Housework and Parenting during the Lockdowns in France: How Have Socio-Economic and Gender Inequalities Changed?

The lockdowns imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on people's time use. This article analyses the changes in time spent on household tasks and parenting by men and women during the lockdowns of the spring and autumn of 2020 in France, by social category, education, working arrangements and family configurations, using data from the major longitudinal EpiCov survey. The time spent on housework was high in the spring of 2020 and caring for children was particularly time consuming. This additional domestic and parental burden affected both women and men, but women continued to perform the majority of the housework, in spite of the similar working conditions between the sexes during this period. During the first lockdown, women at the top of the social hierarchy, who generally perform fewer household chores, spent far more time than usual on these tasks, thereby temporarily reducing social differences. © 2022, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques. All rights reserved.

Children's well-being and intra-household family relationships during the first COVID-19 lockdown in France

Objective: This article explores the consequences of the first COVID-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020 in France on intra-family relationships and 9-year-old children's socioemotional well-being. Background: On 17th March 2020, France began a strict lockdown to contain the COVID19 pandemic, with school closures and limited outings permitted until early June. All family routines and work-life arrangements were impacted. A major concern relates to how these measures impacted family and child well-being. Method: We use data from the Elfe Sapris survey, administered during the first lockdown to about 5,000 families participating to the Etude longitudinale francaise depuis l'enfance (Elfe), a nationally representative birth cohort of children born in 2011. We analysed correlations between parents' socioeconomic and living conditions on four relational indicators: the experience of lockdown, the quality of relationships between parents and children, and between siblings, and an indicator of children's socio-emotional well-being, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results: The impact of the lockdown on family well-being was conditional on socioeconomic factors and their changes over the period. Deterioration of households' financial situation and having to work outside the home during lockdown was negatively correlated with family relationships and children's socio-emotional well-being. Conclusion: Overall, our results suggest that while France's first lockdown was a relatively positive period for many households with a primary-school-aged child, we highlight that restrictions exacerbated existing difficulties for disadvantaged families.

Microbiological features and follow-up of neonates born to mothers with covid-19

Background: Literature evaluating the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection in exposed newborns during pregnancy is still scarce. Although a 3% rate of perinatal transmission has been described, there is not enough evidence of viral transmission in biological samples through microbiological techniques. Our aim is to describe perinatal transmission in newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy and their follow up. Methods: The study period is from March 15 to November 30, 2020. Exposed newborns of SARS-CoV-2 infected mothers (with microbiologically confirmed COVID-19 disease during pregnancy or delivery) were included at 13 hospitals in Spain. Demographic, clinical and microbiological data were collected. Biological samples including nasopharyngeal swab, blood, urine, and meconium from newborns and blood, placenta, and breast milk from mothers were collected for reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. Results: 282 exposed to SARS-CoV-2 neonates were recruited;130 cases during the first wave (March 15-July 31) and 152 during the second one (August 1- November 30). The prematurity birth-rate was 20% and 13% respectively. Overall, eleven newborns were positive for RT-PCR in nasopharyngeal swab, eight of them during the first 24-48 hours after birth. Three of them presented viral load in urine sample and another three in meconium sample. Only one RT-PCR was positive in maternal blood samples (1/115) and placenta (1/81). All newborns blood samples collected at delivery were negative for RT-PCR (0/70). There was no viral load either in breast milk samples (0/79). Placental immuno-histochemistry performed for SARS-CoV-2 showed no virus (0/16). Two newborn death were described none of them related to SARS-CoV-2. Those newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 were asymptomatic and with normal weight and psychomotor development at 6-months follow-up. Conclusion: Intrauterine SARS-CoV-2 transmission seems unlikely, describing a 3.9% rate of neonatal infection after delivery. A high rate of prematurity is described, mostly during the first wave. SARS-CoV-2 can be detected by RT-PCR in urine and meconium of neonates with positive nasopharyngeal RT-PCR, whereas it has not been detected in any newborn blood. The detection in maternal blood and placenta was anecdotal and it was not detected in breast milk samples. Except for the complications derived from prematurity, exposed newborns evolution was satisfactory.