Online democratic participation during COVID-19

In terms of the inclusivity of democracy, both the opportunities and risks of using digital media have been highlighted in the literature. Empirical research into the use of digital media and the inclusivity of citizen participation, however, is limited. More specifically, we have a limited understand of the relation between the 'richness' of digital media and the inclusivity of citizen engagement The introduction of digital participation by governments during the COVID-19 pandemic presents a highly interesting situation for studying the relation between digital participation and the inclusivity of citizen engagement. This paper presents an assessment of five cases in the Netherlands to explore to what extent the media richness of digital participation affects the inclusivity of citizen engagement. Our findings present few indications for the exclusion of citizens and, in contrast, highlight the participation of more citizens when access was facilitated through digital media. The overall picture that emerges is that especially lean digital tools, webinars, enhance inclusivity in terms of access but only richer tools, interactive platforms, also facilitate participation as interaction with citizens. To our surprise, we found that hybrid forms of participation fall short in providing opportunities for inclusive interaction. We end the paper by recommending governments to realize both broad and in-depth inclusive democracy by sequential use of lean media - webinars - to boost the access to participation and rich media - platforms and offline meetings - for interactions with citizens. © 2022 - IOS Press.

Performance of the Diasorin SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection assay on the LIAISON XL.

BACKGROUND: The current reference standard to diagnose a SARS-CoV-2 infection is real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This test poses substantial challenges for large-scale community testing, especially with respect to the long turnaround times. SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests are an alternative, but typically use a lateral flow assay format rendering them less suitable for analysis of large numbers of samples. METHODS: We conducted an evaluation of the Diasorin SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection assay (DAA) compared to real-time RT-PCR (Abbott). The study was performed on 248 (74 qRT-PCR positive, 174 qRT-PCR negative) clinical combined oro-nasopharyngeal samples of individuals with COVID-19-like symptoms obtained at a Municipal Health Service test centre. In addition, we evaluated the analytical performance of DAA with a 10-fold dilution series of SARS-CoV-2 containing culture supernatant and compared it with the lateral flow assay SARS-CoV-2 Roche/SD Biosensor Rapid Antigen test (RRA). RESULTS: The DAA had an overall specificity of 100% (95%CI 97.9%-100%) and sensitivity of 73% (95%CI 61.3%-82.7%) for the clinical samples. Sensitivity was 86% (CI95% 74.6%-93.3%) for samples with Ct-value below 30. Both the DAA and RRA detected SARS-CoV-2 up to a dilution containing 5.2 × 102 fifty-percent-tissue-culture-infective-dose (TCID50)/ml. DISCUSSION: The DAA performed adequately for clinical samples with a Ct-value below 30. Test performance may be further optimised by lowering the relative light unit (RLU) threshold for positivity assuming the in this study used pre-analytical protocol . The test has potential for use as a diagnostic assay for symptomatic community-dwelling individuals early after disease onset in the context of disease control.

Validation and implementation of the Panbio COVID-19 Ag rapid test for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in symptomatic hospital healthcare workers.

BACKGROUND: RT-PCR is the current recommended laboratory method to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare workers (HCW). As RT-PCR is not widely available and is time-consuming, it limits decision making on removal from and return to work of possibly contagious HCW. AIM: In this study we evaluated the Panbio™ COVID-19 Ag rapid test (PanbioCAgRT) in 825 hospital HCW. METHODS AND FINDING: This study consisted of two phases. In the validation phase, we tested hospital HCW with mild symptoms (three days or less) in parallel using the PanbioCAgRT and the RT-qPCR test. The PanbioCAgRT demonstrated 86.7% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% PPV and 98.5% NPV with regard to RT-qPCR. For HCW with PanbioCAgRT-/RT-qPCR+, the median Ct value was 30.9, whereas for the HCW with PanbioCAgRT+/RT-qPCR+ the median Ct value was 19.3 (P<0.001). In the second phase, we implemented an on-site antigen test-based strategy for symptomatic hospital HCW: HCW that tested positive with the PanbioCAgRT on-site were considered SARS-CoV-2 positive and were sent home. HCW that tested negative with the PanbioCAgRT on-site were allowed to work with PPE pending RT-qPCR test results from the laboratory. Sensitivity of the antigen test-based strategy was 72.5% and NPV was 97%. For HCW with PanbioCAgRT-/RT-qPCR+ median Ct values were 27.8. CONCLUSION: The PanbioCAgRTt validated in this study showed a high sensitivity and specificity in samples obtained from HCW with high viral loads. The antigen-based testing strategy proposed in this study seems to be effective, safe and easy to implement in a wide range of occupational healthcare settings.

The role of children in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Objective: To determine whether children play a role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to other children and adults, and to gain insight into symptomatic and asymptomatic infections in children. Design: Analysis of national COVID-19 notifications and prospective observational study in families with children. Method: Information about COVID-19 patients and their contacts was obtained from the registration systems used by the public health services. In an ongoing study, patients with COVID-19 were asked to participate if they have a family with children. On two occasions nose-throat swabs and blood were collected for PCR analysis and determination of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.