Differences in political trust between migrants and non-migrants in pandemic times

Political trust is one aspect that might be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the strict government-implemented measures to fight the virus. Previous studies report an increase in political trust at the onset of the pandemic in several European countries, followed by a marginal decline over the further course of the pandemic. However, it is unclear how political trust changes among first and second generation migrants in Germany compared to natives throughout the pandemic. To address this question, we use data from the adult cohort of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) at one measurement point before, and two during the pandemic. Consistent with previous studies, our data show that pre-pandemic, political trust is higher among first generation migrants than among second generation migrants and natives. We examine how these previous differences evolve throughout the pandemic. Our results indicate that political trust increases significantly only for natives and second generation migrants, but not for first generation migrants at the beginning of the pandemic. Later in the first year of the pandemic, political trust is higher than pre-pandemic for all groups. Neither vulnerabilities nor sociodemographic control variables can explain the differences between the groups. © 2023 Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH und Co. All rights reserved.

Low prevalence of arrhythmias among healthcare workers who recovered from COVID-19

INTRODUCTION The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can cause multiple cardiologic complications such as myocardial injury, cardiogenic shock and arrhythmias. In patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), sinus tachycardia and atrial fibrillation are the most commonly reported arrhythmias. However, data on the prevalence of arrhythmias after symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection is limited. Using 48-hour electrocardiographic (ECG) Holter monitoring, we aimed to analyse the incidence and types of arrhythmias among healthcare workers who recovered from SARS-COV-2 infection. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study involved 34 healthcare workers from the university hospital, who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by pharyngeal swab up to 4 months before study onset and who did not need an ICU stay due to the illness. Each subject underwent a 48-hour ECG monitoring and completed a questionnaire on the course of the disease. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) was performed and the presence of potential arrhythmias substrate was assessed. RESULTS We recruited 24 women and 10 men (47% were doctors) in the mean age of 37 ± 11 years old who underwent symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, but did not require hospitalization during illness. The mean time from the positive swab test to the start of 48-hour ECG monitoring was 2.9 ± 0.9 months. The most frequently reported (in 100%), though sparse, were supraventricular premature contractions (SVPCs) (mean 46 ± 64 per person/day). Atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter were not recorded, however supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) was found in 18% of subjects, and the range of the highest frequency of SVTs was 124-179 bpm. There were no ventricular tachycardia episodes. Ventricular premature contractions (VPCs) were found in 28% of participants but were usually sparse (mean number per person 98 ± 252/day). Six participants had more than 100 VPCs/day, and in 1 it exceeded 1000/day. No one had QTc interval longer than 438 ms. 48-hour ECG monitoring revealed a tendency towards sinus tachycardia during activity time, however, the daily rhythm modulation was diminished in only 15% of participants. Significantly higher maximal daily heart rate (P <0.05) was observed in 29% of subjects in whom CMR revealed the presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). The presence of LGE or extended T1 and T2 relaxation times from CMR were not predictors of the increased number of VPCs or SVPCs (P >0.05). No significant atrioventricular conduction disturbances were recorded. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of arrhythmias in the mid-term observation of not-hospitalized COVID-19 survivors is low. During prolonged 48-hour ECG monitoring of healthcare workers, neither life-threatening nor clinically significant arrhythmias were recorded. Therefore, the arrhythmic burden after infection with SARS-CoV-2 should be considered as marginal.

Rising rates of hospital-onset Klebsiella spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteraemia in NHS acute trusts in England: a review of national surveillance data, August 2020-February 2021.

Increases in hospital-onset Klebsiella spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteraemia rates in England were observed between August 2020 and February 2021 to the highest levels recorded since the start of mandatory surveillance in April 2017. Cases were extracted from England's mandatory surveillance database for key Gram-negative bloodstream infections. Incidence rates for hospital-onset bacteraemia cases increased from 8.9 (N=255) to 14.9 (N=394) per 100,000 bed-days for Klebsiella spp. [incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.7, P<0.001], and from 4.9 (N=139) to 6.2 (N=164) per 100,000 bed-days for P. aeruginosa (IRR 1.3, P<0.001) (August 2020-February 2021). These incidence rates were higher than the average rates observed during the same period in the previous 3 years. These trends coincided with an increase in the percentage of hospital-onset bacteraemia cases that were also positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2.