Quarantined across borders: theorizing embodied transnationalism, precarious citizenship, and resilience for collective healing

Embodied transnationalism is characterized by intimate experiences of human-made political borders that define, limit, and restrict flows of the "Other." In the Quarantined Across Borders collection, contributors from immigrant and diasporic backgrounds address the material and discursive differences in how they experience the pandemic in terms of a public health crisis and public policy response that intersects racialized gender, class, citizenship status, and profession.

Media Use During COVID-19: An Investigation of Negative Effects on the Mental Health of Asian Versus White Americans

The role of media use on mental health distress is particularly concerning during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The vulnerabilities to and experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States are greatly influenced by racial/ethnic inequalities. The COVID-19 pandemic may present unique mental health challenges for Asian Americans because of racial targeting and limited access to and engagement with mental health care. This present investigation examines whether the association between media use and mental health distress is more pronounced for Asian Americans for whom media messages that document and promote anti-Asian racism are likely to be especially salient and influential. Using a national survey of Asian (n = 524) and White (n = 527) American participants, our findings reveal that racial/ethnic identity interacted with the negative effect of media use on mental health for Asian Americans, but not for White Americans. We also explored whether the effect of media use on mental health was mediated by social and health risk perceptions. Results revealed that even though imagined stigma was associated with mental health distress, it did not mediate the effect of media use on mental health. Health risk perceptions mediated the negative effect of media use on both psychosocial distress and loneliness. Implications for health communication, media studies, and anti-Asian racism are discussed, especially in the context of health crises.

Awareness on spread of misinformation and its effect on public with regard to covid-19

Introduction: Misinformation can amplify humanity’s greatest challenges. A salient example of this is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has spread a wide range of falsehoods even as truth has more and more turned into a matter of life and death. In the current study, the aim is to analyze the effect of social media on the public with regard to COVID-19. Materials and Methods: A survey was conducted among 100 participants [79 male, 21 female]. 13 questions were circulated through online Google forms via WhatsApp platform. Responses were collected and verified. Result: On analyzing the data majority of the participants used WhatsApp and Facebook for news updates regarding COVID-19, 46% were aware of authentic websites to cross-check the news and 77% of the participants agreed that they get disturbed with a lot of information related to COVID-19. Conclusion: Thus we conclude that strict measures must be taken to prevent the spread of misinformation and to avoid mental health problems. © IJCRR.