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This study was conducted with the aim of empirically analyzing the impacts of the pandemic of the Covid-19 on the Quebec tourism industry, with a particular focus on the outdoor sector, given that the latter seems to have been a form of escape in several countries and for many citizens. Based on a quantitative approach and a self-administered survey in the summer of 2020 (n = 1210), this study made it possible to analyze the organizational situation of this industry, the tourism performance of the organizations surveyed, their human resources concerns, their short- and medium-term development prospects, as well as the structural and organizational elements where the organizations are the most vulnerable. Overall, it can be seen that the outdoor sector, thanks to its 40 intrinsic characteristics, stands out very positively in this industry, in particular in contrast to organizations located in large urban centers that depend on clients from outside Quebec.
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Background: A significant portion of individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection have persistent COVID-19 symptoms after recovery. Symptoms may be new or persistent from the initial illness, which could cause both psychological and physical difficulty to the patients. These symptoms are collectively known as "long COVID-19 syndrome". There is limited information about this syndrome in the Thai population. Objectives: We aimed to describe and evaluate the risk for post COVID-19 symptoms among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a university hospital. Methods: A prospective descriptive study was conducted on symptomatic COVID-19 patients admitted in Ramathibodi Hospital from July 1 to September 10, 2021. All surviving COVID-19 patients received a telephone assessment every month until 3 months after discharge and electronic medical records were reviewed. Information collected included symptoms, severity, treatment, duration of symptom, complication of COVID-19 and treatment. The New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification was used to categorized severity of dyspnea. Results: Among 253 evaluable patients, 57.3% were female and the mean age was 59.3 years old. Of these, 66% and 24.1% had moderate (pneumonia and SpO2 90%) and severe COVID-19 (pneumonia with severe respiratory distress and SpO2 90%), respectively. Almost all patients were inadequately vaccinated (unvaccinated 53.3%, partially vaccinated 41.9%). Overall, complete resolution of symptoms before 1 month after onset were noted in 47 patients (18.5%) and 72 (28.5%) patients had at least one persistent symptom at three months. The most common symptom is sleep disturbance (11.9%);29.2% remain in NYHA II and 0.8% in NYHA III and IV each. Female gender (OR 1.94;[95% CI 1.09-3.48], p=0.024), history of receiving dexamethasone (OR 1.04;[95% CI 1.01-1.08], p=0.004) and length of hospitalization (OR 1.04;[95% CI 1.00-1.08], p=0.034) were associated with being in NYHA II. Additionally, 5.9% had bacterial infection, and most were urinary tract infection and pneumonia, respectively. The risk factor associated with post-COVID-19 bacterial infection is bed ridden status (OR 23.3;[95% CI 5.79-93.72], p=<0.001). Conclusions: A significant number of COVID-19 patients had residual COVID-19 symptoms and still not fully functional at least 3 months after recovery. A major limitation of this study is obtaining information by telephone interview since hospital visit were not encouraged to limit mobility of people during pandemic, which may have led to a recall bias.
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Among Armstrong's many accomplishments is the development of ionic liquid stationary phases for capillary GC. [...]the American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry Satinder Ahuja New Investigator Award in Separation Science was presented to. Table III provides a listing of accessories and consumables launched over the past year. Besides several short courses associated with Pittcon, additional training and educational resources are available for 2020.
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The People's Republic of China has the largest population in the world, making it both one of the most fascinating and rapidly expanding import markets for food and beverages as well as one of the most difficult. The Chinese market is appealing to foreign food producers because of the country's high per capita income and quick urbanization. The Agriculture Chapter addressed fundamental trade barriers and will support a significant increase in the export of food, agricultural, and seafood products from the United States, boosting farm and fishery revenue, stimulating rural economies, and fostering employment growth. Numerous non-tariff barriers to the export of U.S. agricultural and seafood products are discussed, including those relating to rice, dairy, infant formula, horticulture products, animal feed and feed additives, pet food, and agricultural biotechnology products, as well as meat, chicken, and seafood. The U.S. has achieved significant export successes thus far, despite the pandemic. Decrees 248 and 249, which take effect on January 1, 2022, mandate that foreign suppliers of particular food products to China register with the GACC before presenting their goods for customs clearance. Several Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) reports on GACC Decrees 248 and 249 have been published by FAS offices in China. For the most recent information on whether their business has to register, whether it can self-register, or if it needs to be recommended for registration by a U.S. competent body, U.S. exporters should examine the GAIN system, which offers points of contact at the GACC. According to Euromonitor, urban Chinese customers who are short on time choose shopping near residential areas, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. During the crisis, consumers grew accustomed to shopping in their immediate areas. As a result, many major modern grocery chains have used a multi-format strategy and constructed smaller-format stores. Freshippo, Yonghui, and Carrefour are all opening smaller, more neighborhood-focused stores that place an increased emphasis on fresh foods. Some of these shops also act as e-commerce order warehouses and offer prompt home deliveries. Particularly Yonghui has opened Yonghui Mini Stores quickly as an addition to its hypermarket and major supermarket operations. The food processing sector in China has been expanding steadily in recent years. According to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), sales, production, and income in the sector rose in 2020. The total profits of China's largest food processing firms reached 620.66 billion yuan (about US$97 billion) in 2020, an increase of 6.8% over the same period in 2019. According to MIIT, these businesses' profit growth was 3.1% higher than the average for all industrial sectors.
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Outdoor Recreation (OR) provides the benefits of physical activity and traditional leisure placed in an outdoor environment. Motivation, self-efficacy, and autonomy can increase depending on the physical and social environment. This study explored the relationship between self-efficacy and autonomy on OR behaviors and identified barriers and facilitators to OR during the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey information was collected from 995 U.S. adults (93.6% white, 64.0% female) regarding OR behaviors, changes in OR during COVID-19, and OR self-perceptions. Significant positive correlations existed between autonomy and self-efficacy (r = 0.138, p < 0.01), and self-efficacy and pre/post pandemic OR behaviors 2020 (r = 0.158, p < 0.01), (r = 0.129, p < 0.01) respectively. Qualitative data implied barriers and facilitators to OR as: social, mental health, and increased or changed OR/physical activity. Implications from this research are beneficial to OR and health professionals to promote overall physical and mental well-being for OR participants.
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Anomalies of tropospheric columns of ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), acetylene (C2H2), formaldehyde (H2CO), and ethane (C2H6) are quantified during the 2020 stringent COVID-19 world-wide lockdown using multiple ground-based Fourier-transform infrared spectrometers covering urban and remote conditions. We applied an exponential smoothing forecasting approach to the data sets to estimate business-as-usual values for 2020, which are then contrasted with actual observations. The Community Atmosphere Model with chemistry (CAM-chem) is used to simulate the same gases using lockdown-adjusted and business-as-usual emissions. The role of meteorology, or natural variability, is assessed with additional CAM-chem simulations. The tropospheric column of O3 declined between March and May 2020 for most sites with a mean decrease of 9.2% ± 4.7%. Simulations reproduce these anomalies, especially under background conditions where natural variability explains up to 80% of the decline for sites in the Northern Hemisphere. While urban sites show a reduction between 1% and 12% in tropospheric CO, the remote sites do not show a significant change. Overall, CAM-chem simulations capture the magnitude of the anomalies and in many cases natural variability and lockdowns have opposite effects. We further used the long-term record of the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) satellite instrument to capture global anomalies of CO. Reductions of CO vary highly across regions but North America and Europe registered lower values in March 2020.The absence of CO reduction in April and May, concomitant with reductions of anthropogenic emissions, is explained by a negative anomaly in the hydroxyl radical (OH) found with CAM-chem.The implications of these findings are discussed for methane (CH4), which shows a positive lifetime anomaly during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The fossil fuel combustion by-product tracer C2H2 shows a mean drop of 13.6% ± 8.3% in urban Northern Hemisphere sites due to the reduction in emissions and in some sites exacerbated by natural variability. For some sites with anthropogenic influence there is a decrease in C2H6.The simulations capture the anomalies but the main cause may be related to natural variability. H2CO declined during the stringent 2020 lockdown in all urban sites explained by reductions in emissions of precursors. Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s).
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Understanding what factors play a role in people's decisions to travel during a pandemic is important to public health officials and to stakeholders in the travel and tourism industry in the United States (US) and worldwide. This study examines factors influencing people's decisions to cancel/postpone recreational travel within the US amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Our conceptual framework extends the Expected Utility model, commonly used in economics to model decisions under risk and uncertainty, to incorporate subjective norms and perceived behavioral control from the Theory of Planned Behavior. Our results suggest that risk perceptions, subjective norms, and concerns over transmitting COVID-19 to others play a significant role in the decision to cancel and postpone recreational travel. Results also suggest that perceived behavioral control may be less relevant to travel decisions when traveling involves elevated health risks.
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This research determines the impacts of COVID-19 US on crawfish production and consumption for 2020 and 2021 using an Equilibrium Displacement Model. In the US, crawfish is one of the seafood commodities where most production is consumed by domestic consumers (7% of domestic consumption is from imports). Crawfish and rice are complementary. Therefore, the impacts of COVID-19 on crawfish consumption simultaneously influence rice production and crawfish producers and consumers. In the first year of COVID-19 (2020), the reduction in crawfish retail demand caused negative effects on final consumers and producers. However, crawfish consumption recovered significantly in the second year (2021), which could compensate for the loss in 2020. Overall, consumer and producer gains ranged from $549 to $626 million if the COVID-19 pandemic only impacted retail consumption. However, in 2021, the increase in production costs due to higher oil/diesel prices and other input prices caused the farm supply to decrease. As a result, total welfare gains ranged from $200 to $228 million. If the demand in 2021 did not increase, but the crawfish farm supply decreased, consumer and producer losses ranged from $929 to $1045 million. Overall, the total effects of COVID-19 on consumers and producers for 2020 and 2021 depend on its effects in 2021. If the demand in 2021 increased following the decrease in farm supply, consumers and producers would benefit from the shocks of COVID-19 due to higher post-COVID-19 demand.
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Domestic livestock production is a major component of the agricultural sector, contributing to food security and human health and nutrition and serving as the economic livelihood for millions worldwide. The impact of disease on global systems and processes cannot be understated, as illustrated by the effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic through economic and social system shocks and food system disruptions. This study outlines a method to identify the most likely sites of introduction into the United States for three of the most concerning foreign animal diseases: African swine fever (ASF), classical swine fever (CSF), and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). We first created an index measuring the amount of potentially contaminated meat products entering the regions of interest using the most recently available Agricultural Quarantine Inspection Monitoring (AQIM) air passenger inspection dataset, the AQIM USPS/foreign mail, and the targeted USPS/foreign mail interception datasets. The risk of introduction of a given virus was then estimated using this index, as well as the density of operations of the livestock species and the likelihood of infected material contaminating the local herds. Using the most recently available version of the datasets, the most likely places of introduction for ASF and CSF were identified to be in central Florida, while FMD was estimated to have been most likely introduced to swine in western California and to cattle in northeastern Texas. The method illustrated in this study is important as it may provide insights on risk and can be used to guide surveillance activities and optimize the use of limited resources to combat the establishment of these diseases in the U.S.
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Whether or not primates are behaviorally affected by the presence of visitors in a zoo setting is a question of great relevance to zoo animal well-being. The situation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic provided an unusual opportunity to examine how the absence of visitors impacts behavior. We took advantage of this opportunity to study the behavior of a gorilla troop during periods of no-visitors compared to our long-term database on gorilla behavior during normal zoo operations. While there were notable individual differences in response to visitors, we found no significant relationship between presence of visitors and behavior. These results suggest that the presence of visitors does not have a significant impact on behavior and well-being of zoo-housed gorillas.
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OBJECTIVE: To characterize clinical and epidemiologic features of SARS-CoV-2 in companion animals detected through both passive and active surveillance in the US. ANIMALS: 204 companion animals (109 cats, 95 dogs) across 33 states with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections between March 2020 and December 2021. PROCEDURES: Public health officials, animal health officials, and academic researchers investigating zoonotic SARS-CoV-2 transmission events reported clinical, laboratory, and epidemiologic information through a standardized One Health surveillance process developed by the CDC and partners. RESULTS: Among dogs and cats identified through passive surveillance, 94% (n = 87) had reported exposure to a person with COVlD-19 before infection. Clinical signs of illness were present in 74% of pets identified through passive surveillance and 27% of pets identified through active surveillance. Duration of illness in pets averaged 15 days in cats and 12 days in dogs. The average time between human and pet onset of illness was 10 days. Viral nucleic acid was first detected at 3 days after exposure in both cats and dogs. Antibodies were detected starting 5 days after exposure, and titers were highest at 9 days in cats and 14 days in dogs. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results of the present study supported that cats and dogs primarily become infected with SARS-CoV-2 following expo- sure to a person with COVID-19, most often their owners. Case investigation and surveillance that include both people and animals are necessary to understand transmission dynamics and viral evolution of zoonotic diseases like SARS-CoV-2.
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Qualitative content analysis is used in this study to review related online education since the outbreak of COVID-19. The aim of this study was to summarize the impact of online teaching on the education industry during the pandemic, sum up the viewpoints of all kinds of people to draw conclusions, and conclude the practical countermeasures. Based on the result of the analysis, firstly, we think that students and teachers are satisfied with online education, but parents have expressed dissatisfaction with this kind of education. Secondly, this paper lists the advantages and common problems of online teaching during study at home from different aspects. According to deficits, we summarize the solutions from three aspects: network equipment, teaching, and self-adjustment. This research is of great significance. It is not only beneficial to the development of educational platforms and personalized teaching but also helps formulate education policy to reduce the burden of education.
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The upheaval wrought on the U.S. beef industry by the global COVID-19 pandemic carried with it several lessons that might help improve resiliency should there be a reoccurrence. First, the futures market for fed cattle fell well before cash prices, which sent a signal to market cattle early, and those who did so benefited. Second, the decline in futures anticipated the closure of slaughter plants and provided an opportunity to purchase and store beef primals in anticipation of future scarcity. Third, the beef industry has ways of slowing or stopping the pipeline of animals destined for feed yards and can "store" these animals in background feeding facilities or on pasture or rangeland. Producers who waited to sell feeder cattle benefited from higher feeder cattle prices once the processing facilities reopened. Fourth, cow slaughter plants responded to the pandemic and subsequent scarcity of labor much better than large fed-cattle plants. Cow plants are not as sophisticated and complex as fed-cattle plants. This relative simplicity may help explain the superior performance of these plants during the crisis. Sixth, the academic work on the value of building smaller plants as a response against concentration provides mixed results-these plants require more labor per animal and can be even more susceptible to labor scarcity. Seventh, the observed increase in boxed beef prices, even as fed cattle prices fell, demonstrates the risk-mitigating impact of producer ownership of downstream activities in the value chain.
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New benchmarks uncover a maturing and globally-shifting market During the COVID-19 pandemic, some have observed that principal investigators with minimal experience, limited infrastructure, and low study grant income have divested from clinical trial activity. The most active principal investigator segments have been growing at a much faster rate: the segment comprised of those who filed between four and six form 1572s each year has grown 5.2% annually since 2010;those who filed seven or more form 1572s have grown 8.6% annually during that same period. The principal investigator segment in North America is scaling as site selection practices dictate engaging study conduct providers with more experience, infrastructure, and patient diversity.
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The National Public Health Institutes (NPHI), members of the Latin American Regional Network of the International Association of National Institutes of Public Health, met face to face at the headquarters of the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, in the City of Cuernavaca, from October 5 to 7, 2022, with the participation of the directors or their representatives of the NPHIs of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Suriname and representatives of the South American Sub regional Program (SAM), and the Central American Sub regional Program (CAM) of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Organization of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (OTCA), the Andean Health Agency/Hipolito Unanue Agreement (ORAS/CONHU) and the Central American Integration System (SICA/COMISCA), analyzing the role of the NPHI in combating health inequities;in confronting the global climate and environmental crisis;combating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition;successes and challenges in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic;strengthening and continuous improvement of integrated disease surveillance and preparedness for health emergencies;as well as the various existing regional and sub-regional health cooperation programs, noticing that: 1. In the current scenario, the dominating development model is a generator of growing social inequalities, which determine serious inequities in the health conditions of our peoples. 2. Likewise, the current model of production and consumption, adopted at the global level, has increased hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition that possibly constitute nowadays the main health problem in our region. 3. The environmental crisis, which is also a product of the current global development model, has a significant impact on human and animal health and the interaction between both. 4. The NPHIs have played a role of major relevance in confronting the Covid-19 pandemic, not fully applying, however, their full potential for research and for proposing national plans for the disease control. 5. Health surveillance systems, in most of our countries, suffer from significant fragmentation between various sectors and within the health sector itself, implying, in any case, reactive actions that do not allow for anticipating the emergence of new pathologies or health emergencies. 6. The various regional and sub regional cooperation agencies and programs offer an enormous capacity for synergies and mutual cooperation.
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This study investigates the effect of COVID-19-induced uncertainty on the overall stock market and the stock performance of the tourism and hospitality industry and its subsectors utilizing a novel time-varying robust Granger causality test. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic-induced uncertainty has an adverse impact on the overall economy, tourism and hospitality industry, and subsectors of tourism and hospitality. However, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic-induced uncertainty is more significant in the tourism and hospitality industry and its subsectors. In particular, hotels sector has experienced the largest impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by restaurants and airline sectors, respectively. Research and practical implications are discussed.
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Seafood is the food group with the highest share traded, and the U.S. is the world's largest seafood importer, importing 79% of the seafood consumed. Hence, a study examining the impacts of the measures to contain COVID-19 on U.S. seafood imports will not only show how U.S. seafood availability has been affected, but will also give strong indications of how resiliently the global seafood markets have worked through the pandemic. We find that U.S. imports of seafood actually increased in 2020 and 2021, suggesting supply chains were able to adapt to potential disruptions. Moreover, for the 14 largest product forms imported to the U.S., there are no strong price movements. Given that there is a global market for most species groups, this adaption also suggests that the markets have worked quite well beyond the U.S. Hence, while there have undoubtedly been market shocks associated with the COVID-19 measures such as the reduction in demand from the restaurant sector and the increased sales in the retail sector, opportunities seem to balance out challenges, and the supply chains for seafood to the U.S. have been highly resilient.
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Introduction: This study aims to understand the current landscape of global medical student knowledge, resources, and barriers pertaining to research compared with clinical experience. Method(s): A survey was created by a diverse focus group to ascertain medical student perceptions of clinical and research experience. The survey was distributed to medical students through social media networks via international partnerships from Nov 1st - Dec 31st 2020. The analysis included statistical characteristics and a comparison between regions. Result(s): A total of 357 medical students from 26 countries completed the survey. Respondents were majority female (60.8%) from Latin America (58.9%), North America (25.8%), and Sub-Saharan Africa or other regions (18.2%). 10.9% of students had an additional graduate-level degree. The majority of students were interested in conducting research as medical students (87.1%) and as future physicians (58%). Overwhelmingly, students felt that research was an important component of medical training (88.5%). The majority of students were not required to participate in research to graduate from training (59%) and had not participated in the research (53%). There were several reported barriers to research, including lack of research opportunities (68.7%), lack of mentors (56.6%), lack of formal training (56.3%), and barriers due to the COVID-19 (49.9%). Conclusion(s): Despite significant interest in research, medical students globally report a lack of formal research training, opportunities, and several barriers to conducting research, including the COVID-19 pandemic. This survey demonstrates a need for student research training internationally, as well as highlights a possible role for further evaluation of research training needs.
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This special issue includes 17 articles addressing knowledge gaps in the tourism and hospitality literature regarding the sharing economy and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The articles provide systematic literature syntheses, seminal theory-building efforts and creative endeavors that unveil novel findings related to the sharing economy's evolution in the post-pandemic era.
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This special issue consists of seven articles examining the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the markets of selected commodities, including: seafood, lumber, crawfish, cattle/beef, fruits and vegetables in the USA, cotton and garments in Bangladesh, and fuel oil globally.