action.

Altered neutrophil proteomes in COVID19 patients 29-days post hospital admission are associated with delayed recovery: results from the PREDICT-COVID19 study

Introduction and ObjectivesNeutrophils are increasingly recognised for a role in acute COVID19, contributing to hyperinflammatory responses, immunothrombosis and tissue damage. However, less is known about the cellular changes occurring within neutrophils in acute disease, as well as neutrophil function in patients recovering from COVID19. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics of neutrophils from hospitalised COVID19 patients sampled longitudinally was utilised to characterise these cells in both acute and long COVID19 (i.e. symptoms for ≥4 weeks).MethodsProspective observational study of hospitalised patients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (May 2020–December 2020). Patients were enrolled within 96 hours of admission, with longitudinal sampling up to day 29. Control groups comprised hospitalised patients with non-COVID19 acute respiratory infection and age-matched non-infected controls. Neutrophils isolated from peripheral blood were processed for mass spectrometry. COVID19 severity was defined using the WHO 7-point ordinal scale.Results84 COVID19 patients were included (mean age±SD 65.5±14.6 years;52.4% male), 91 non-COVID19 respiratory infection patients (age 65.7±16.7 years;49.5% male) and 42 non-infected controls (age 58.5±17.9;40% male). 1,748 proteins were significantly different (q-value≤0.05) in COVID19 neutrophils compared to those of non-infected controls. Major differences included a robust interferon response at baseline, with markers of neutrophil immaturity (CD10, CD71), increased neutrophil activation (CD64), and changes in metabolism which associated with COVID19 disease severity. Delayed recovery (WHO score 2–3) at day 29 was associated with significant changes in 1,107 proteins compared to the control population. Features of non-recovery included significantly reduced abundance of migratory receptors (e.g. C3AR1, LTB4R), integrins (CD11b, CD18), inhibitory molecules (e.g. SHP-1, SHIP-1) and indications of increased activation (CD64). Overall, ficolin and specific granule content was decreased in COVID19 patient neutrophils at day 29 compared with controls, however, comparing those who had recovered and those who had not, granule content was found to be significantly lower in the non-recovery group.ConclusionNeutrophils undergo significant changes in acute COVID19 associated with disease severity. Neutrophil proteomics revealed that these cells may have an ongoing role in non-recovered patients, including profiles associated with increased potential for neutrophil activation and reduced migratory capacity, highlighting neutrophils as potential therapeutic targets in long COVID19.

Stay or Go? A Transition Roadmap for Oil and Gas Professionals

Oil and Gas workers have been facing increasing levels of redundancy since the oil price crash of 2014. The layoffs have been accelerated by digitalisation, the energy transition and COVID 19. This has led to heightened uncertainty especially amongst subsurface professionals with highly specialised skills. The ReNew You Community project was set up to connect and empower industry professionals seeking to manage their career during this period of accelerated change. Through a series of interviews, a framework for an effective transition was designed. The foundation of this framework is the four factors to be considered during a transition. Three of these factors are within the individual's locus of influence (practicalities, interest, skills) whilst the fourth factor (demand) is dependent on the external environment. Skills are the interface through which the professional interacts with the employment market. A skills assessment using the framework of perishable, semi-durable and durable skills provides a useful lens for creating effective transition roadmaps that are tailored to the individual's needs. Copyright © 2021 the European Network for Research in Geo-Energy. All Rights Reserved.

Original Research: Losing the Art and Failing the Science of Nursing: The Experiences of Nurses Working During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE: RNs have served as the bedrock of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, working under unprecedented and difficult conditions. In this study, we sought to understand the experiences of nurses working across a range of care settings in the United States during the first six months of the pandemic, and to learn more about barriers to and facilitators of their work. METHODS: This is a qualitative descriptive study. We recruited participants online through regional professional nursing membership listservs, program directors of occupational health nursing training programs, and social media. After completing a survey, potential participants were invited to complete an individual semistructured interview via the Zoom platform. From June through August 2020, we conducted 34 interviews. Content analysis was performed using ATLAS.ti software. RESULTS: The overarching theme-"Losing the art and failing the science of nursing"-underscored the barriers nurses faced in the early months of this pandemic. It reflected the deeply painful disruptions in the care nurses were accustomed to providing their patients. Themes that reflected barriers included disrupted nurse-patient connection, lack of personal protective equipment and fear of infection, lack of evidence-based guidance, and understaffing, all of which drastically altered the delivery of nursing care. Themes that reflected facilitators to nurses' work included camaraderie and strength and resourcefulness. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings give important direction to nurse leaders, researchers, and organizations concerning potential areas of support that nurses need during and after this pandemic. Future research should investigate the long-term impact of COVID-19 and similar public health crises on nurses, as well as interventions that could support the workforce after an extended crisis.

Information Literacy, Transition, and Risk in the COVID-19-Environment

This paper examines how people transitioned into newly created pandemic information environments and the ways in which information literacy practices came into view as the SARS-CoV-2 virus took hold in the UK. Employing a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were carried out from May 2020-February 2021 with 32 participants, including people who were engaged in new employment, voluntary or caring roles as well as people who had been diagnosed with COVID. Findings demonstrate that transition into new pandemic environments was shaped by an unfolding phase, an intensification phase, and a stable phase, and information literacy emerged as a form of safeguarding as participants mitigated health, financial and wellbeing risks. This paper develops research into the role that information practices play during crisis as well as extending understanding related to the concept of empowerment, which forms a key idea within information literacy discourse. Findings will be useful for librarians and information professionals as well as public health researchers designing health promotion strategies. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Risk factor targeting for vaccine prioritization during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A key public health question during any disease outbreak when limited vaccine is available is who should be prioritized for early vaccination. Most vaccine prioritization analyses only consider variation in risk of infection and death by a single risk factor, such as age. We provide a more granular approach with stratification by demographics, risk factors, and location. We use this approach to compare the impact of different COVID-19 vaccine prioritization strategies on COVID-19 cases, deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) over the first 6 months of vaccine rollout, using California as a case example. We estimate the proportion of cases, deaths and DALYs averted relative to no vaccination for strategies prioritizing vaccination by a single risk factor and by multiple risk factors (e.g. age, location). When targeting by a single risk factor, we find that age-based targeting averts the most deaths (62% for 5 million individuals vaccinated) and DALYs (38%) and targeting essential workers averts the least deaths (31%) and DALYs (24%) over the first 6 months of rollout. However, targeting by two or more risk factors simultaneously averts up to 40% more DALYs. Our findings highlight the potential value of multiple-risk-factor targeting of vaccination against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, but must be balanced with feasibility for policy.

Unexposed populations and potential COVID-19 hospitalisations and deaths in European countries as per data up to 21 November 2021.

We estimate the potential remaining COVID-19 hospitalisation and death burdens in 19 European countries by estimating the proportion of each country's population that has acquired immunity to severe disease through infection or vaccination. Our results suggest many European countries could still face high burdens of hospitalisations and deaths, particularly those with lower vaccination coverage, less historical transmission and/or older populations. Continued non-pharmaceutical interventions and efforts to achieve high vaccination coverage are required in these countries to limit severe COVID-19 outcomes.

Saturation, acceleration and information pathologies: the conditions that influence the emergence of information literacy safeguarding practice in COVID-19-environments

Purpose The purpose of this second study into information literacy practice during the COVID-19 pandemic is to identify the conditions that influence the emergence of information literacy as a safeguarding practice. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative research design comprised one to one in-depth interviews conducted virtually during the UK's second and third lockdown phase between November 2020 and February 2021. Data were coded and analysed by the researchers using constant comparative techniques. Findings Continual exposure to information creates the "noisy" conditions that lead to saturation and the potential for "information pathologies" to act as a form of resistance. Participants alter their information practices by actively avoiding and resisting formal and informal sources of information. These reactive activities have implications for standard information literacy empowerment discourses. Research limitations/implications The paper is limited to the UK context. Practical implications Findings will be useful for librarians and researchers who are interested in the theorisation of information literacy as well as public health and information professionals tasked with designing long-term health promotion strategies. Social implications This paper contributes to our understandings of the role that information literacy practices play within ongoing and long-term crises. Originality/value This paper develops research into the role of information literacy practice in times of crises and extends understanding related to the concept of empowerment, which forms a central idea within information literacy discourse.

Researching the COVID-19 pandemic: A critical blueprint for the social sciences

In challenging social science's established orthodoxies, this first in a series of books is a call for its disciplines to embrace new theoretical paradigms and research methods to better understand the reality of life in a post-COVID world. By offering a detailed insight into the harmful effects of neoliberalism before the pandemic, as well as the intervallic period the world is currently living through, the authors show how it is more important than ever for social science to evolve and take a leading role in contextualising the biggest crisis of the 21st century. This is a critical blueprint for ongoing debates about the COVID-19 pandemic and alternative modes of research. © Bristol University Press 2021.

The impact of COVID-19 on opioid treatment programs in the United States.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic had the potential to severely disrupt the delivery of methadone and buprenorphine, as social distancing and other public health regulations made in-person services difficult to maintain. Federal and state regulators changed requirements regarding the dispensing of medication and in-person counseling at opioid treatment programs. Understanding staff and patient reactions to these changes can help determine whether they should be maintained. METHODS: We interviewed 25 directors of OTP programs located throughout the United States. Note takers wrote summaries of each interview which were coded for topics and themes covered in the interview guide, including changes to clinic practices, take-home medications, telehealth, patient and staff reactions to new COVID-related protocols, and financial concerns for programs. RESULTS: Most programs rapidly incorporated new regulatory requirements, and directors were generally positive about the impact of increased take-home doses of medication and increased reliance on telehealth. Some directors voiced concerns about these changes, and some reported that patients missed the daily clinical contact with staff. Directors also suggested that more time was needed to assess the full impact of these changes. Financial impacts varied, although many directors were quick to point out that the ongoing opioid epidemic has delivered a steady stream of new patients, thus offsetting potential financial losses. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study demonstrated the generally positive view of OTP directors to the regulatory changes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. More time is needed to fully evaluate the impact of these changes on clinical outcomes.

Working, living and dying in COVID times: perspectives from frontline adult social care workers in the UK

Purpose: This paper aims to explore 15 UK adult social care workers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This paper’s 15 open-ended interviews with adult social care workers are complemented by digital ethnography in COVID-19 social media forums. This data set is taken from a global mixed-methods study, involving over 2,000 participants from 59 different countries. Findings: Workers reported a lack of planning, guidance and basic provisions including personal protective equipment. Work intensification brought stress, workload pressure and mental health problems. Family difficulties and challenges of living through the pandemic, often related to government restrictions, intensified these working conditions with precarious living arrangements. The workers also relayed a myriad of challenges for their residents in which, the circumstances appear to have exacerbated dementia and general health problems including dehydration, delirium and loneliness. Whilst COVID-19 was seen as partially responsible for resident deaths, the sudden disruptions to daily life and prohibitions on family visits were identified as additional contributing factors in rapid and sudden decline. Research limitations/implications: Whilst the paper’s sample cohort is small, given the significance of COVID-19 at this present time the findings shed important light on the care home experience as well as act as a baseline for future study. Social implications: Care homes bore the brunt of illness and death during the first and second COVID-19 waves in the UK, and many of the problems identified here have still yet to be actioned by the government. As people approach the summer months, an urgent review is required of what happened in care homes and this paper could act as some part of that evidence gathering. Originality/value: This paper offers revealing insights from frontline care home workers and thus provides an empirical snapshot during this unique phase in recent history. It also builds upon the preliminary/emerging qualitative research evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted care homes, care workers and the residents. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

PBPK modeling of dexamethasone in patients with COVID-19 and liver dysfunction

Background: Patients with pre-existing multimorbidity and liver dysfunction (LD) are more likely to develop severe COVID-19 and have a higher risk of mortality. In severe COVID-19 patients who are mechanically ventilated or require supplemental oxygen, the administration of dexamethasone (DEX) may be life-saving, however the impact of LD on the pharmacokinetics (PK) of DEX is unknown. The aim of the study was to apply PBPK modelling to predict the effect of LD on the PK of DEX in the treatment of COVID-19. Methods: A whole-body PBPK model was designed in Simbiology v. 9.6.0 (MATLAB R2019a) and used to simulate 100 adult individuals. First the model was qualified against reported clinical data for oral (PO) and intravenous (IV) DEX in healthy adults. Physiological changes and portal vein shunt were incorporated into the model to provide a mathematical description of LD that was classified by Child-Pugh (CP) scores A, B and C. The LD model was qualified against IV and PO reported clinical data for both propranolol (healthy adults and CP-A,-B and-C patients) and midazolam (healthy adult and cirrhosis patients). The model was assumed to be verified if the simulated values were within 2-fold of the reported clinical values and if the absolute average-fold error (AAFE) was below 2. The qualified model was then used to simulate the administration of DEX 6 mg (COVID-19 protocol) in patients with LD (CP-A,-B and-C) with and without shunting. The mean shunt index (%) considered in the model was 40 ± 18. Results: The PBPK model was successfully qualified across DEX, midazolam and propranolol with an AUC0-24 average fold of 1.1 and 0.95;AAFE value of 1.1 and 1.2 for healthy and LD individuals, respectively. When compared to healthy adults, the simulated systemic clearance of DEX decreased and the plasma concentrations increased in all patients with LD, as shown in Table 1. Moreover, a significant difference was observed between the AUC0-24 of DEX PO when comparing no shunting and shunting in patients with CP-B and-C. Conclusion: The increased exposure of DEX in different stages of LD was predicted through PBPK modelling, providing a rational framework to predict PK in complex clinical scenarios related to COVID-19. Although DEX exposure was predicted to be more than 2 times higher in CP-C individuals, no dose adjustments seem necessary in patients with LD considering DEX's low hepatic extraction, the low dose administered in the COVID-19 protocol and the therapeutic index of DEX.

A type I IFN, prothrombotic hyperinflammatory neutrophil signature is distinct for COVID-19 ARDS

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe critical condition with a high mortality that is currently in focus given that it is associated with mortality caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Neutrophils play a key role in the lung injury characteristic of non-COVID-19 ARDS and there is also accumulating evidence of neutrophil mediated lung injury in patients who succumb to infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Methods: We undertook a functional proteomic and metabolomic survey of circulating neutrophil populations, comparing patients with COVID-19 ARDS and non-COVID-19 ARDS to understand the molecular basis of neutrophil dysregulation.

Comparison of infection control strategies to reduce COVID-19 outbreaks in homeless shelters in the United States: a simulation study.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred in homeless shelters across the US, highlighting an urgent need to identify the most effective infection control strategy to prevent future outbreaks. METHODS: We developed a microsimulation model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a homeless shelter and calibrated it to data from cross-sectional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) surveys conducted during COVID-19 outbreaks in five homeless shelters in three US cities from March 28 to April 10, 2020. We estimated the probability of averting a COVID-19 outbreak when an exposed individual is introduced into a representative homeless shelter of 250 residents and 50 staff over 30 days under different infection control strategies, including daily symptom-based screening, twice-weekly PCR testing, and universal mask wearing. RESULTS: The proportion of PCR-positive residents and staff at the shelters with observed outbreaks ranged from 2.6 to 51.6%, which translated to the basic reproduction number (R0) estimates of 2.9-6.2. With moderate community incidence (~ 30 confirmed cases/1,000,000 people/day), the estimated probabilities of averting an outbreak in a low-risk (R0 = 1.5), moderate-risk (R0 = 2.9), and high-risk (R0 = 6.2) shelter were respectively 0.35, 0.13, and 0.04 for daily symptom-based screening; 0.53, 0.20, and 0.09 for twice-weekly PCR testing; 0.62, 0.27, and 0.08 for universal masking; and 0.74, 0.42, and 0.19 for these strategies in combination. The probability of averting an outbreak diminished with higher transmissibility (R0) within the simulated shelter and increasing incidence in the local community. CONCLUSIONS: In high-risk homeless shelter environments and locations with high community incidence of COVID-19, even intensive infection control strategies (incorporating daily symptom screening, frequent PCR testing, and universal mask wearing) are unlikely to prevent outbreaks, suggesting a need for non-congregate housing arrangements for people experiencing homelessness. In lower-risk environments, combined interventions should be employed to reduce outbreak risk.

Routine asymptomatic testing strategies for airline travel during the COVID-19 pandemic: a simulation study.

BACKGROUND: Routine viral testing strategies for SARS-CoV-2 infection might facilitate safe airline travel during the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate global spread of the virus. However, the effectiveness of these test-and-travel strategies to reduce passenger risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and population-level transmission remains unknown. METHODS: In this simulation study, we developed a microsimulation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a cohort of 100 000 US domestic airline travellers using publicly available data on COVID-19 clinical cases and published natural history parameters to assign individuals one of five health states of susceptible to infection, latent period, early infection, late infection, or recovered. We estimated a per-day risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 corresponding to a daily incidence of 150 infections per 100 000 people. We assessed five testing strategies: (1) anterior nasal PCR test within 3 days of departure, (2) PCR within 3 days of departure and 5 days after arrival, (3) rapid antigen test on the day of travel (assuming 90% of the sensitivity of PCR during active infection), (4) rapid antigen test on the day of travel and PCR test 5 days after arrival, and (5) PCR test 5 days after arrival. Strategies 2 and 4 included a 5-day quarantine after arrival. The travel period was defined as 3 days before travel to 2 weeks after travel. Under each scenario, individuals who tested positive before travel were not permitted to travel. The primary study outcome was cumulative number of infectious days in the cohort over the travel period without isolation or quarantine (population-level transmission risk), and the key secondary outcome was the number of infectious people detected on the day of travel (passenger risk of infection). FINDINGS: We estimated that in a cohort of 100 000 airline travellers, in a scenario with no testing or screening, there would be 8357 (95% uncertainty interval 6144-12831) infectious days with 649 (505-950) actively infectious passengers on the day of travel. The pre-travel PCR test reduced the number of infectious days from 8357 to 5401 (3917-8677), a reduction of 36% (29-41) compared with the base case, and identified 569 (88% [76-92]) of 649 actively infectious travellers on the day of flight; the addition of post-travel quarantine and PCR reduced the number of infectious days to 2520 days (1849-4158), a reduction of 70% (64-75) compared with the base case. The rapid antigen test on the day of travel reduced the number of infectious days to 5674 (4126-9081), a reduction of 32% (26-38) compared with the base case, and identified 560 (86% [83-89]) actively infectious travellers; the addition of post-travel quarantine and PCR reduced the number of infectious days to 3124 (2356-495), a reduction of 63% (58-66) compared with the base case. The post-travel PCR alone reduced the number of infectious days to 4851 (3714-7679), a reduction of 42% (35-49) compared with the base case. INTERPRETATION: Routine asymptomatic testing for SARS-CoV-2 before travel can be an effective strategy to reduce passenger risk of infection during travel, although abbreviated quarantine with post-travel testing is probably needed to reduce population-level transmission due to importation of infection when travelling from a high to low incidence setting. FUNDING: University of California, San Francisco.

Comparison of COVID-19 vaccine prioritization strategies in the United States (preprint)

A critical question in the COVID-19 pandemic is how to optimally allocate the first available vaccinations to maximize health impact. We used a static simulation model with detailed demographic and risk factor stratification to compare the impact of different vaccine prioritization strategies in the United States on key health outcomes, using California as a case example. We calibrated the model to demographic and location data on 28,175 COVID-19 deaths in California up to December 30, 2020, and incorporated variation in risk by occupation and comorbidity status using published estimates. We predicted the proportion of COVID-19 clinical cases, deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted over 6 months relative to a scenario of no vaccination for five vaccination strategies that prioritized vaccination by a single risk factor: random allocation; targeting special populations (e.g. incarcerated individuals); targeting older individuals; targeting essential workers; and targeting individuals with comorbidities. Targeting older individuals averted the highest proportion of DALYs (40% for 5 million individuals vaccinated) and deaths (65%) but the lowest proportion of cases (12%). Targeting essential workers averted the lowest proportion of DALYs (25%) and deaths (33%). Allocating vaccinations simultaneously by age and location or by age, sex, race/ethnicity, location, occupation, and comorbidity status averted a significantly higher proportion of DALYs (48% and 56%) than any strategy prioritizing by a single risk factor. Our results corroborate findings of other studies that age targeting is the best single-risk-factor prioritization strategy for averting DALYs, and suggest that targeting by multiple risk factors would provide additional benefit.

Contextualising risk: the unfolding information work and practices of people during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate people's information practices as the SARS-CoV-2 virus took hold in the UK. Of particular interest is how people transition into newly created pandemic information environments and the ways information literacy practices come into view. Design/methodology/approach: The qualitative research design comprised one-to-one in-depth interviews conducted virtually towards the end of the UK's first lockdown phase in May–July 2020. Data were coded and analysed by the researchers using constant comparative and situated analysis techniques. Findings: Transition into new pandemic information environments was shaped by an unfolding phase, an intensification phase and a stable phase. Information literacy emerged as a form of safeguarding as participants engaged in information activities designed to mitigate health, legal, financial and well-being risks produced by the pandemic. Research limitations/implications: Time constraints meant that the sample from the first phase of this study skewed female. Practical implications: Findings establish foundational knowledge for public health and information professionals tasked with shaping public communication during times of crisis. Social implications: This paper contributes to understandings of the role that information and information literacy play within global and long-term crises. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies to explore information practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.