Exploring the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on public bicycle sharing systems: the cases of Madrid (BiciMAD) and Buenos Aires (EcoBici)

Public bike-sharing systems (PBSS) allow the use of shared bicycles for a period of time without owning them. In Buenos Aires and Madrid, PBSS were implemented in 2010 and 2014 respectively, managed by public authorities and oriented to find alternatives to mass transit. The advantages offered by PBSS are multiple, and socially and environmentally friendly. The purpose of this article is to conduct an exploration and analysis of the temporal and spatial pattern of trips made using PBSS for both cities before and during the COVID 19 pandemic, in order to contribute to the state of the art. The temporal and spatial patterns in both cities were similar in pre-pandemic times. Both systems were negatively impacted in 2020 in terms of the number of trips due to lockdowns imposed. Both PBSS were closed during the pandemic, but as they were relaunched, bike usage increased. In both cities there is a correlation between the level of supply and the use of the system, and new micromobility spaces were identified. It is relevant to consider the lack of available datasets as well as information processing capabilities.

Labor market and pandemic in Spain: a geography of the STWS

Short-time work schemes (STWS) have become a fundamental instrument in Spain to tackle the labour adjustment triggered by the pandemic crisis. The aim of this study was to assess their impact on the labour market, analysing their importance according to activities and territories, aspects that have received very little attention in the existing literature. To this end, we conducted a statistical analysis of information provided by the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and calculated sectoral and provincial coverage rates. The results confirm that STWS have made it possible to mitigate the impact of the crisis, in contrast to what happened in the financial crisis of 2008, where the application of neoliberal austerity policies came at a high social cost. Accordingly, where a higher level of coverage has been achieved, many tourist provinces on the Mediterranean coast, as well as Madrid and Barcelona, have demonstrated "responsive” behaviour. Thus, although these provinces were the most heavily affected when the pandemic broke out, they have nevertheless achieved a rapid recovery. This contrasts with the more "vulnerable” behaviour of the industrial provinces in the north of Spain, which have been affected by a reduction in demand or problems in global production chains, and where the degree of coverage of this instrument has been lower. © 2023 Asociacion de Geografos Espanoles. All rights reserved.

Spatial contagion during the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic: Some lessons from the case of Madrid, Spain

This paper analyses the magnitude of the spatial transmission of COVID‐19 through the municipalities of the region of Madrid during the first pandemic wave using a spatial contagion index. The study also provides additional insights into the main factors contributing to the spread of the virus in both time and space by estimating a novel conditional spatial contagion index. Our results reveal high values of spatial contagion before and during the national lockdown enacted on 15 March 2020, becoming medium/low since then. Furthermore, the study confirms the leading role of inter‐municipal mobility and population density in spatial contagion.Alternate :Este artículo analiza la magnitud de la transmisión espacial de COVID‐19 a través de los municipios de la región de Madrid durante la primera ola pandémica, para lo cual utiliza un índice de contagio espacial. El estudio también proporciona información adicional sobre los principales factores que contribuyen a la propagación del virus, tanto en el tiempo como en el espacio, mediante la estimación de un novedoso índice de contagio espacial condicional. Los resultados revelan altos valores de contagio espacial antes y durante el confinamiento nacional promulgado el 15 de marzo de 2020, pasando a ser medios o bajos desde entonces. Además, el estudio confirma el protagonismo de la movilidad intermunicipal y la densidad de población en el contagio espacial.Alternate :抄録本稿では、空間的感染指標を用いて、パンデミックの第一波におけるマドリッド地域の自治体におけるCOVID‐19の空間的伝播の規模を解析する。また、新しい条件付き空間感染指標を推定することにより、時間と空間の両方でウイルスの拡散に寄与する主要因子の解明の手掛かりを提供する。結果から、2020年3月15日に施行された全国的なロックダウン前とロックダウン中の空間的感染のレベルが高く、それ以降は中程度~低程度になっていることが明らかになった。本研究からさらに、都市間の移動性と人口密度が空間的感染の主導的役割となっていることを確認された。

Urban Farming: The Reluctant Utopia

The old conceptual dichotomy between the city and the countryside has often been a historical stumbling block for architects and urban planners. Whilst there have been many attempts to bring the city closer to the natural environment, some on grand scales, more modest experiments have often gleaned better results. Daniele Belleri is a partner at design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, where he is in charge of all editorial and curatorial projects. He and the practice's founder, architect and engineer Carlo Ratti – who is director of the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – together explore our contemporary options. Copyright © 2023 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Impact and control of the COVID pandemic in an elite sports club: Real Madrid.

The incidence and risk factors for poor outcome in patients with COVID are well known, as are the protective measures in high-risk populations. In contrast, the epidemiological and clinical behavior of this disease in the population of elite athletes who are the paradigm of good health is poorly understood. Data on COVID in athletes are scarce and have focused preferentially on the consequences on sports performance of confinement measures and on the pathophysiological risks of infected athletes. Real Madrid is a large elite sports institution with facilities in the City of Madrid where 600 athletes train daily. The incidence of COVID during a study period of 671 days of observation in athletes, professional or amateur, working in the institution has been 0,74 per 1,000 days of exposure. The disease has been asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic in all athletes and did not require any hospital admissions. The different teams did not have to suspend any of its sportive commitments for COVID during the study period and there was no evidence of outbreaks of internal transmission between members of the different teams.

Residential Environment Assessment by Older Adults in Nursing Homes during COVID-19 Outbreak.

The most vulnerable residential settings during the COVID-19 pandemic were older adult's nursing homes, which experienced high rates of incidence and death from this cause. This paper aims to ascertain how institutionalized older people assessed their residential environment during the pandemic and to examine the differences according to personal and contextual characteristics. The COVID-19 Nursing Homes Survey (Madrid region, Spain) was used. The residential environment assessment scale (EVAER) and personal and contextual characteristics were selected. Descriptive and multivariate statistical analysis were applied. The sample consisted of 447 people (mean age = 83.8, 63.1% = women, 50.8% = widowed, 40% = less than primary studies). Four residential assessment subscales (relationships, mobility, residential aspects, privacy space) and three clusters according to residential rating (medium-high with everything = 71.5% of cases, low with mobility = 15.4%, low with everything = 13.1%) were obtained. The logistic regression models for each cluster category showed to be statistically significant. Showing a positive affect (OR = 1.08), fear of COVID-19 (OR = 1.06), high quality of life (OR = 1.05), not having suspicion of depression (OR = 0.75) and performing volunteer activities (OR = 3.67) were associated with the largest cluster. It is concluded that a better residential evaluation was related to more favourable personal and contextual conditions. These results can help in the design of nursing homes for older adults in need of accommodation and care to facilitate an age-friendly environment.

Candida Genotyping of Blood Culture Isolates from Patients Admitted to 16 Hospitals in Madrid: Genotype Spreading during the COVID-19 Pandemic Driven by Fluconazole-Resistant C. parapsilosis.

BACKGROUND: Candidaemia and invasive candidiasis are typically hospital-acquired. Genotyping isolates from patients admitted to different hospitals may be helpful in tracking clones spreading across hospitals, especially those showing antifungal resistance. METHODS: We characterized Candida clusters by studying Candida isolates (C. albicans, n = 1041; C. parapsilosis, n = 354, and C. tropicalis, n = 125) from blood cultures (53.8%) and intra-abdominal samples (46.2%) collected as part of the CANDIMAD (Candida in Madrid) study in Madrid (2019-2021). Species-specific microsatellite markers were used to define the genotypes of Candida spp. found in a single patient (singleton) or several patients (cluster) from a single hospital (intra-hospital cluster) or different hospitals (widespread cluster). RESULTS: We found 83 clusters, of which 20 were intra-hospital, 49 were widespread, and 14 were intra-hospital and widespread. Some intra-hospital clusters were first detected before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the number of clusters increased during the pandemic, especially for C. parapsilosis. The proportion of widespread clusters was significantly higher for genotypes found in both compartments than those exclusively found in either the blood cultures or intra-abdominal samples. Most C. albicans- and C. tropicalis-resistant genotypes were singleton and presented exclusively in either blood cultures or intra-abdominal samples. Fluconazole-resistant C. parapsilosis isolates belonged to intra-hospital clusters harboring either the Y132F or G458S ERG11p substitutions; the dominant genotype was also widespread. CONCLUSIONS: the number of clusters-and patients involved-increased during the COVID-19 pandemic mainly due to the emergence of fluconazole-resistant C. parapsilosis genotypes.

Impact of COVID-19 on Short- and Medium-Term Prescription of Enteral Nutrition in the General Population vs. Older People in the Community of Madrid, Spain.

We aimed to analyse the impact of COVID-19 during 2020 and 2021 on the prescription of enteral nutritional support and its expenditure in the Community of Madrid, Spain, compared to pre-pandemic data from 2016 in the general population vs. elderly. We analysed official electronic prescriptions of all public hospitals of the Community of Madrid. The population over 75 years of age have the higher prescription of nutritional supplements (p < 0.001 vs. other age groups), with no differences between the 45-64 age group compared to the 65-74 age group (χ2 = 3.259, p = 0.196). The first wave of COVID-19 or the first time there was a real awareness of the virus in Spain is similar in a way to the first peak of prescription of enteral nutrition in March 2020. The second peak of prescription was observed in the over 75 age group in July 2020, being more pronounced in December 2020 and March-April of the following year (F = 7.863, p = 0.041). The last peaks correspond to summer 2021 and autumn of the same year (p = 0.031-year 2021 vs. 2020, p = 0.011-year 2021 vs. 2019), where a relationship between increased prescription of enteral nutrition and COVID-19 cases is observed. High-protein and high-calorie dietary therapies were the most prescribed in patients with or without diabetes. All of this entailed higher cost for the Community of Madrid. In conclusion, COVID-19 significantly affected the prescription of nutritional support, especially in the population over 75 years of age.

Estimation of NO2 emission strengths over Riyadh and Madrid from space from a combination of wind-assigned anomalies and machine learning technique

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution provides valuable information for quantifying NOx emissions and exposures. This study presents a comprehensive method to estimate average tropospheric NO2 emission strengths derived from three-year (April 2018 - March 2021) TROPOMI observations by combining a wind-assigned anomaly approach and a Machine Learning (ML) method, the so-called Gradient Descent. This combined approach is firstly applied to the Saudi Arabian capital city Riyadh, as a test site, and yields a total emission rate of 1.04×1026 molec./s. The ML-trained anomalies fit very well with the wind-assigned anomalies with an R2 value of 1.0 and a slope of 0.99. Hotspots of NO2 emissions are apparent at several sites where the cement plant and power plants are located and over areas along the highways. Using the same approach, an emission rate of 1.80×1025 molec./s is estimated in the Madrid metropolitan area, Spain. Both the estimate and spatial pattern are comparable to the CAMS inventory. Weekly variations of NO2 emission are highly related to anthropogenic activities, such as the transport sector. The NO2 emissions were reduced by 24% at weekends in Riyadh, and high reductions are found near the city center and the areas along the highway. An average weekend reduction estimate of 30% in Madrid is found. The regions with dominant sources are located in the east of Madrid, where the residential areas and the Madrid-Barajas airport are located. Additionally, the NO2 emissions decreased by 21% in March-June 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 induced by the COVID-19 lockdowns in Riyadh. A much higher reduction (60%) is estimated for Madrid where a very strict lockdown policy was implemented. The high emission strengths during lockdown only persist in the residential areas and cover smaller areas during weekdays than at weekends. The spatial patterns of NO2 emission strengths during lockdown are similar to those observed at weekends in both cities. Though our analysis is limited to two cities as testing examples, the method has proved to provide reliable and consistent results. Therefore, it is expected to be suitable for other trace gases and other target regions. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions is the property of Copernicus Gesellschaft mbH 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.)

Centrality, mobility, and proximity. Evolution of retail activities in the preCOVID city. Madrid, 1996-2018

The goals globally assumed related to social and environmental challenges, plus the COVID-19 pandemic, have pointed to the need of reducing private vehicle mobility and articulating proximity structures in cities. This task must not ignore the demand for mobility generated by the functional configuration of urban areas after the metropolitan expansion processes carried out in the recent decades. On the basis of mobility data, this work analyses the evolution of retail and leisure centralities in Madrid Urban Area between 1996 and 2018, and its effects on proximity, sustainable mobility modes, and socio-spatial segregation. The results show a remarkable transformation of the functional structure during this period, which is unfavorable to the objectives pursued. Compared to 1996, the centralities based on pedestrian mobility and proximity have lost relative weight and relevance, while new peripheral sections highly dependent on private vehicles have gained new centrality. © 2022, Universidad de Chile, Instituto de la Vivienda. All rights reserved.

Photoelectric and diffusion charging measurements of fine particulate air pollution along the main roads of the city of Madrid from 1999 to 2021

In this work, the evolution of the fine particulate air pollution (of size below one μm) produced by the vehicles when driving along several roads of Madrid is studied. Measurements were taken with portable near real-time sensors of Diffusion Charging (DC) and Photoelectric Charging (PC) while driving along the roads. The obtained measurement profiles basically consist of spikes when measuring in the exhaust plumes of preceding vehicles and a background level of mixed aged exhaust that forms when high traffic intensity exist. The DC sensor measures air concentration of the particles Total Active Surface (TAS) and the PC sensor was calibrated to measure the air concentration of Particle bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PPAH). The amount of adsorbed PAH per active surface (the PC/DC ratio) is a measure of particles toxicity. Both sensors are sensible to ultra-fine particles of size below 0.1 μm. The measured median values of DC and PC, for the years 1999, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021, are plotted as well as their median PC/DC ratio. Examples of measurement profiles are also shown including measurements during COVID-19 driving restrictions. During these restrictions, we could conclude that our measured particulate air pollution of fine and ultrafine particles is caused by "polluting-vehicles" still coexisting in the vehicle fleet of Madrid, which do not fulfill the latest Euro standard because they are too old or have no/malfunctioning catalytic converter and/or diesel particle filter (DPF). The changes of the measured median of the DC and PC values are discussed based on already known results of implemented vehicle technologies for reducing emissions, the evolution of the vehicle fleet fulfilling the increasingly demanding Euro standards, the traffic count, the PC and DC working principles, the evolution of the exhaust emission when exiting the pipe, and on the sulfur content reductions in diesel. The main factors that allowed the large reduction of the median values of both DC and PC (from 1167 ± 57 mm2/m3 and 990 ± 54 ng/m3 in 1999 to 263 ± 14 mm2/m3 and 124 ± 7 ng/m3 in 2021 respectively) as well as the changes in the PC/DC ratio was, according to our findings, the diesel sulfur content reduction and the implementation of the Diesel Oxidation Catalysis (DOC) and the DPF. • Decrease in the total active surface of fine particles in the air of the city of Madrid since 1999. • Decrease in PAH adsorbed on fine particles in the air along the roads of the city of Madrid since 1999. • Evolution of on-road fine and ultrafine exhaust particle emissions in Madrid since 1999. • Drastic localized increase of air suspended fine particles caused by specific polluting vehicles. • Changes in the on-road fine and ultrafine exhaust particles toxicity in Madrid since 1999. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Atmospheric Environment is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science 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.)

CARE NETWORKS IN THE PANDEMIC: FROM CIVIL SOCIETY TO POLITICS AND BACK AGAIN

This is an exploratory article about care networks that are proliferating in the neighbourhoods of big Spanish cities. These networks are a reaction from civil society to confront the COVID-19 crisis that is currently affecting the most structurally vulnerable households. The effects of the food emergency, arising as a consequence of the pandemic, have a strong socio-spatial component, and call into question the welfare model of the city of Madrid, our study case. We will study the origins of care networks in the city, their relation with the neighbourhood movement, and effects of the change in the city model between conservative and neo-municipalist governments. We will analyse the structure of care networks, their agency, and especially their potential role as political actors in the neoliberal city from three different theoretical approaches: social movements, social innovation, and urban governance. © 2022 CSIC.

Data-driven analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on Madrid's public transport during each phase of the pandemic.

COVID-19 has become a major global issue with large social-economic and health impacts, which led to important changes in people's behavior. One of these changes affected the way people use public transport. In this work we present a data-driven analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on public transport demand in the Community of Madrid, Spain, using data from ticket validations between February and September 2020. This period of time covers all stages of pandemic in Spain, including de-escalation phases. We find that ridership has dramatically decreased by 95% at the pandemic peak, recovering very slowly and reaching only half its pre-pandemic levels at the end of September. We analyze results for different transport modes, ticket types, and groups of users. Our work corroborates that low-income groups are the most reliant on public transportation, thus observing significantly lower decreases in their ridership during pandemic. This paper also shows different average daily patterns of public transit demand during each phase of the pandemic in Madrid. All these findings provide relevant information for transit agencies to design responses to an emergence situation like this pandemic, contributing to extend the global knowledge about COVID-19 impact on transport comparing results with other cities worldwide.

Spatial Contagion during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Some Lessons from the Case of Madrid, Spain

This paper analyses the magnitude of the spatial transmission of COVID-19 through the municipalities of the region of Madrid during the first pandemic wave using a spatial contagion index. The study also provides additional insights into the main factors contributing to the spread of the virus in both time and space by estimating a novel conditional spatial contagion index. Our results reveal high values of spatial contagion before and during the national lockdown enacted on March 15, 2020, becoming medium/low since then. Furthermore, the study confirms the leading role of inter-municipal mobility and population density in spatial contagion.

SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL IMPACT OF COVID-19 IN RURAL AREAS. A CASE STUDY IN CENTRAL SPAIN

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly modified the social-ecological conditions of Spanish rural municipalities, for which the health crisis may represent a significant development opportunity. This work focuses on detecting the main factors responsible for the urban-rural movement of the population of the Madrid Region due to COVID-19 and its social-ecological consequences and on identifying the effect of the pandemic on tourism throughout the urban-rural gradient studied. A survey was designed based on 15 multi-choice questions completed by 55 municipalities in the region. The preference of internal urban-rural migrants and nature-based tourists for places far from the city and with a high degree of naturalness has been identified. Studies similar to this one lay the foundations for future research at different territorial scales and are useful tools to guide early decision-making in the face of unexpected risks with high social-ecological impact.

Geographies of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: The return of the rural environment

The COVID-19 pandemic was the worst public, economic and social health crisis in Spain since the Civil War. This virus caused thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of infections, with Catalonia and Madrid as the most affected territories. A first exploratory analysis shows, with the scarce reliable data available so far, that this pandemic has had a special impact on urban areas with higher population density and pollution levels, while rural areas, despite having a much higher at-risk population and a much more precarious healthcare system, have proven to be much more resilient to coronavirus expansion. All this opens the door to revaluing the importance of the rural environment as an analytical category and as a space for opportunities and life in the face of present and future pandemics and not just problems and crises. © 2022, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. All rights reserved.

Perimeter confinements of basic health zones and COVID-19 incidence in Madrid, Spain.

BACKGROUND: A unique policy of perimeter closures of Basic Health Zones (small administrative health units) was implemented in the Autonomous Community of Madrid from September 21st 2020 to May 23rd 2021 to face the COVID-19 pandemic. AIM: To assess the impact of local perimeter confinements on the 14-days cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 during the second wave of the pandemic in Madrid, Spain. METHODS: We compare the errors in estimation of two families of mathematical models: ones that include the perimeter closures as explanatory covariables and ones that do not, in search of a significant improvement in estimation of one family over the other. We incorporate leave-one-out cross-validation, and at each step of this process we select the best model in AIC score from a family of 15 differently tuned ones. RESULTS: The two families of models provided very similar estimations, for a 1- to 3-weeks delay in observed cumulative incidence, and also when restricting the analysis to only those Basic Health Zones that were subject to at least one closure during the time under study. In all cases the correlation between the errors yielded by both families of models was higher than 0.98 (±10- 3 95% CI), and the average difference of estimated 14-days cumulative incidence was smaller than 1.49 (±0.33 95% CI). CONCLUSION: Our analysis suggests that the perimeter closures by Basic Health Zone did not have a significant effect on the epidemic curve in Madrid.

Madrid faced with Covid-19. The opinion of journalism students about media praxis

The Covid-19 pandemic has devastated all of Spain with Madrid as the epicenter of infections and deaths. Despite the general confinement of the population, news journalism continued as an essential service, carrying out its usual work. This new global paradigm has transformed the uses and customs of both emitters and receivers. For all these reasons, the main objective of this investigation is to know the opinion of "pandemic journalism" of a specific media group, with a prosumer profile and who has lived with the worst scenario of the disease: the students of the Journalism Degree of Madrid universities. The method of analysis is based on an opinion poll, the results of which show how the consumption of information by this group has been almost exclusively centralized in digital media and social networks. In addition, the present study reveals that the respondents are critical of the veracity of the news and the existence of fake news and the problem of the overabundance of information about the pandemic is verified, which has already been conceptualized as an infodemic. Finally, there is a low level of student media literacy, as well as a lack of mechanisms to overcome the threats of journalism in the post-truth era.

Toward greener and pandemic-proof cities: policy responses to Covid-19 outbreak in four European cities

Starting from the relationship between urban planning and mobility management, TeMA has gradually expanded the view of the covered topics, always following a rigorous scientific in-depth analysis. This section of the Journal, Review Notes, is the expression of a continuous updating of emerging topics concerning relationships among urban planning, mobility and environment, through a collection of short scientific papers. The Review Notes are made of four parts. Each section examines a specific aspect of the broader information storage within the main interests of TeMA Journal. In particular, the Urban practices section aims at presenting recent advancements on relevant topics that underlie the challenges that the cities have to face. The present note provides an overview of the policies and initiatives undertaken in four global cities in response to the Covid-19 outbreak: Madrid (ES), London (UK), Milan (IT) and Brussels (BE). A cross-city analysis is used to derive a taxonomy of urban policy measures. The contribution discusses the effectiveness of each measures in providing answers to epidemic threats in urban areas while, at the same time, improving the sustainability and resilience of urban communities.

COVID-19 in the city of Madrid and vulnerability. Analysis of the first two waves

Background: The advance of the pandemic in the large cities of the world with great virulence and the apparent heterogeneous distribution by factors of vulnerability, led us to propose this work. The objective of this study was to relate COVID-19 infection rates to the social vulnerability of the city of Madrid by district, in two different episodes, spring 2020 and summer 2020. Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study. Taking sociodemographic data of the entire population of the city of Madrid between the months of April and October 2020, together with the cumulative incidence rates of COVID-19, a linear regression analysis, correlation and factor analysis was carried out, relating the cumulative incidence rate of COVID-19 and the vulnerability indicator of the districts of the city of Madrid. Results: The results showed important differences between the two episodes of the pandemic: on one hand, the first had more relationship with health factors, while in the second, a relationship appeared with the groups of greater social vulnerability, territorially located in the South-East of the City and related in this case to social factors rather than health. Thus we see that the TIA x 100,000 in the first episode in Chamberi and Usera-two extreme districts in vulnerability-were 896 and 843 cases respectively, while in the second they were 3,708 and 6,258 cases. Conclusions: The territorial differences in the city become evident with the arrival of a generalised, universal event such as COVID-19, where vulnerability increases for everyone, with greater repercussions in those territories where it already had an impact.