ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic occasioned significant financial distress and uncertainty for many U.S. transit operators. In the face of this crisis, the federal government provided substantial supplemental operating support. To understand how this fiscal turmoil and relief have affected U.S. transit systems, we conducted two nationwide surveys of transit agency staff in 2020 and 2021-2022. While pandemic-induced financial shortfalls affected service in 2020, with capital projects delayed too, these effects became much more muted by 2021/2022. Most systems reported moderate to substantial increases in federal funding during the pandemic, more so than other funding categories. However, nearly half foresee financial shortfalls once federal relief funding expires. Agencies with higher pre-pandemic ridership and farebox recovery are particularly affected by fare revenue losses and more likely to anticipate shortfalls. In the near term, difficulty hiring and retaining front-line workers was a pressing concern, while very few had plans to maintain pandemic fare suspensions. © The Author(s) 2023.
ABSTRACT
While the COVID-19 pandemic in some way affected every person and enterprise on the planet, the temporary hollowing out of concentrated economic, political, and cultural agglomerations in cities dealt a devastating and potentially enduring blow to the public transit systems that depend on them for so many of their customers. This chapter draws on a survey of 72 U.S. public transit systems and semi-structured interviews with 12 transit agency staff, both conducted in the late summer and early fall of 2020, to consider how the pandemic shocked the transit industry at the outset, and how the industry adapted to deliver transit services. We find that: transit agencies adapted quickly, and many of their changes are now standard operating procedure;the pandemic tended to affect large and small transit agencies differently;transit’s role as a social service provider took on increased visibility and importance;and financial collapse has been averted, but funding shortfalls may become a pressing issue in the years ahead when federal emergency funding runs out. We conclude that while transit systems have adapted remarkably to dramatic change and that federal funding has largely forestalled fiscal crises, the longer term future of public transit in the U.S. remains very uncertain. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 crisis elevated the importance of private vehicles. The pandemic drove riders off public transit and spawned additional car-based activities such as drive-through testing and vaccinations and curbside pick-ups. Yet millions of low-income and non-white households do not own vehicles. This chapter draws on a unique credit panel dataset to examine automobile debt and delinquency in California. In particular, we examine whether automobile debt patterns during the pandemic differed from those during and coming out of the Great Recession (December 2007–June 2009). We also analyze the response to the COVID-19 recession across neighborhoods by income and race. Similar to the situation during the Great Recession, we find that the number of automobile loans per borrower declined. While the automobile debt burden (the ratio between total automobile debt and aggregate income) also declined, it fell far less during the pandemic than during the Great Recession. Moreover, automobile loan delinquencies spiked during the Great Recession but instead continued to drop during the pandemic. Finally, the COVID-19 crisis affected consumers differently by both race and income. Automobile debt burden rose in low-income, Latino/a, and Black neighborhoods, a pattern that preceded but continued unabated during the pandemic. The findings suggest that COVID-19 relief may have helped some families manage their automobile-related expenditures. However, other factors, such as increasing automobile prices, likely contributed to growing debt burdens, a potential source of financial distress. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic imposed enormous burdens of morbidity and mortality while severely disrupting people, especially frontline healthcare working in hospitals.The vaccine discovery gives hope to the world population, but it was received with skepticism and fear stressed by the great media coverage. Materials and Methods: We conducted an anonymous survey of the quality of life during pandemic era and the likelihood of COVID- 19 vaccine acceptance on a sample of healthcare at the Italian Hospital more involved by COVID-19 pandemic. Results: 3134 survey respondents represented a random sample in which was represented different health workers.Of these survey participants, 644 contracted SARS-CoV-2.Healthcare workers could be psychologically stressed by covid-19 pandemic.A considerable proportion of participants reported symptoms of depression and sadness (52%), anxiety (40.9%), insomnia (33.02%) and distress (55.4%).Most healthcare workers have documented vaccination through scientific articles 1423 (45.4%) by social media news 348 (11.1%) while 152 (4.8%) haven't documented at all.They would take a vaccine if it were proven safe and effective. Conclusions: Health workers who have to be on the front line during an epidemic are more exposed to psychological distress as, in addition to guaranteeing the necessary care and assistance, they are constantly in the condition of being affected by the epidemic itself.Specific projects aimed at the prevention of burn-out and distress of health workers will be carried out to improve the entire care process.
ABSTRACT
Description of the case: A 79-year-old smoking patient with COPD, diabetes, previous bladder cancer, and family members positive for SARS-CoV2 was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia and severe respiratory insufficiency. During hospitalization, the nasopharynx sample was persistent negative for SARS-CoV-2, but the serology positive. CT showed signs of interstitial pneumonia. Antibiotic therapy, high-dose dexamethasone, and oxygen therapy were introduced. After an initial worsening of clinical conditions, inflammation indices normalization and marked clinical improvement until the suspension of oxygen therapy were observed. In the discharge phase, fever and increase in CRP and IL6 returned without respiratory failure. Black lesions with a necrotic ulcerated base located on the palate and posterior tongue were observed. Blood cultures were positive for Actinomyces oris, and Aspergillus galactomannan- antigen was detected. CT showed consolidations, cavitations, ground-glass opacity. Fibrobronchoscopy found tracheobronchial full-layer involvement with pharyngeal/laryngeal and bronchial obstruction by necrotic pseudomembranes. BAL was positive for SARS-CoV-2 and Aspergillus niger, and Aspergillus fumigatus. Voriconazole and beta-lactam antibiotics were started. The patient improved with the need for repeated FB to eliminate the pseudomembranes, but he died in the ICU due to heart failure. Conclusions: Hematogenous spread of Actinomyces is rare as well as pseudomembranous necrotizing oral-tracheobronchial aspergillosis, but to be considered in CoViD-19 patients receiving high doses of steroids.