Efficacy of coping mechanisms used during COVID-19 as reported by parents of children with autism.

The COVID-19 pandemic's alterations to daily life have been especially challenging for families with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), worsening the core features of ASD and overall mental health. With the increased need for effective coping, the current retrospective study used data from a survey regarding parent reports of how often their child with ASD used certain coping strategies (frequency), as well as the extent to which they felt their child benefitted from their use (efficacy) in mitigating stress during the pandemic. This retrospective study Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to evaluate whether there were significant differences in both frequency and efficacy ratings for each coping strategy, for the entire sample as well as for three children's age groups. Using Spearman's rank-order correlations, correlation coefficients between the frequency and efficacy of each coping strategy were explored. Results revealed that maladaptive strategies were used more frequently than adaptive strategies, while parent routine as the most frequently used and efficacious for all age groups. Additionally, for adaptive strategies, humor and focusing on the positive had the strongest correlations between frequency and efficacy ratings amongst all age groups. Of the maladaptive strategies, repetitive behaviors, rumination, and isolation had the strongest correlations for the youngest, middle, and oldest age groups, respectively. Further, for each age group, the adaptive coping strategies had stronger correlations between frequency and efficacy than the maladaptive ones. It is our hope that the results of this study will lay the foundation for developing adaptive coping strategies to alleviate stress in children with ASD. Further investigations using a larger cohort are warranted to determine effective coping strategies for individuals with ASD across a range of situations, including acute stressors (such as future public health emergencies and natural disasters), as well as common daily stressors.

Breakthrough Infections: Clinical Profile and Outcomes of COVID-19 Vaccinated and Unvaccinated People From a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Introduction Despite the availability of a vaccine and extensive vaccination, breakthrough infections are commonly noted, which is jeopardizing the vaccine-based protection against COVID-19. The present study aims to evaluate COVID-19 breakthrough infections and to compare the clinical profile and outcomes of the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations.  Methods A retrospective observational study was conducted for two months (March-April 2021), and all cases reported during the study period were included in the study. Socio-demographic details, COVID-19 profiles, clinical outcomes, vaccination statuses, and types of vaccine were collected from the patients. Further, COVID-19-positive samples were screened for lineages using next-generation sequencing (NGS). Results Of the total 103 patients included in the study, 79 (76.7%) were symptomatic and 24 (23.3%) were asymptomatic. Only 32% were vaccinated and 68% were unvaccinated. 29.2% were hospitalized due to COVID-19 and all of them were unvaccinated. The mortality among hospitalized patients was extremely high (60%). The time to positivity after complete vaccination was noted to be 37.09±23.74 days. The unvaccinated study participants showed lower Cycle threshold (Ct) values (E Gene/N Gene: 17.38±4.53) as compared to the vaccinated people (E Gene/N Gene: 22±4.25). The Delta (B. 1.1. 629) (76.7%) was the predominant variant among the study population followed by AY.4 (20.4%) and Kappa (2.9%) variants. Conclusion Although the vaccination does not restrict/avoid infection, it appears to protect the vaccinated people from severe forms of COVID-19. Also, the higher Ct values among vaccinated people indicate that the viral load among such people may be lower and, therefore, minimizes viral transmission.

The impact of COVID-19 on individuals with ASD in the US: Parent perspectives on social and support concerns.

The COVID-19 pandemic's disruptions to daily routines and services have proven especially challenging for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families. The current retrospective study aimed to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic's social environmental changes on parental ratings of personal and child concerns about family conflict, opportunities for social interaction, and loss of institutional support (school and therapy services). Analyses of responses from families with ASD in the US determined differences in concerns across three time points which were measured simultaneously: prior to COVID-19, at the start of COVID-19, and at the time of survey completion. From our sample of 246 school-aged children, parents retrospectively reported significantly increasing levels of concern for both themselves and their children over time, with parents' personal concern levels rated consistently higher than their ratings of their child's level of concern. Concerns about loss of institutional support were higher for parents of children reported as having co-occurring intellectual disability. Further, parents of younger children also reported more concerns about loss of services, as well as more social concerns. For parent ratings of child concerns, children who were reportedly aware of COVID-19 were determined to have higher levels of social concerns and concerns about loss of institutional support. Meanwhile, the child's age and gender did not impact their parent ratings of child concerns. The increased level of parental and child-perceived concerns over the course of the pandemic suggests a need for improved service delivery and support for these families. The high levels of concerns observed in the current study provide support for the need to assess families' priorities and tailor services to best meet families' needs. This will potentially increase the quality of life of family members, and improve ASD services across the lifespan, and improve outcomes.

Implications of social media misinformation on COVID-19 vaccine confidence among pregnant women in Africa.

It has been over a year since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and subsequently a global pandemic. The world has experienced a lot of uncertainty since then as we all get used to this new 'normal' with social distancing measures, lockdowns, the emergence of new variants, and an array of hope with the development of vaccines. Having an abstract understanding of vaccine delivery, public perceptions of vaccines, and promoting acceptance of vaccines are critical to tackling the pandemic. The advent of the pandemic has led to the emergence of an 'infodemic' or rampant misinformation surrounding the virus, treatment, and vaccines. This poses a critical threat to global health as it has the potential to lead to a public health crisis by exacerbating disease spread and overwhelming healthcare systems. This 'infodemic' has led to rising vaccine hesitancy which is of paramount concern with the WHO even identifying it as one of the ten main threats to Global health almost 2 years before the approval of COVID-19 vaccines. Pregnant African women are one of the most vulnerable population groups in a region with an already burdened healthcare system. Currently, there isn't ample research in the literature that explores vaccine hesitancy in this subpopulation and the impact of social media misinformation surrounding it. The aim of this paper is to highlight the implications of this 'infodemic' on the pregnant African population and suggest key recommendations for improved healthcare strategies.