IMPACT OF THE CORONA PANDEMIC ON THE DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE IN AUSTRIA

The COVID-19 pandemic and the policy measures imposed to contain the virus affected people's health and lifestyles. Based on data available to the Federal Agency "Statistics Austria”, this paper asks about the impact of the pandemic years 2020 and 2021 (and partly beyond) on the Austrian demographics and population. It shows that mortality increased significantly during this period but varied by waves of infection also with the introduction of different policy measures (e.g., lockdowns). There are also changes in the number of births over the course of the pandemic, which can be interpreted through insecurities related to lockdowns and vaccinations. People who wanted to marry or get divorced during the pandemic years were confronted with closed offices and restrictions on holding celebrations, which is why there were significantly fewer marriages and divorces. International migration dropped significantly, especially in the spring of 2020, when European and global mobility was severely restricted, with differences between people of different nationalities. This was also reflected in the number of asylum applications filed in Austria. Migrations within Austria were strongly reduced during the first lockdown in 2020, all further lockdowns had less influence on them. However, in 2020 and 2021 there were several phases in which more people moved from urban to rural areas than before the pandemic. The number of registered secondary residences – which took on new relevance in the context of mobility restrictions and the use of home offices – also changed: overall, their number increased during the pandemic, but in many municipalities, deregistrations of seasonal workers were also noticeable. © 2022 Austrian Geographical Society. All rights reserved.

The COVID-19 framing dataset: How secondary data can be used to explore paradoxical attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic

We present a data set containing data of five cross-cultural framing studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic (Austria, Germany, U.K. and U.S.). The dataset covers data on participants' conspiracy mentality, distrust in science, risk aversion, individualism-collectivism and the endorsement of preventive behaviors such as vaccination willingness. In addition, across all studies, we collected data of a newly developed scale measuring paradoxical, anti-prevention attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021). We think that authors interested in the interplay of different traits and COVID-19 attitudes could be interested in the secondary use of the data set, and especially in the newly developed Paradox of Prevention Scale. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Dynamic modelling of changes in emotional and behavioural problems in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aims: Children and adolescents were affected in various ways by the measures due to COVID-19 pandemic. The aims of this study were to investigate and compare the effects on mental health across age, to identify latent class trajectories of emotional and behavioural problems over 12-months and to examine the association of classes of trajectories with baseline demographic and clinical predictors. Method(s): Children (n = 1854) and adolescents (n = 1243) from the general population were assessed baseline, at 6-, 9-, and 12-month follow-up. They were eligible if they were residents in Austria, Germany, or Switzerland, were parents/caregivers of a child aged between 7 and 10 years or adolescents >=11 years, had sufficient German language skills and provided informed consent. Results and Conclusion(s): Significant age-effects were found regarding type and frequency of problems. While children had the largest increase in aggressive behaviours, adolescents reported the largest increase in emotional problems. Sociodemographic variables, exposure to and appraisal of COVID-19, psychotherapy before COVID-19 and parental mental health significantly predicted change in problemscores (F >= 3.69, p <= .001). Using growth mixture modelling, a oneclass solution was detected for the trajectory of aggressive behaviours and a two- and three-class solution for withdrawn/depression and anxiety/depression. A substantial proportion of children and adolescents experienced age-related mental health problems during the different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. These results suggest that psychological problems of specific sub-groups should be monitored over the longer-term and interventions to improve communication, emotion regulation, and appraisal style should be offered to risk groups.

Global Commodity Chains and Supply Bottlenecks in Austria with Medical Devices in the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 Pandemic led to a strong increase in demand for medical products. At the same time, supply problems in international supply chains kicked in due to health policy interventions (e.g., lockdowns) and economic policy measures (e.g., export controls). Combined, both resulted in temporary shortages and triggered a controversial discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of globalised production structures, which led to strong dependencies on a few, primarily Asian, locations and producers. Against this background and based on case studies for Austria, the article deals with the question which factors determine the robustness of global commodity chains for respirators, protective gloves and respiratory equipment and which national and European policies could be suitable for increasing resilience in the supply of medical products. © 2022 Austrian Geographical Society. All rights reserved.

Survey and 10-day diary data on infant nutrition, development, and home learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic from the LEARN-COVID pilot study

The LEARN-COVID pilot study collected data on infants and their parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Assessments took place between April and July 2021. Parents (N = 357) from Switzerland (predominantly), Germany, and Austria answered a baseline questionnaire on their behaviour related to the pandemic, social support, infant nutrition, and infant regulation. Subsequently, parents (n = 222) answered a 10- day evening diary on infant nutrition, infant regulation, parental mood, and parental soothing behaviour. Data and documentation are stored on Zenodo, https://doi. org/10.5281/zenodo.6946048. These data may be valuable to researchers interested in infant development and parenting during the pandemic as well as to researchers interested in daily variability in infant behaviour, parenting, and nutrition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Zukunftserwartungen der Österreicher*innen während der Coronakrise

ZusammenfassungWas kommt nach der Coronakrise? Die Forschungsnotiz befasst sich mit den Zukunftserwartungen der Österreicher*innen während der ersten Phase der Coronapandemie. Die Daten des Austrian Corona Panel Project zeigen, dass die Zukunftserwartung für Österreich und die Erwartungen an die eigene Zukunft stark divergieren. Während mehr als 60 % Prozent der Befragten glauben, dass sich die Situation in Österreich verschlechtern wird, gehen nur 26 % von einer Verschlechterung ihrer eigenen Lebensumstände in den nächsten Jahren aus.Anhand von Einschätzungen der Befragten zu den drei von Anhut und Heitmeyer postulierten Krisenzuständen – Struktur, Regulation, Kohäsion – lässt sich veranschaulichen, dass Vertrauen in die gesellschaftlichen Institutionen ein wesentlicher Indikator dafür ist, wie optimistisch oder pessimistisch die Menschen in Österreich ihre eigene und die gesellschaftliche Zukunft beurteilen. Darüber hinaus ist es die Wahrnehmung bestehender materieller Ungleichheiten, welche sowohl die Einschätzung der Entwicklung der persönlichen, aber auch der Lebensumstände in Österreich bestimmt. Zudem sind diejenigen, die der Politik und dem öffentlichen Leben Relevanz zusprechen, pessimistischer, wenn es um die Zukunft des Landes geht.Alternate :What will come after the Corona crisis? The research note discusses the Austrians' expectations for the future during the first phase of the Corona pandemic. Data from the Austrian Corona Panel Project illustrates that there is an inherent difference between the future expectations for Austria and the expectations for the individual future. While more than 60% believe that the situation in Austria will get worse within the next years, only 26% think so when it comes to their own future.

Intentions of companies for health-promoting telework after the COVID-19 lockdown 2020

Background: Companies had to find quick solutions for continuing to work due to the pandemic in spring 2020. However, working conditions at home (teleworking) do not always comply with the basic principles and quality criteria of workplace health promotion (WHP). Objectives: How strongly is the approach of health-promoting telework (working at home) established in companies and what influences the strategic anchoring and the use of supporting materials? Materials and methods: Theoretically derived hypotheses were operationalised and 1858 Austrian companies were invited to participate in an online survey. The sample (n = 192) represents a broad mix of company sizes, sectors and regions. Results: Workplaces vary widely in their intention to implement health-promoting telework in the future. A part can be explained by multivariate path models, with behavioural control and social norms playing a central role. The former is determined by the degree of preparation for telework and its implementation in the company. In particular, teleworking culture, in addition to teleworking readiness, is shown to be responsible for the strength of social norms towards its implementation. Conclusions: Teleworking has so far received too little attention in the sense of holistic WHP. Such an implementation strongly depends on the health-promoting corporate structures and processes, the culture, and the decision-makers' scope for action. Companies are recommended to follow the concept of capacity building in order to build up competencies and knowledge and to enable appropriate measures.

Social Contacts and Compliance with SARS-CoV-2 Distancing Measures in the First Lockdown 2020 among Refugees from Syria and Afghanistan in Vienna

The article deals with the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and related measures on the social interactions of refugees from Afghanistan and Syria in Vienna during the first lockdown in March/April 2020. The focus is on the challenges for these vulnerable groups in the field of tension between the contact minimisation prescribed in the Corona regulations of the federal government on the one hand and cramped housing conditions, precarious labour market positions, homeschooling and the "digital divide” on the other. Further focal points are how refugees deal with the measures of "social/physical distancing”, its consequences in view of the colliding cultural norms, the extent of contact reduction and its causal factors. The empirical basis was provided by a quantitative online survey and qualitative interviews with refugees as well as experts from refugee support NGOs and organisations from both groups of origin, who were involved in the underlying project within the framework of a community-based participatory approach. Contrasting with the criticism sometimes voiced in the media that primarily certain groups with a migration background have been less compliant with the measures to contain the pandemic, a more differentiated picture is drawn. Above all, the factors of family status, age and housing conditions have had a strong influence on compliance with the distancing measures. The inaccessibility of public space, which is a particularly important resource for the refugees, as well as the discontinuation of social services offered by NGOs have particularly affected these vulnerable groups. © 2022 Austrian Geographical Society. All rights reserved.

ECMO-COVID offer and global mortality: Where does Portugal stand?

Objectives: To evaluate the ECMO offer during the COVID pandemic in the different European countries Methods: We colected COVID and demographic data from Worldometer and the national ECMO runs from the EuroELSO platform. Result(s): Europe presented a broad offer of ECMO. If during the first wave the Health System;s resources were not prepared to accommodate the high number of patients, during the following two years ECMO demonstrated to be a useful tool in the treatment of COVID pneumonia. However, across different European countries the use of ECMO was very different. In Portugal ECMO was used in 336 patients, in a universe of 5,557,941 COVID cases within a total population of 10,140,570 individuals. Of these, 336 were placed on extracorporeal circulation, which corresponds to 60.5 cases per million positive cases and 33.1 per 1 million individuals. The average number of patients placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) per million positive cases was 39 amongst the surveyed countries. Portugal was the 4th country with the most patients of ECMO per million cases (1st is Belgium with 106.5;Estonia 106.1;and Austria 68.5) and per million inhabitants (33.1), after Estonia (49.2), Austria (43.2) and Belgium (42.6). The mortality rate of COVID patients in Portugal is 0.46%. It is lower than the average of the countries under analysis (0.56%). When analyzing the frequency of cases concerning the mortality rate, there is seemingly an increase in the mortality rate with a decrease in the number of cases. The significant differences in the mortality rate between different countries can be explained by several other factors: different criteria for the main diagnosis of death;capacity of the different countries regarding the population;s access to vaccination and the different access to health care. Conclusion(s): ECMO-COVID offer was very different across countries. In Portugal, the offer was amongst the greatest in Europe, not compromising the overall response to the global COVID population.

Citizenship in times of crisis: biosocial state-citizen relations during COVID-19 in Austria.

Drawing upon 152 in-depth qualitative interviews with residents in Austria carried out in the first year of the pandemic, this article discusses how people's experiences with COVID-19 policies reflect and reshape state-citizen relations. Coinciding with a significant government crisis, the first year of COVID-19 in Austria saw pandemic measures justified with reference to a biological, often medical understanding of health that framed disease prevention in terms of transmission reduction, often with reference to metrics such as hospitalisation rates, etc. Instead of using this biomedical frame, our interviewees, however, drew attention to biopsychosocial dimensions of the crisis and problematised the entanglements between economy and health. We call this the emergence of a biosocial notion of citizenship that is attentive to psychological, social and economic dimensions of health. Insights into the biosocial nature of pandemic citizenship open a window of opportunity for addressing long-standing social injustices.

Identification of time delays in COVID-19 data

COVID-19 data released by public health authorities is subject to inherent time delays. Such delays have many causes, including delays in data reporting and the natural incubation period of the disease. We develop and introduce a numerical procedure to recover the distribution of these delays from data.We extend a previously-introduced compartmental model with a nonlinear, distributed-delay term with a general distribution, obtaining an integrodifferential equation. We show this model can be approximated by a weighted-sum of constant time-delay terms, yielding a linear problem for the distribution weights. Standard optimization can then be used to recover the weights, approximating the distribution of the time delays. We demonstrate the viability of the approach against data from Italy and Austria.We find that the delay-distributions for both Italy and Austria follow a Gaussian-like profile, with a mean of around 11 to 14 days. However, we note that the delay does not appear constant across all data types, with infection, recovery, and mortality data showing slightly different trends, suggesting the presence of independent delays in each of these processes. We also found that the recovered delay-distribution is not sensitive to the discretization resolution.These results establish the validity of the introduced procedure for the identification of time-delays in COVID-19 data. Our methods are not limited to COVID-19, and may be applied to other types of epidemiological data, or indeed any dynamical system with time-delay effects.

Cross-Border Circulation of Slovak Care Workers in Austria during the Pandemic against the Background of the Care Crisis

The paper focuses on the cross-border care circulation of Slovak care workers who work in Austria, with the care crisis and the pandemic in the background. Slovak care workers often work in short-term two-week work rotas, allowing them to balance work and private life. They remain primarily responsible for the social reproduction and care of their households. The pandemic and imposed measures have fundamentally affected this transnational circulation of care. Caregivers faced the challenge of mobilizing capacities and resources to cope with emerging situations, developing new strategies, and modifying existing ones. Based on interviews with care workers, employment agencies, and a non-governmental organization focusing on the rights of care workers, the study presents how care workers coped with the measures introduced during the pandemic period, describes selected strategies of care workers to ensure social reproduction in their families despite the pandemic, and also discuss selected changes in the individual life trajectories of women, to which the pandemic period contributed. The paper argues that although women contributed to addressing the emerging care deficit reinforced by the pandemic crisis, they had to rely on their capacities for the care needs of their families. © 2023 The Author(s).

[Is the Supply of Medicines in Danger?] / Arzneimittelversorgung in Gefahr?: Erklärungen aus Sicht der Industrie.

The healthcare system in Austria is currently affected by supply chain problems for certain drugs. These are mainly low-priced drugs, but they are of great importance for our health system. A sudden, excessive demand cannot be compensated by the drug manufacturers in the short term. The reasons are the complex and highly regulated manufacture of drugs, drastic supply chain problems for all components of the product as a result of the coronavirus crisis and the Ukraine conflict and, of course, dependence on active ingredients and finished medicinal products from countries such as India or China. The medium-term goal must be to reduce this dependency. Appropriate framework conditions must be created, such as coordination on an European basis or faster approval procedures. Another important issue from the point of view of a company producing in Austria is also a rethinking of the pricing policy for reimbursed drugs. Fair prices are the basis for ensuring that the Austrian pharmaceutical market can be well supplied and that pharmaceutical production in Austria can be secured.

Cezhraničná cirkulácia slovenských opatrovateliek v Rakúsku počas pandémie na pozadí krízy starostlivosti

The paper focuses on the cross-border care circulation of Slovak care workers who work in Austria, with the care crisis and the pandemic in the background. Slovak care workers often work in short-term two-week work rotas, allowing them to balance work and private life. They remain primarily responsible for the social reproduction and care of their households. The pandemic and imposed measures have fundamentally affected this transnational circulation of care. Caregivers faced the challenge of mobilizing capacities and resources to cope with emerging situations, developing new strategies, and modifying existing ones. Based on interviews with care workers, employment agencies, and a non-governmental organization focusing on the rights of care workers, the study presents how care workers coped with the measures introduced during the pandemic period, describes selected strategies of care workers to ensure social reproduction in their families despite the pandemic, and also discuss selected changes in the individual life trajectories of women, to which the pandemic period contributed. The paper argues that although women contributed to addressing the emerging care deficit reinforced by the pandemic crisis, they had to rely on their capacities for the care needs of their families.

Heat vs. Health: Home Office under a Changing Climate

Stressors are especially widespread in urban agglomerations. Common themes of built environment interventions that support health and well-being are blue and green infrastructure, indoor and outdoor air quality, thermal comfort, access to natural lighting, and acoustics. Given the current megatrends of increasing summer temperatures and the high popularity of home offices, we aimed at modeling thermal comfort changes of people working at home in three Austrian cities (Vienna, Innsbruck, and Graz) during the next decades until 2090. We present findings based on (I) an inter-disciplinary literature search and (II) indoor and outdoor climate simulations for actual and future climate scenarios. Based on the results, we discuss the potential impacts for work and human health and well-being, and we suggest a framework for the home office in "post-COVID-19 Austria” that integrates social, ecological, and economic aspects. The results of our study indicate that, in future climate scenarios, overheating of the interior can no longer be prevented without active cooling measures and nature-based solutions. Recommendations on the adjustment of behavior under climate change, including greening, adequate ventilation, and cooling techniques, are thus urgently needed for employees who are working from home in order to maintain physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Study The Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic Confinement On Body Weight In Young Adults Of 17-18 Yrs In Jaipur

Background: The COVID-19 Pandemic hit INDIA in March 2020. This pandemic lead to confinement of students at home for more than a year. This influenced their dietary behaviours and physical activity along with increase in stress levels. The net result of pandemic was alterations in weight, increasing the risk of obesity and diseases associated with obesity especially in affluent class. AIMS and OBJECTIVES: This study aims to evaluate the effect of confinement on body weight in students of 17-18 yrs of Jaipur and to identify the contributory factors. Material and Methods: A school based, cross-sectional, observational study was carried out from January 2021 to june 2021involving 300 students in age group of 17-18 years studying in private school belonging to affluent class. Students were made to fill a proforma regarding their daily lifestyle and physical activities. Physical activity was evaluated with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Weight before the pandemic confinement was compared to the post confinement weight. Data was analysed using DATAtab Team (2023). DATAtab: Online Statistics Calculator. DATA tab e.U. Graz, Austria. URL https://datatab.net/ Results: More than 50% of students gained significant weight during the pandemic. Only one third of participants were moderately physically active. Factors contributing to weight gain included increased consumption of unhealthy food, altered sleep pattern, increased screen time and decreased physical activity. Conclusion: The study showed that confinement lead to significant weight gain in students of affluent class .The findings showed the short term effects of pandemic confinement. This study during Covid19 confinement will help the health authorities in understanding and implementing newer policies for healthy lifestyle when newer pandemics waves arrive. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Pharmaceutical Negative Results is the property of ResearchTrentz and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

The effectiveness of a telemedical program for COVID-19 positive high-risk patients in domestic isolation

Background: For almost two years, the Covid-19 pandemic has posed an enormous challenge to healthcare systems. Recurrent waves of disease brought the health systems to the limit of their resilience. Purpose(s): The Tele-Covid telemedicine care program was installed in December 2020 to monitor high-risk patients in home isolation. Close monitoring allows early detection of disease deterioration and timely intensification of therapy, ideally avoiding intensive care. Conversely, if the course of the disease is stable, unnecessary hospitalisation can be avoided, thus reducing the burden on the healthcare system. Method(s): Patient acquisition was performed in collaboration with the local public health service and primary care physicians. Covid-19 positive highrisk patients (age >65 years and/or severe comorbidities) from the greater Innsbruck area were fitted with an ear sensor-based home monitoring system. The ear sensor measures SpO2, respiratory rate, body temperature and heart rate. The monitoring team (25 medical students supervised by 6 physicians) provided continuous monitoring of vital signs (24/7). After validation of the measurements, the collected parameters were evaluated using a specially developed risk score. If a defined risk score was exceeded, the patient was contacted by telephone. The combination of the clinical condition and the risk score determined the further course of action: (a) wait and see, (b) notify the primary care physician, or (c) refer for inpatient admission. The program was active from December 2020 to March 2022. In Summer 2021, the program was temporarily paused due to the epidemiological situation. Result(s): A total of 132 patients (59.8% women) were monitored. The median age was 74 years (IQR: [67.3-80.8]). 91 patients (68.9%) had at least one relevant comorbidity. During the monitoring period, hospitalisation was required in 20 patients (15.2%), 3 of whom were transferred to the intensive care unit. Of the hospitalised patients, 3 (15%) patients died. During the same monitoring period, the Austrian Ministry of Health reported a mortality rate of 20.5% of all hospitalised patients in Austria aged 70-79 years. Subjectively, the patients felt safe due to close monitoring. Conclusion(s): The Tele-Covid program is the successful implementation of a remote monitoring system in a pandemic situation. In the future, a broad application of the program is feasible.

Changing Insect Catch in Viennese Museums during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant changes in societies across the globe. In many countries in Europe, national lockdowns during the spring of 2020 meant that museums were closed, and maintenance and housekeeping were at a minimum. We compared the insect monitoring data of 15 museums in and around Vienna between the years 2018 and 2022 to see potential effects of the two lockdowns (spring 2020 and winter 2020/21) on insect populations. In Vienna, these changes altered the presence of pests, most notably an increase in silverfish by late spring (March–May 2020). We also found increased numbers of other pest species (notably Tineola bisselliella and Attagenus sp.), though these changes were seen later (June–October 2020). Thylodrias contractus, although found only in one museum, appeared to show decreased numbers during 2020. Storage areas in some of the museums revealed no significant increase in insect catch during the COVID-19 related closures. Since there are rarely visitors in such spaces, the situation did not change much during the closures. Silverfish are shy insects, but they were able to range more freely during the closures in the mostly darkened rooms. The increase of Tineola bisselliella and Attagenus sp. could be a result of reduced cleaning in the first lockdown. In the second lockdown, no significant changes were found. Human activity from staff was much higher compared to the first closure;a second reason could be the time of year, as in the winter period, it is mainly larvae that are active. Increased insect populations remind us that even when museums are unoccupied, they still need monitoring for possible risks from pests. No damage to the objects from the pests was observed in the museums investigated. © 2023 by the authors.

Advancing patient safety governance in the COVID-19 response

In the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the safety of health care services remains a serious, ongoing challenge. This once-in-a-century global health crisis exposed the vulnerability of healthcare delivery systems and the subsequent risks of patient harm. Given the scale of the occurrence and costs of preventable patient safety events, intervention and investment are still relatively modest. Good patient safety governance focuses on what leaders and policy makers can do to improve system performance and reduce the financial burden of avoidable care. Moreover, it is essential in driving progress in improving safety outcomes. This report examines how patient safety governance mechanisms in OECD countries have withstood the test of COVID-19 and provides recommendations for countries in further improving patient safety governance and strengthening health system resilience.

Action, Reaction and Resignation: How Refugee Women and Support Organisations Respond to Labour Market Integration Challenges during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Even without the impact of a global pandemic, refugee women face obstacles to their integration into the labour market. Complex integration challenges are situated across different, yet interwoven, levels. These include restrictive policies at the institutional level, limited funding for support measures at the organisational level and a lack of skills at the individual level. Many of these are gendered and specifically affect women. Some might be further intensified by Covid-19. However, the pandemic's effect on the labour market integration of refugee women has yet to be explored. This paper examines specific challenges support organisations and refugee women have faced during the pandemic and their responses to these. Following a process perspective, we utilise a qualitative methods approach with semi-structured interviews. We collected our data in Austria, a European country that hosts numerous refugees and has an elaborate support network. Results show that the external shock of the pandemic amplified the importance of developing digital skills to support post-pandemic labour market integration. In addition, the pandemic exacerbated challenges for refugee women and support organisations. This led to ‘action', ‘reaction' and ‘resignation' responses. We discuss these, and provide avenues for further research and practice. © 2023 The Authors