Relationship risk factors and vulnerability to COVID-19 in East Jakarta

The handling of the COVID-19 pandemic must be based on the right strategy, which includes priority areas that need more attention. The priority areas that need attention are based on an assessment of the vulnerability of these areas to COVID-19 exposure. This study aims to assess the vulnerability of sub-districts in East Jakarta to COVID-19 exposure using the Multiple Linear Regression and Classification method. Those methods process six independent variables: the number of gathering locations, the area of slum settlements, the number of poor households, population density, the density of elderly, comorbidities. Using the Classification method for various variables that are thought to affect COVID-19 vulnerability shows an irregular pattern. Using the Multiple Linear Regression method shows that of the six independent variables, only two independent variables are factors that affect the vulnerability of COVID-19 in East Jakarta, namely 1) patients with comorbidities/tuberculosis and 2) the density of the elderly. Patients with comorbidities/tuberculosis have a significant positive effect on the number of positive COVID-19 cases. The number of patients with comorbidities/tuberculosis in an area tends to increase active COVID-19 cases in that area. On the other hand, the density of the elderly has a significant adverse effect on the number of positive COVID-19 cases, meaning that the higher density of the elderly reduces the number of COVID-19 cases. © 2023 Author(s).

School Coping with Covid-19 Pandemic: Initial Analyses of Nationwide Surveys Targeting Elementary and Lower Secondary Schools in Japan

This article explores impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on elementary and junior high schools in Japan through preliminary analyses of nation-wide surveys conducted under the commission of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). After explaining the outline of the research project, this paper elucidates outcomes of preliminary analyses of the first wave of the school survey. The analyses reveal that over the school closure period in 2020, schools identified communication difficulties between teachers and students and their parents as well as those between students in each school. Although those communication problems were substantially mitigated in most schools after the end of school closure, the increasing workload of teachers has been realized as a serious problem since the reopening of schools to date. Whereas the similar patterns in problem recognition were observed, those communication problems are more seriously recognized in the three major metropolitan areas than in the other regions, despite that the same problems occurred in any regions to some extent. The paper concludes that results of the comprehensive research are highly expected to provide meaningful empirical evidence for policy making for the central and local governments to support schools and students under the pandemic. © 2021 Japanese Association for Mathematical Sociology. All rights reserved.