Impacts on anxiety symptoms and alcohol consumption among people with disabilities and family caregivers in Latin America and the Caribbean during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyse associations between the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol consumption and anxiety symptoms among people with self-reported disabilities and family caregivers in Latin America and the Caribbean. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study with secondary data analysis of the 'Alcohol Use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean', a Web-based cross-sectional survey conducted by the Pan American Health Organisation between March and June 2020. METHODS: Descriptive analyses were conducted on the individual, social environment characteristics, COVID-19 infection, quarantine compliance, anxiety symptoms (measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale [GAD-7]) and change in frequency of heavy episodic drinking during the pandemic. Multinomial logistic regression was used to analyse associations among individuals with self-reported disabilities with anxiety symptoms and change in frequency of heavy episodic drinking during the pandemic. RESULTS: Family caregivers were more compliant with COVID-19 restrictive measures than individuals with and without disabilities. The majority of participants with disabilities did not change their drinking patterns during the pandemic (64.3%); however, 28.1% reported increased consumption. People with disabilities were 2.17 times more likely to have severe anxiety symptoms than no anxiety symptoms between March and June 2020 in Latin America and the Caribbean. CONCLUSIONS: This study observed a higher prevalence of the maintenance of heavy episodic drinking behaviour during the early phase of the pandemic in people with disabilities and family caregivers than in people without self-reported disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean. People with disabilities showed more severe anxiety symptoms than those without disabilities, highlighting the need to develop inclusive health and quality-of-life policies to mitigate the effects of the pandemic in this vulnerable population.

Willingness to pay for COVID-19 environmental health risk reductions in consumption: evidence from U.S. professional sports

The COVID-19 pandemic caused substantial economic changes. The airborne transmission of the coronavirus increased the environmental health risks associated with many activities that entailed little risk in the pre-pandemic period, including workplace risks and risks faced by consumers. While a large literature estimates local tradeoffs between money and reduced risk of negative health outcomes in many settings, little empirical evidence addresses consumer willingness to pay for reduction in environmental health risks associated with coronavirus transmission. We estimate professional sports fans' willingness to pay (WTP) for reduced likelihood of coronavirus infection through mask and social distancing policies at games using a stated preference approach. Regression results based on a latent class logit model using survey data collected from 1,391 fans of professional sports teams in five large U.S. metropolitan areas indicate increased attendance likelihood if the venue requires masks and limits attendance to below capacity. Latent class logit models indicate significant heterogeneity in WTP across risk scenarios and sports. We characterize the types of professional sports fan as casual fans who prefer a mask requirement but are indifferent to stadium and arena capacity, rabid fans who are anti-maskers and indifferent to capacity and fans who only have a positive WTP when there is a mask requirement and low stadium/arena capacity (i.e., opportunities for the greatest amount of social distancing).