Unwillingness to cooperate with COVID-19 contact tracing in Japan.

OBJECTIVES: Contact tracing for COVID-19 relies heavily on the cooperation of individuals with authorities to provide information of contact persons. However, few studies have clarified willingness to cooperate and motivation to provide information for contact tracing. This study sought to describe willingness to cooperate and motivation to report contact persons for COVID-19 contact tracing among citizens in Japan, and to assess any associated sociodemographic factors. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: This was an online-based survey using quota sampling. Participants were asked about their willingness to cooperate in reporting contacts for COVID-19 contact tracing if they tested positive. Participants also responded to questions regarding their reasons for cooperating or not cooperating and provided sociodemographic data. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to clarify associations between sociodemographic factors and willingness to cooperate. RESULTS: This study included 2844 participants. The proportion of participants who were not willing to cooperate in reporting contacts was 27.6%, with their main reasons being concerns about causing trouble for the other person and being criticised for revealing their names. Willingness to cooperate was lower among men, young adults and those with an educational level less than a university degree. CONCLUSIONS: To improve the effectiveness of contact tracing, educational campaigns, such as reducing the fear and stigma associated with COVID-19, may be important. Furthermore, it is essential to understand that individuals may have contacts whom they do not wish to disclose to others and to be considerate when handling such situations.

DESIGN OPTIMIZATION OF MICROFLUIDIC DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES FOR THE RAPID GENETIC DETECTION OF MULTIPLE INFECTIOUS VIRUSES

This paper presents a newly developed microfluidic flow control theory for autonomous sample dispensing into an array of reaction microchambers. The theoretical predictions for the possible dispensing number and maximum flow rate were validated by comparison to experimental results. Moreover, we successfully demonstrated the rapid genetic detection of multiple infectious viruses including SARS-CoV-2 in fabricated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microfluidic devices based on the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method. © 2021 MicroTAS 2021 - 25th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences. All rights reserved.

Estimating Time-Series Changes in Social Sensitivity for COVID-19 @ Twitter in Japan

The global outbreak of COVID-19 is now putting enormous pressure on society to change our traditional social behavior. Government officials are also forced to make short-term decisions based on limited information for public health, and investor sentiment about the infection situation in each country has a significant impact on the stock market. In this paper, we attempt to visualize the time series of indexed social sentiment in Japan under the COVID-19 pandemic by using a neural network approach, and clarify changes in the sensitivity of citizens to the coronavirus. The sentiment was classified for Twitter tweets that matched the keywords for which the government was asked to restrict action, and sentiment trends were identified for the period from before the outbreak to the fifth wave of infection in Tokyo, Sapporo, Osaka, and Fukuoka. The indices obtained show a correlation with the number of infected cases by region and with national and local events, and in global cities such as Tokyo and Osaka as they experienced waves of infections and emergency declarations, sensitivity gradually became paralyzed, and parallel trends in sentiment waveforms were observed among regions. © 2022, Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence.

Do Cues Regarding the Behavior of Others Lead to Normative Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, what impact does the social context in offering incentives have on people's normative behavior? This paper focuses on the effect of normative framing and examines whether cues signaling other people's respect or disrespect for norms affect normative behavior with the Japanese case study of refraining from going out under the pandemic situation. Drawing on Goal Framing theory, which predicts the effect of norms depending on the salience of normative frame, it is argued that normative respect or disrespect cues that are related to or unrelated to a targeted norm have influences on normative behavior (same norm effect/cross-norm effect). We tested this using data from an online survey experiment in which respondents were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. The statistical results showed that all treatments had no significant effects on the intention to refrain from going out in the OLS regression, whereas normative disrespect cues treatments had significant negative effects only for the low quantile respondents in quantile regression. It partially supported the same-norm effect and the cross-norm effect. These findings suggest that the social context that policymakers offer incentives also matters for eliciting more cooperative and normative behavior under the pandemic situation. © 2021 Japanese Association for Mathematical Sociology. All rights reserved.

The COVID-19 outbreak and public perceptions of sport events in Japan. (Special Issue: Managing sport and leisure in the era of Covid-19.)

The pandemic of the COVID-19 has forced various sport organizations to postpone or cancel sport events. The current investigation provides a rapid analysis of public perceptions of (1) postponement and cancelation decisions made by sport organizations, and (2) whether the Tokyo Olympics 2020 should be held in July 2020. Data from Japanese citizens (n = 529) show that approximately 75% supported postponement decisions made by professional sport leagues. Surprisingly, only fewer than 50% supported the cancelation decision of the high school baseball tournament (i.e., Spring Koshien). Regarding the Tokyo Olympics, 35.2% disagreed with holding the games, which was almost identical to those who were in favour of holding it (35.3%). The government and decision-makers should recognize the potential biases in public opinions and prioritize the scientific evidence to protect the health of the community. (Note: The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics 2020 was postponed after the completion of this study).

Decreased Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan: An Ecological Time-Series Analysis, 2014 through 2020

Background. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such as sanitary measures and travel restrictions, aimed at controlling the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), may affect the transmission dynamics of human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV). We aimed to quantify the contribution of the sales of hand hygiene products and the number of international and domestic airline passenger arrivals on HRSV epidemic in Japan. Methods. The monthly number of HRSV cases per sentinel site (HRSV activity) in 2020 was compared with the average of the corresponding period in the previous 6 years (from January 2014 to December 2020) using a monthly paired t-test. A generalized linear Poisson regression model was used to regress the time-series of the monthly HRSV activity against NPI indicators, including sale of hand hygiene products and the number of domestic and international airline passengers, while controlling for meteorological conditions (monthly average temperature and relative humidity) and seasonal variations between years (2014-2020). Results. The average number of monthly HRSV case notifications in 2020 decreased by approximately 85% (P < 0.001) compared to those in the preceding 6 years (2014-2019) (Figure 1A). For every average \1 billion (approximately $9,000,000/£6,800,00) spent on hand hygiene products during the current month and 1 month before (lag 0-1 months) there was a 0.22% (P = 0.02) decrease in HRSV infections (Table 1). An increase of average 1,000 domestic and international airline passenger arrivals during the previous 1-2 months (lag 1-2 months) was associated with a 4.6×10-4% (P < 0.001) and 1.1×10-3% (P = 0.007) increase in the monthly number of HRSV infections, respectively. Conclusion. This study suggests that there is an association between the decrease in the monthly number of HRSV cases and improved hygiene and sanitary measures and travel restrictions for COVID-19 in Japan, indicating that these public health interventions can contribute to the suppression of HRSV activity. These findings may help in public health policy and decision making.

Adoption of personal protective measures by ordinary citizens during the COVID-19 outbreak in Japan. (Coronavirus (COVID-19) collection.)

Objectives: To clarify the implementation status of personal protective measures by ordinary citizens in Japan during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.