Price effects of calling out market power: A study of the COVID-19 oil price shock.

Governments often make public announcements that call into question firms' misuse of market power. Yet little is known about how firms respond to them. We study gasoline retailers' price responses to antitrust announcements shaming them for price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic. We identify price effects using a high-frequency event-study leveraging unique real-time station-level price data and well-identified, discrete antitrust announcements. We find evidence of announcement effects that depend on firms' preannouncement margins and hence exposure to being publicly shamed. Public statements by antitrust questioning firms' misuse of market power can indeed contain signals that affect equilibrium outcomes.

Effectiveness of Disinfectants Suitable for Inactivating SARS-CoV-2 at Cold-Chain Temperature.

To prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in cold-chain transportation in China, we developed specific cryogenic disinfectants. Carrier tests were performed against SARS-CoV-2 at - 20 °C for the four cryogenic disinfectants developed and qRT-PCR was used to test the virus RNA. Peracetic acid, chlorine disinfectants (two different concentrations), and quaternary ammonium disinfectant with their antifreeze can all inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in 5 min at - 20 °C. However, after 2-3 h of exposure, only chlorine disinfectant could destroy SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The viruses treated with peracetic acid and quaternary disinfectants showed positive Ct values even after 3 h detected with qRT-PCR. The conclusion was that the cold-chain disinfectants we tested could inactivate SARS-CoV-2 quickly and effectively, but only chlorine disinfectants could destroy nucleic acids in 3 h. Our study also illustrated that using qRT-PCR detection of viral nucleic acids to assess disinfection was inappropriate.

Current status of prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic in elderly care institutions in Jiangsu Province

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the current status of prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic and health status of elderly care institutions in Jiangsu Province so as to provide basis for better implementing the state's work deployment on the COVID-19 epidemic and improving the health status and disinfection quality of elderly care institutions. METHODS: From Oct 2020 to Dec 2020, a survey was conducted for the elderly care institutions in Jiangsu Province by using self-designed survey plans and questionnaires, the results of the survey were collected and summarized by "Questionnaire Star" platform, and statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS 23.0 software. RESULTS: The proportions of provision of anti-epidemic materials, indoor ventilation, environmental cleaning and disinfection, and staff's wearing masks were relatively high in 93 elderly care institutions, there was significant difference in the provision rate of hand-washing disinfectants between the medical treatment integrated care institutions and the non-medical treatment integrated care institutions (P < 0.05), there were no significant differences in other survey items.In terms of health monitoring, 719 samples were collected from environmental object surfaces for test of new coronavirus nucleic acid, and all of the results were negative;the average qualified rate of 1750 samples that were collected from air, object surfaces, tableware and staff' hands was 75.09%, the qualified rate of the tableware was the lowest, and there was significant difference in the qualified rate between the health care doctors' hands and the cleaning staff's hands (P < 0.05). There was significant difference in the qualified rate of air between the medical treatment integrated care institutions and the non-medical treatment integrated care institutions (P < 0.05), while there were no significant differences in the qualified rates of object surfaces, tableware and working staff' hands. CONCLUSION: In accordance with the requirements of the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Technical Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic Prevention and Control in Key Units and Key Populations in Key Places", the implementation of state-issued notices needs to be strengthened in the elderly care institutions in Jiangsu Province and the environmental sanitation needs to be improved, it is suggested that the supervision and management of the environment should be strengthened in the elderly care institutions, and disinfection-related national standards and norms for elderly care institutions should be introduced as early as possible.

Toilets dominate environmental detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in a hospital.

Respiratory and fecal aerosols play confirmed and suspected roles, respectively, in transmitting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). An extensive environmental sampling campaign of both toilet and non-toilet environments was performed in a dedicated hospital building for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the associated environmental factors were analyzed. In total, 107 surface samples, 46 air samples, two exhaled condensate samples, and two expired air samples were collected within and beyond four three-bed isolation rooms. The data of the COVID-19 patients were collected. The building environmental design and the cleaning routines were reviewed. Field measurements of airflow and CO2 concentrations were conducted. The 107 surface samples comprised 37 from toilets, 34 from other surfaces in isolation rooms, and 36 from other surfaces outside the isolation rooms in the hospital. Four of these samples were positive, namely two ward door handles, one bathroom toilet seat cover, and one bathroom door handle. Three were weakly positive, namely one bathroom toilet seat, one bathroom washbasin tap lever, and one bathroom ceiling exhaust louver. Of the 46 air samples, one collected from a corridor was weakly positive. The two exhaled condensate samples and the two expired air samples were negative. The fecal-derived aerosols in patients' toilets contained most of the detected SARS-CoV-2 in the hospital, highlighting the importance of surface and hand hygiene for intervention.

In vitro inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 by commonly used disinfection products and methods (preprint)

Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is currently a global pandemic, and there is a lack of laboratory studies targeting pathogen resistance.Objective To investigate the effect of selected disinfection products and methods on the inactivation of SARS-CoV-2.Methods We used quantitative suspension testing to evaluate the effectiveness of the disinfectant/method.Results Available chlorine of 250 mg/L, 500 mg/L, and 1000 mg/L required 20 min, 5 min, and 0.5 min to efficiently inactivate SARS-CoV-2, respectively. A 600-fold dilution of 17% concentration of di-N-decyldimethylammonium bromide (283 mg/L) and the same concentration of di-N-decyldimethylammonium chloride required only 0.5 min to efficiently inactivate the virus. Ethanol, at 30% concentration for 1 min, and 40% and above for 0.5 min, could efficiently inactivate SARS-CoV-2. Heat takes approximate 30 min at 56°C, or 10 min above 70°C, or 5 min above 90°C to inactivate the virus.Conclusions The chlorinated disinfectants, Di-N-decyldimethylammonium bromide / chloride, ethanol, and heat were effective in inactivating SARS-CoV-2. The response of SARS-CoV-2 to disinfectants is very similar to that of SARS-CoV.