Three-month Clinical Status of A Cohort of Adult Hospitalized COVID-19 Pimpaka Srisiriwanna M.D., Poolsuk Janepanish Visudtibhan Ph.D., Kumthorn Malathum M.D

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.

Does the absence of zoo visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic impact Gorilla behavior?

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.

Comparative analysis of epidemiological trends of COVID-19 in Shanghai and New York City

ObjectiveTo assess the effects of countermeasures against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Shanghai from March to May 2022 in comparison with epidemiological trend of COVID-19 in New York City. MethodsDaily confirmed cases, asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers, and daily deaths were obtained in the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States. Descriptive study was conducted by using these data. ResultsFrom March 1 to May 17, the number of daily asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections in Shanghai was up to 58 times as large as that of daily confirmed cases;however, the number of daily confirmed cases in Shanghai was generally less than that in New York in the same time period. At the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the growth of daily attack rate in Shanghai was significantly lower than that in New York (P < 0.05). Moreover, the number of daily death was evidently less than that in New York. In addition, the vaccination rate in the elderly (aged 60 years) in Shanghai was evidently lower than that in New York (aged 65 years). ConclusionThe COVID-19 epidemics in Shanghai from March to May 2022 and in New York after December 2021 were both caused by the Omicron variant. Compared with the Delta variant, the Omicron variant has stronger replication ability and infectivity, resulting in challenges to the containment of the epidemic in metropolis such as Shanghai and New York City. The epidemic in New York City remained crucial due to absence of effective countermeasures, while that in Shanghai has been effectively contained with strict countermeasures. The prevention and control strategies may be adjusted along with the continual evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and increasing trend of imported COVID-19 cases.

Fertility in the heart of the COVID-19 storm

We describe how the COVID-19 pandemic affected reproductive choices in New York City, the most acutely impacted area of the United States. We contrast changes in New York City with reproductive outcomes in the rest of the US. We find that births to New York City residents fell 8.4% more between March, 2020 and February 2021 than that would have been expected given trends leading up to the pandemic. Births to US-born residents of New York City fell 5.5% over the same year, triple the observed decline in the rest of the US. Births to foreign-born New York City residents fell 11.4%, twice the decline observed in the rest of the US. Reported induced abortions to New York City residents fell precipitously whereas induced abortions nation-wide rose slightly. The acute downturn and robust recovery in births in New York City maps closely with the spike in mortality and its equally rapid decline three months later. We conclude that the fear and uncertainty in the early months of the pandemic is the best explanation for the sudden, but brief drop in births in New York City.

COVID-19 and health inequality: the nexus of race, income and mortality in New York City. (Special Issue: It is not just about health: the human rights' implications of COVID-19.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate socioeconomic factors related to COVID-19 mortality rates in New York City (NYC) to understand the connections between socioeconomic variables, including race and income and the disease. Design/methodology/approach: Using multivariable negative binomial regression, the association between health and mortality disparities related to COVID-19 and socioeconomic conditions is evaluated. The authors obtained ZIP code-level data from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the US Census Bureau. Findings: This study concludes that the mortality rate rises in areas with a higher proportion of Hispanic and Black residents, whereas areas with higher income rates had lower mortality associated with COVID-19, among over 18,000 confirmed deaths in NYC. Originality/value: The paper highlights the impacts of social, racial and wealth disparities in mortality rates. It brings to focus the importance of targeted policies regarding these disparities to alleviate health inequality among marginalized communities and to reduce disease mortality.

Societal disruptions and child mental health: evidence from ADHD diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic

We study how the societal disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted diagnosis of a prevalent childhood mental health condition, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Using both nationwide private health insurance claims and a single state's comprehensive electronic health records, we compare children exposed to the pandemic to same aged children prior to the pandemic. We find the pandemic reduced new ADHD diagnoses by 8.6% among boys and 11.0% among girls nationwide through February 2021. We further show that higher levels of in-person schooling in Fall 2020 dampened the decline for girls but had no moderating effect for boys.

Long COVID in the United States

Although yet to be clearly identified as a clinical condition, there is immense concern at the health and wellbeing consequences of long COVID. Using data collected from nearly half a million Americans in the period June 2022-December 2022 in the US Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey (HPS), we find 14 percent reported suffering long COVID at some point, half of whom reported it at the time of the survey. It peaks in midlife in the same way as negative affect. Ever having had long COVID is strongly associated with negative affect (anxiety, depression, worry and a lack of interest in things). The effect is larger among those who currently report long COVID, especially if they report severe symptoms. In contrast, those who report having had short COVID report higher wellbeing than those who report never having had COVID. Long COVID is also strongly associated with physical mobility problems, and with problems dressing and bathing. It is also associated with mental problems as indicated by recall and understanding difficulties. Again, the associations are strongest among those who currently report long COVID, while those who said they had had short COVID have fewer physical and mental problems than those who report never having had COVID. Vaccination is associated with lower negative affect, including among those who reported having had long COVID.

Economies of community in local agriculture: farmers in New London, Connecticut, respond to the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the weaknesses of the U.S. national food system, with grocery store shelves emptied in March and April 2020 and COVID outbreaks reported throughout the summer of 2020 at meat processing plants across the country. Fleetingly, Americans turned to local farms to ensure they could access food safely in a time of uncertainty. This paper examines the economies of community that formed around local farms and how direct engagements between consumers and producers in the face of the pandemic deepened these economic structures that often put community well-being above profits. Within a capitalist system that prioritizes efficient mass production, economies of community illustrate that solidarity can improve local food system resilience. Based on qualitative and quantitative research carried out in the summer of 2020 in New London County in southeastern Connecticut, this research draws on ethnographic interviews with small-scale farmers who developed innovative ways to feed some of their community's most vulnerable members. Community economies show that we should not only depend on standardized large-scale farms and giant retail distribution;the American food system needs to continue to cultivate small-scale local production in order to improve resilience and food access. At present, the sustainability of producing and distributing food occurs at the farmer's expense. The government needs to support local food producers so they can continue to play an integral part in community well-being.

COVID in the nursing homes: the US experience

The death toll in nursing homes accounted for almost 30 per cent of total Covid-19 deaths in the US during 2020. We examine the course of the pandemic in nursing homes focusing especially on whether nursing homes could have been better shielded. Across all nursing homes the key predictor of infections and deaths was community spread, i.e. a factor outside of the control of nursing homes. We find that higher-quality nursing homes, as measured by the CMS Five-Star Rating system, were not better able to protect their residents. Policy failures from the CDC and FDA, especially in the early stages of the pandemic, created extended waiting times for Covid-19 tests and slowed attempts to isolate infectious residents. But once infections were widespread, testing would have had to have been much greater to have had an appreciable effect on nursing home deaths. We find, however, that starting vaccinations just 5 weeks earlier could have saved in the order of 14,000 lives and starting them ten weeks earlier could have saved 40,000 lives.

The experience of Vermont local food businesses during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic tested the resilience of food system actors at all levels and across all geographies. This study focuses on the experience of Vermont local food businesses by combining two surveys conducted in the first half of 2021: one of foodservice operations that procure food locally and one of Vermont farms that sell directly to consumers. We analyzed descriptive statistics, open responses, and conducted Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tests to assess which factors were related tobusinesses'financial statusesbefore and since the pandemic. Pre-pandemic financial status was related with business type, whether the business went on to receive emergency funds, and financial status since the pandemic. The only significant factor for financial status since the pandemic was prepandemic financial status. We close with recommendations for policy and future research.

Lack of early left ventricular outflow tract velocity time integral estimated volume responsiveness is associated with increased morbidity and mortality

Background: Fluid boluses are amongst the strongest recommendations for the management of septic patients, and they are generally administered with the goal increasing cardiac output and improving tissue perfusion. Early identification of volume responsiveness is challenging and dependent on many patient factors, but it may prevent the harmful consequences of hypervolemia. Left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) velocity time integral (VTI) has been used as a predictor of volume responsiveness. Study Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether lack of volume responsiveness, defined as =15% change in LVOT VTI, is associated with increased risk of mortality, admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), or rapid response team activation within 24 hours of hospital arrival (composite outcome measure). We hypothesize that septic patients who are not volume responders will be more critically ill and therefore at greater risk of experiencing the composite outcome.

Safety of the live at attenuated vaccine avishield IB GI-13 against infectious bronchitis in SPF chickens during laying period

Avian infectious bronchitis (IB) is an economically important, highly contagious, acute disease of Chickens caused by a single-stranded positive RNA Virus that belongs to the Coronaviridae family. The Virus can replicate in the oviduct and cause permanent damage in young hens resulting in the false layer occurrence. In laying hens, infectious bronchitis Virus (IBV) infections can cause a severe decline in egg production and a number of effects on egg quality and reduced hatchability. The most effective means of controlling IB in poultry is vaccination. In the areas with increased pressure of circulating field challenge Virus, live attenuated vaccines are also used during the laying period with the intention of keeping local protection of the respiratory tract at a high level. The vaccine strain IB V-173/11 contained in Avishield IB GI-13 vaccine is a strain that genetically (S1 gene) belongs to GI-13 lineage and antigenically to 793B IBV serotype. Viral infections of this serotype occur frequently in Europe and therefore most vaccination programs in broilers, layers and breeders along a live IBV vaccine of the Massachusetts serotype also include a live vaccine of the 793B serotype, GI-I3 lineage. In this paper, results of a safety evaluation of live attenuated IB vaccine strain V-173/11, when administered by spray method in a ten-fold maximum dose repeated by one maximum dose in 28-week-old specific pathogen free (SPF) layer Chickens are presented. As a control, non-vaccinated SPF layer chickens were included in the study. The vaccine is considered to be safe when used in laying period because no vaccinated chicken showed abnormal local or systemic reactions or signs of IB related disease, no chicken died from the causes attributable to the vaccine, egg quality was not altered, and there was no statistically significant difference in. egg production between the vaccinated and non-vaccinated group.

Special Issue: Public health interventions to address health disparities associated with structural racism. (Special Issue: Public health interventions to address health disparities associated with structural racism.)

This special issue includes 15 articles focusing on how public health professionals at local, state, and federal agencies and at academic institutions can address the pervasive structural racism against Asians by making them visible. Topics discussed are: anti-Latino racism, the racial state, and revising approaches to racial disparities;conquering the health disparities of structural racism;embedding equity in a local government's Response to COVID-19;the Massachusetts racial equity data road map;the power of community in addressing infant mortality inequities;disparities across income and health insurance in a national sample of US adults;community-informed mobile COVID-19 testing model to addressing health inequities.

Pause, pivot and proceed: a before-after study to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a community-based peer-recovery program for substance use disorder. (Special Issue: COVID-19 and health inequities: insights from communication research and practice.)

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, most peer recovery programs had to end face-to-face services and move to an online and or phone-based format. It is not clear what impact if any, this may have had on individual referrals, contact and services rendered. The goal of this study was to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a community-based peer-recovery program.

Adapting to a changing world: how co-creation with communities informed organisational change in museums throughout 2020

Museums in 2020 have gone through severe change and uncertainty as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which in some cases has prompted opportunities for drawing new relationships with communities. This study follows two contemporary art museums with a focused commitment to co-creating with communities - the Whitworth Art Gallery (Manchester, UK) and Queens Museum (New York, USA) - through that process of change. It gives an analysis of how co-creation has informed the organisations' responses to the pandemic and how the pandemic has influenced the staff's view on co-creation. Giving examples based on staff interviews and participant observations, it pays particular attention to how co-creating with communities has prompted organisational change and identifies areas where more change may be needed.

COVID-19 mortality in New York City across neighborhoods by race, ethnicity, and nativity status. (Special Issue: Examining the COVID crisis.)

New York City has lost more lives from COVID-19 than any other American city. This study examines variation in covid-19 deaths across neighborhoods as it relates to variation in the racial, ethnic, and nativity-status composition of neighborhoods. This topic has received little scholarly attention and is imperative to explore, given the absence of racial and ethnic specific COVID-19 mortality rates by neighborhood. New York City is a racially and ethnically segregated city, and a longstanding destination of immigrants, making some neighborhoods more susceptible to greater levels of COVID-19 mortality than others. Using ZCTA-level data on COVID-19 deaths and demographic data from the American Community Survey, our descriptive and bivariate choropleth mapping analyses reveal that a racial, ethnic, and nativity-status hierarchy exists in the geographic distribution of COVID-19 mortality. Implications of these findings are discussed as they relate to residential segregation and persistent spatial inequalities faced by neighborhoods of color.

Gis-based vulnerability analysis of the United States to COVID-19 occurrence. (Special Issue: COVID-19 one year on.)

The outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States has resulted in over 11.2 million cases and over 240 thousand deaths. COVID-19 has affected the society in unprecedented way with its socioeconomic impact yet to be determined. This study aimed at assessing the vulnerability of the US at the county-level to COVID-19 using the pandemic data from January to June of the year 2020. The study considered the following critical factors: population density, elderly population, racial/ethnic minority population, diabetics, income, and smoking adults. Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to validate the independence of the factors. Spatial correlations between the COVID-19 occurrence and the factors were examined using Jaccard similarity analysis, which revealed relatively high correlation. A vulnerability to COVID-19 map with a five-level Likert scale was created using Logistic Regression Analysis in ArcGIS. The map showed close agreement in seven representative states, which were selected based on COVID-19 cases including NY, CA, FL, TX, OH, NC, and MT with R2 values between 0.684 and 0.731 with Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) values between ..0.033 and ..0.057. Furthermore, vulnerability levels from 'High' to 'Very High' were obtained for the top ten counties with the highest COVID-19 cases with residual values less than or equal to 0.04. The method and resulted vulnerability map can aid in COVID-19 response planning, prevention programs and devising strategies for controlling COVID-19 and similar pandemics in the future.

Inequalities in accessing healthcare in the United States of America: a major contributor to the increasing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality

Introduction: Many COVID-19 cases and deaths have been reported from the United States (US). This study aimed to assess the health system inequalities as a determinant of COVID-19 case morbidity and mortality in the US.

COVID-19 patient mortality with convalescent plasma therapy: meta-analysis

Background: The use of convalescent plasma was recommended as empiric treatment during the Ebolavirus outbreak in 2014, and a protocol for the treatment of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS) with convalescent plasma was created in 2015. These findings raise the hypothesis that the use of convalescent plasma transfusion may be beneficial in SARS-infected patients. -CoV-2. The aim of this study was to estimate the mortality risk of COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma therapy. Subjects and method: A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out by collecting articles from the Google Scholar, PubMed, and Science Direct databases. The articles were screened using the PICO model, including: (1) Population= confirmed COVID-19 patients, (2) Intervention= convalescent plasma therapy, (3) Comparison= standard of care, and (4) Outcome= mortality. The keywords used were "Convalescent plasma therapy" OR "Convalescent plasma transfusion" AND "Mortality" OR "death" AND "COVID-19" OR "Coronavirus disease 2019" OR "SARS-Cov-2'. Inclusion criteria were full text, randomized control trials, published from 2020 to 2021, and reported risk ratios. Articles were collected using PRISMA diagrams and quantitative syntheses were assessed using Review Manager (RevMan 5.3).

Dynamics of ambient air quality during the COVID-19 pandemicperiod in Indonesia tourism development corporation Nusa Dua Bali

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the improvement of air quality in various countries in the world, such as China, Italy, New York, India, Spain and Korea. This study aims to compare ambient air quality during the Covid-19 pandemic with new normal and normal periods, assess the effect of meteorological factors on ambient air quality, and map the spatial distribution of ambient air quality during the normal, Covid-19 pandemic and new normal in the ITDC Nusa Dua area. Air concentration parameter data and meteorological factors were collected using the midget impinger and direct reading method in 2019 (normal period), March and May 2020 (Covid-19 pandemic period) and July, September, and November 2020 (new normal period). Furthermore, comparing air quality using the Anova test, assessing the effect of meteorological factors on air quality using a linear regression test, and mapping the distribution of ambient air using the ArcGis 10.8 application. The analysis showed that the air quality during the Covid-19 pandemic and the new normal was significantly different from the normal period. The concentrations of SO2, NO2, NH3, CO, TSP and H2S during the Covid-19 pandemic and normal just decreased while the O3 concentration increased compared to the normal period. The meteorological factor that affects air quality is the wind speed, the higher the wind speed the lower the O3 concentration. Map of the distribution of spatial concentrations of SO2, NO2, NH3, CO, O3 and H2S in the normal, Covid-19 pandemic and new normal, lowest at the coast point of the peninsula and the highest distribution at the ITDC roundabout, bima statue or influence TSP is the highest spatial concentration of normal distribution at the ITDC roundabout and the bima statue, while the Covid-19 pandemic and normal are only at the coast point of the peninsula beach.