ABSTRACT
Improving rural households' subjective well-being is an important element of economic and social revitalization in the post-epidemic period. Based on the survey data obtained from rural households in Hubei Province, the center of the outbreak in China, and its surrounding areas, this paper explores the impact mechanisms of the COVID-19 epidemic on subjective well-being from both economic and sociological perspectives with the help of structural equation modeling. The results show that COVID-19 significantly influenced rural households' subjective well-being in China. Furthermore, COVID-19 indirectly affected their subjective well-being by influencing optimism. The negative impact is moderated by government intervention and income resilience. Therefore, strengthening the emergency management capacity of local governments and encouraging the diversification of rural households' income sources are important strategies to effectively resolve epidemic shocks and improve the level of well-being.
ABSTRACT
Livelihood resilience is the ability of individuals, families or communities to withstand external shocks based on existing resources. It is an important research paradigm in sustainable development studies. The outbreak of COVID-19 and strict epidemic prevention policies have greatly impacted the production and life of rural farmers in China. The resilience of farmers' livelihoods during the epidemic is crucial to the sustainable development of their livelihoods and regional stability. This study uses classic buffer capacity, self-organization ability, and the capacity for learning a three-dimension livelihood resilience framework using the comprehensive index, OLS, and geographical detector methods based on Hubei province and neighboring Anhui and Chongqing. Rural household survey data investigate the background of epidemic hit the livelihood of farmers resilience and its spatial distribution pattern and identify the key influencing factors. The results show that the livelihood shock faced by farmers was higher than the risk of disease, and the overall level of livelihood resilience was low after the pandemic. Financial capital and social capital can effectively help farmers to eliminate livelihood difficulties. In contrast, natural capital has a limited driving force, and physical and human capital have no obvious impact. The spatial agglomeration differentiation is obvious, indicating that the impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods was closely related to the degree of local socio-economic development and geographical location. The results of this study provide targeted recommendations for the development of epidemic prevention and livelihood resilience policies tailored to local conditions, emphasizing the importance of boosting livelihood recovery at both the government and household levels.
ABSTRACT
Livelihood resilience is the ability of individuals, families or communities to withstand external shocks based on existing resources. It is an important research paradigm in sustainable development studies. The outbreak of COVID-19 and strict epidemic prevention policies have greatly impacted the production and life of rural farmers in China. The resilience of farmers' livelihoods during the epidemic is crucial to the sustainable development of their livelihoods and regional stability. This study uses classic buffer capacity, self-organization ability, and the capacity for learning a three-dimension livelihood resilience framework using the comprehensive index, OLS, and geographical detector methods based on Hubei province and neighboring Anhui and Chongqing. Rural household survey data investigate the background of epidemic hit the livelihood of farmers resilience and its spatial distribution pattern and identify the key influencing factors. The results show that the livelihood shock faced by farmers was higher than the risk of disease, and the overall level of livelihood resilience was low after the pandemic. Financial capital and social capital can effectively help farmers to eliminate livelihood difficulties. In contrast, natural capital has a limited driving force, and physical and human capital have no obvious impact. The spatial agglomeration differentiation is obvious, indicating that the impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods was closely related to the degree of local socio-economic development and geographical location. The results of this study provide targeted recommendations for the development of epidemic prevention and livelihood resilience policies tailored to local conditions, emphasizing the importance of boosting livelihood recovery at both the government and household levels.
ABSTRACT
Background A novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has raised world concern since it emerged in Wuhan Hubei China in December, 2019. The infection may result into severe pneumonia with clusters illness onsets. Its impacts on public health make it paramount to clarify the clinical features with other pneumonias. Methods Nineteen 2019-nCoV pneumonia (NCOVID-19) and fifteen other pneumonia patients (NON-NCOVID-19) in out of Hubei places were involved in this study. Both NCOVID-19 and NON-NCOVID-19 patients were confirmed to be infected in throat swabs or/and sputa with or without 2019-nCoV by real-time RT-PCR. We analyzed the demographic, epidemiological, clinical, and radiological features from those patients, and compared the difference between NCOVID-19 and NON-NCOVID-19. Results All patients had a history of exposure to confirmed case of 2019-nCoV or travel to Hubei before illness. The median duration, respectively, was 8 (IQR:6~11) and 5 (IQR:4~11) days from exposure to onset in NCOVID-19 and NON-NCOVID-19. The clinical symptoms were similar between NCOVID-19 and NON-NCOVID-19. The most common symptoms were fever and cough. Fifteen (78.95%) NCOVID-19 but 4 (26.67%) NON-NCOVID-19 patients had bilateral involvement while 17 (89.47%) NCOVID-19 but 1 (6.67%) NON-NCOVID-19 patients had multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity of chest CT images. Compared to NON-NCOVID-19, NCOVID-19 present remarkably more abnormal laboratory tests including AST, ALT, γ-GT, LDH and α-HBDH. Conclusion The 2019-nCoV infection caused similar onsets to other pneumonias. CT scan may be a reliable test for screening NCOVID-19 cases. Liver function damage is more frequent in NCOVID-19 than NON-NCOVID-19 patients. LDH and α-HBDH may be considerable markers for evaluation of NCOVID-19.