The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and government intervention on active mobility.

With data from automated counting stations and controlling for weather and calendar effects, we estimate the isolated impacts of the "first wave" of Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent government intervention (contact restrictions and closures of public spaces) on walking and cycling in 10 German cities. Pedestrian traffic in pedestrian zones decreases with higher local incidence values, and with stricter government intervention. There are ambiguous effects for cycling, which decreases in cities with a higher modal share of cycling, and increases in others. Moreover, we find impact heterogeneity with respect to different weekdays and hours of the day, both for cycling and walking. Additionally, we use data on overall mobility changes, which were derived from mobile phone data, in order to estimate the modal share changes of cycling. In almost all cities, the modal share of cycling increases during the pandemic, with higher increases in non-bicycle cities and during stronger lockdown interventions.

The effects of location before and during COVID-19: Impacts on revenue of Airbnb listings in Milan (Italy).

This article explores the ability of locational variables and spillover to influence Airbnb listing performance in Milan. The effects of different determinants are analyzed for the periods before and during the pandemic. The sample includes 7213 listings, is based on AirDNA data, and developed using two regression models. The findings confirm the hypotheses proposed. The revenue estimated for a standard apartment in 2020 was approximately double that estimated for 2021. The results showed some substantial changes during the pandemic, which considerably reduced the ability of well-known variables (such as size) to explain the listing performance variance. The role of host characteristics (superhost badge) increased during the pandemic, while some contractual terms were significantly changed, and the spatial spillover almost doubled.

Financial Performance analysis of companies in the primary consumer goods sector before and during Covid-19

This study was conducted to find out whether there are differences in the financial performance of the Primary Consumer Goods Sector Companies before and during the Covid-19 outbreak. This study uses a probability sampling technique called the Slovin formula to determine the number of samples, the final result obtained is 72 samples of companies. The research period is one year before Covid-19 (2nd quarter of 2019 to 2nd quarter of 2020) and one year during Covid-19 occurs (2nd quarter of 2021 to 2nd quarter of 2022). Data processing in this study uses SPSS 28 with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test analysis technique. The results in the study state that there are differences for profitability and activity variable, while for liquidity and solvency variables shows that there are no differences before and during Covid-19.

Social media use in China before and during COVID-19: Preliminary results from an online retrospective survey.

BACKGROUND: More people reported symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression during the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19). They might have increased their social media use during the outbreak of COVID-19 compared to before COVID-19. METHODS: An online retrospective survey was conducted on a total sample of 10,963 participants. Social media use patterns before and during COVID-19, Social media addiction (SMA), and mental health problems (stress, anxiety, and depression) were assessed. RESULTS: This study found that, compared with before COVID-19, weekly social media use was significantly increased during COVID-19 (from 17.2 to 21.4 h). Nearly 40% of SMA respondents increased their weekly social media use ≥3.5 h. The prevalence rate of was 6.8%, and the prevalence rates of moderate or severe stress, anxiety, and depression were 10.8%, 26.4%, and 18.2%, respectively, during COVID-19. Female gender, experiencing moderate or severe stress, and SMA were associated with increased weekly social media use ≥3.5 h. Male gender, experiencing moderate or severe stress, anxiety, depression, and increased weekly social media use ≥3.5 h were associated with SMA. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests a significant increase in social media use and a relatively high prevalence rate of SMA in China during COVID-19. Our findings identify factors associated with increased social media use and SMA that could be used to develop psychological interventions to prevent SMA during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Alcohol Consumption in China Before and During COVID-19: Preliminary Results From an Online Retrospective Survey.

Background: Alcohol is an important aspect of Chinese culture, and alcohol use has been traditionally accepted in China. People with stress, anxiety, and depression may use more alcohol. More people reported symptoms of anxiety and depression during the outbreak of COVID-19. Thus, people may drink more alcohol during the outbreak of COVID-19 than before COVID-19. Methods: An online retrospective survey was conducted on a total sample of 2,229 participants. Drinking behaviors before and during COVID-19, current risky drinking and hazardous drinking, and the association between high-risk drinking and mental health problems (depression, anxiety, and stress) were assessed via self-reported measures on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21). Results: This study found that, compared with before COVID-19, alcohol consumption was slightly decreased during COVID-19 (from 3.5 drinks to 3.4 drinks, p = 0.035) in the overall sample. Most (78.7%) alcohol drinkers were males. Before and during COVID-19, males consumed more drinks per week (4.2 and 4.0 vs. 1.3 and 1.2 drinks), had a higher percentage of heavy drinking (8.1 and 7.7% vs. 4.4 and 2.7%), and more drinking days per week (2.1 and 2.1 vs. 1.0 and 0.9 days). Males also had more risky drinking (43.2 vs. 9.3%) and hazardous drinking (70.2 vs. 46.6%) than female counterparts. This study also found that high-risk drinking predicted anxiety in females. Conclusions: This study suggests a slight reduction in alcohol consumption during COVID-19. However, hazardous drinking is common, especially among male alcohol drinkers. Males consumed more alcohol, had more risky and hazardous drinking than female counterparts both before and during COVID-19. Public health policy makers should pay more attention to developing effective, population-based strategies to prevent harmful alcohol consumption.