Surveillance of the Second Wave of COVID-19 in Europe: Longitudinal Trend Analyses.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted Europe, resulting in a high caseload and deaths that varied by country. The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has breached the borders of Europe. Public health surveillance is necessary to inform policy and guide leaders. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to provide advanced surveillance metrics for COVID-19 transmission that account for weekly shifts in the pandemic, speed, acceleration, jerk, and persistence, to better understand countries at risk for explosive growth and those that are managing the pandemic effectively. METHODS: We performed a longitudinal trend analysis and extracted 62 days of COVID-19 data from public health registries. We used an empirical difference equation to measure the daily number of cases in Europe as a function of the prior number of cases, the level of testing, and weekly shift variables based on a dynamic panel model that was estimated using the generalized method of moments approach by implementing the Arellano-Bond estimator in R. RESULTS: New COVID-19 cases slightly decreased from 158,741 (week 1, January 4-10, 2021) to 152,064 (week 2, January 11-17, 2021), and cumulative cases increased from 22,507,271 (week 1) to 23,890,761 (week 2), with a weekly increase of 1,383,490 between January 10 and January 17. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom had the largest 7-day moving averages for new cases during week 1. During week 2, the 7-day moving average for France and Spain increased. From week 1 to week 2, the speed decreased (37.72 to 33.02 per 100,000), acceleration decreased (0.39 to -0.16 per 100,000), and jerk increased (-1.30 to 1.37 per 100,000). CONCLUSIONS: The United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal, in particular, are at risk for a rapid expansion in COVID-19 transmission. An examination of the European region suggests that there was a decrease in the COVID-19 caseload between January 4 and January 17, 2021. Unfortunately, the rates of jerk, which were negative for Europe at the beginning of the month, reversed course and became positive, despite decreases in speed and acceleration. Finally, the 7-day persistence rate was higher during week 2 than during week 1. These measures indicate that the second wave of the pandemic may be subsiding, but some countries remain at risk for new outbreaks and increased transmission in the absence of rapid policy responses.

Modern tax Havens: the Experience of European Countries

This paper aims to assess the European tax havens in terms of corporate financial misconduct risks. The study relies on an index method developed by a group of economists belonging to the international non-governmental organization - the Tax Justice Network. The method allowed the authors to calculate the Corporate Tax Harbor Index (CTHI) and determine the role of a particular jurisdiction in global corporate financial misconduct risks. The study established a ranking of European tax havens and jurisdictions with features of tax havens and classified these tax havens based on corporate financial misconduct risks. The study found that European tax havens and tax haven jurisdictions accounted for nearly 40% of global corporate financial misuse risks in 2020. The classification of European tax havens according to corporate financial misconduct risks demonstrated that the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, Ireland, and Luxembourg accounted for more than half of the risks. The shares of Liechtenstein (1%), Monaco (1%), Andorra, and San Marino (less than 1%) did not exceed 3% of the European share of the global risk. The results show the need for adjustments to the regulatory policy of international organizations currently focused on fighting classic tax havens. Their real share of global misuse risks is very small compared to the share of 'gray cardinals' of the offshore market.

Transition care for congenital heart disease in the COVID- 19: Adaptations & improvisations in a supra regional CHD service in the United Kingdom

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in prioritisation of healthcare resources to cope with the surge in infected patients, S18 Cardiology in the Young: Volume 32 Supplement 1 leading tosuspension of routine clinical services, including Transition Care Services (TCS). In these unprecendented times, our TCS decided to adapt and improvise so that we could continue with the transition process. We present our experience of the last few months of COVID-19. Methods: The TCS is well established across the North West, North Wales&Isle of Man Congenital Heart Disease Network with the 2 weekly Transition Clinics in two major Children's Hospitals in Liverpool & Manchester. The team consists of 1 ACHD cardiologist, 3 paediatric cardiologists and 6 clinical specialist nurses. With the sudden shut down there was the expected pressure on the wait lists and with no clear end in sight, our Network Transition Service decided to go “fully” virtual as soon aswe could set up this platform. We improvised 2 different models: 1. Initiallywe established “Fully VirtualClinics” on theNHS virtual platform“AttendAnywhere”,whereby the patient&family, the adult team and the paediatric team could “log-in” and conduct a virtual clinic. Each clinic had an initial 30 minutes of “TeamHuddle” to reviewpatient data. Based on the status and recent investigations, future-plans were made. 2. Once guidelines were eased, we moved to a “Hybrid Clinic” model, whereby the patientwould attend the children's hospital, have investigations and be seen by the paediatric team. The adult team would remotely log in, on “Attend Anywhere”. Results: Over eighteen-week period during the pandemic, 106 patients were booked in for initially full virtual & subsequently hybrid clinics. 81 attended their appointments. 17 did not attend and 8 cancelled their appointments. Conclusions: These models proved a big success, with good feedback from patients/families. Virtual clinics were particularly popular with youngsters. It took away the need to travel, helped maintaining social-distancing and reduced the risk of COVID- 19 in this vulnerable group. To our knowledge, there have been no studies in theUKlooking at the effect of the COVID-19 on the provision of TCS. This experience has been critical for us to provide our TCS in the future.

Albert Bruce Sabin: The Man Who Made the Oral Polio Vaccine

The article features Albert Bruce Sabin (1906-1993), who is credited as the developer of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) for the treatment of poliomyelitis. Also cited are the influence of William Hallock Park as mentor of Sabin, as well as how Sabin's work on the vaccine led to his dispute with Jonas Salk, who created an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV).