Examining the Views and Opinions of Itinerary Traders on Adherence to COVID-19 Lockdown in Enugu State, Nigeria

The outbreak of COVID-19 caused human activities to be affected in one way or another. As a result, measures were put in place by various national governments to reduce the spread of the virus. This paper examines adherence to COVID-19 guidelines in Nigeria among itinerant traders, using a total of 40 eligible participants from selected local governments in Enugu state, Nigeria. The study adapted purposive sampling techniques to identify eligible participants;while in-depth interview was the method used for data collection. Among other findings, result shows that the control measures rolled out by government were seriously undermined. Nomadic traders, driven by economic gains, played covert role in the spread of the virus. This signalled a weak link in the efforts to curb the spread of the virus in Nigeria. The study contributes to a more exact diagnosis of the weak link in the efforts to contain the spread of the virus and how the quest for economic gains drove the abuse of COVID-19 mitigation protocols with its attendant health implications. It therefore recommends that government should strengthen the institutional capacity for detection and control, and provide the critical infrastructural facilities that will make for intensified surveillance in future epidemic or pandemic outbreak. Economic incentives and the effective monitoring of protocol enforcers saddled with the responsibility of enforcing government directives are also encouraged in order to curb compromise. © 2023, Fudan University.

How supranational institutions benefit from crises: Member states' solidarity and the EU's image during the COVID-19 pandemic

In this article, we demonstrate how solidarity between member states can have a positive effect on the image of the EU, even if the latter's actions in handling a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic are deemed unsatisfactory. Employing data from a special Eurobarometer survey enriched with data from the Oxford's COVID-19 government response tracker, we show that European citizens who are more satisfied with interstate solidarity have to a greater extent a positive image of the EU compared to citizens who are less satisfied. We also show that this effect is further pronounced in the case of EU citizens who are less satisfied with institutional solidarity, which is the solidarity going from EU institutions to the member states. © The Author(s) 2023.

Medicare Telehealth Pre and Post-COVID-19 Interstate Framework, Regulations, Licensure, and HIPAA

The COVID-19 pandemic led to temporary relaxations for telehealth with respect to physician licensure, geographic location, and eligible sites for reimbursement. Earlier policies had impacted the rate of adoption of telehealth and retarded the ability to derive full benefits related to cost, access to care, and quality of care. This aspect is analyzed using 2018 Medicare fee-for-service codes and rates for 10 telemedicine services. Based on the analysis of these data, additional research, and literature review, this report describes how interstate practices can be better leveraged to achieve maximum potential for direct and indirect savings that can accrue through such pragmatic approaches for certain services. The interstate collaborations proposed in this report provide examples of broader telehealth policies that could foster increasing access to quality health care for Medicare beneficiaries and can potentially be used as insight to assist federal and state agencies as they review the continuation, cessation, or modifications of relaxations granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not in Our Name: The Disingenuous Use of "Public Health" as Justification for Title 42 Expulsions in the Era of the Migrant Protection Protocols

Sadly, Celina's experience at the US border is not uncommon, although her ultimate admission to the United States is rare indeed. Because ofthe confluence of MPP and the 2020 invocation of 42 US Code 265 (hereafter "Title 42"), an obscure public health policy last updated in 1944, more than a million expulsions of migrants and asylum seekers occurred at the US border in fiscal year 2021 alone, contrary to international law.1 POLICY BACKGROUND The policy known today as Title 42 originated in a 1944 law called the Public Health Service Act, which (among other things) granted the federal government quarantine powers and the power to prevent the introduction of disease at the border. Robert Redfield, then director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), determined that introduction into congregate settings of persons from Canada or Mexico would increase the already serious danger to the public health of the United States to the point of requiring a temporary suspension of the introduction of covered aliens into the United States.3 The same order also noted the logistical challenges of preventing the transmission ofCOVID-19 at the border: Widespread, compulsory federal quarantines or isolations of such persons pending test results are impracticable due to the numbers of persons involved, logistical challenges, and CDC resource and personnel constraints.3 Although the US government did not have access to vaccines or rapid tests in March 2020, they need not have adopted such an extreme policy to protect the public's health. Given the barriers to effective implementation of PPE [personal protective equipment] and administrative controls to prevent the spread of [COVID-19] in immigration detention centers, an evidence-based public health approach suggests . . . the release of detainees from immigration detention centers, as this strategy will reduce the likelihood of person-to-person infection and enhance the possibility of engaging in meaningful social distancing and hygienic practices as directed by the CDC.4(p112) That the US government invoked Title 42 for those coming through land borders but instituted only temporary travel bans for other international travelers and did not institute interstate travel bans underscores how unnecessary these extreme measures truly were, even in the early days of COVID-19.5 In addition to the challenges posed by the use of Title 42 to prevent the entry of asylum seekers during COVID-19, MPP-often referred to as the Remain in Mexico program- creates additional barriers for migrants seeking to enter the United States.

DISCUSSION ARTICLE NAVIGATING ORGANIZATIONAL MANDATORY COVID-19 VACCINATION POLICY

Most medical professionals and scientists support getting vaccinations as the ethical thing to do. However, the higher law of common sense can be complicated by personal choices and, for some, can be challenging to follow. Healthcare organizations should design voluntary vaccination programs that encourage stakeholders to comply. In addition, organizations should equip early adopters with essential knowledge and motivate them to educate their peers to boost vaccination rates. Vaccination continues to be the most effective way to mitigate infections from the COVID-19 virus. However, mandating vaccination raises too many challenges. Therefore, precautionary measures and vigorous vaccine campaigns are still the best approaches to addressing the pandemic.

THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE PROFITABILITY OF LARGE COMMERICAL BANKS IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the current Covid-19 pandemic on profitability ratios of large commercial banks in the Republic of North Macedonia. By using data over the period 2004 - 2020, ten profitability indicators are examined. These indicators are investigated by comparing their values before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Overall, the study reveals a preliminary evidence that large commercial banks are affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. So far, profitability of large banks has not changed significantly due to Covid-19 and they keep satisfactory profitability levels. However, this impact should be investigated furthermore in next studies because the current pandemic has long-term effects.

Creative strategies for spatial policy making in Brazilian 'new left regionalism': fighting inequalities and COVID-19 in the north-east region

The literature on the new regionalism has highlighted the leading role played by regions in the contemporary process of state rescaling and the governance of policy-making. We argue that a (re)politicisation of North-east Brazil and the emergence of a new left regionalism are underway. We examine the political and socioeconomic circumstances of this process through the creation of the Interstate Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the North-east. We conclude that while many challenges still lie ahead, this experience has demonstrated potential for the coherence of policies, and for constituting new political actors and arenas for the concertation of interests.

German‐algerian relations by the early 2020s in the context of the germany’s regional policy: Political and military aspects

Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a noticeable increase in German efforts to ensure security in the Mediterranean Sea. This is part of the growing activities to ensure a strong strategic position in North and West Africa, including the settlement of existing armed conflicts here as sources of threats to instability for Germany and its EU partners. Consequently, Germany found itself increasingly interested in finding reliable strategic partners, one of which is Algeria, which makes the topic of this article relevant. The purpose of the study is to examine bilateral security and defense relations with a special focus on the second half of the 2010s and early 2020s with the help of comparative and event-analysis. Having an applied character, this topic has not yet found detailed coverage in the works of both domestic and foreign, especially German, researchers. The historic background of the German-Algerian dialogue is presented. The growth of high-level contacts in the second half of the 2010s is shown, with Germany having to focus on negotiations with the frequently changing figure of the Algerian prime minister. The article also explores the constraints for the cooperation of German and Algerian armed forces on land and sea, as well as the dynamics of military-technical cooperation. The bilateral cooperation in the resolution of the armed conflict in Mali, first of all, in its northern region (Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu) is considered. The political and diplomatic cooperation on the Libyan track in the middle and second half of the 2010s, as well as shortly after the Berlin Conference on Libya in January 2020, is revealed. In the early 2020s, there was a sharp decline in the intensity and volume of bilateral cooperation in almost all areas. In addition to COVID-19, the importance of domestic political factors and the temporary decline in the practical value of the partnership in Libya and Mali for Germany are stressed. A forecast of the dynamics of bilateral relations is finally given. © 2021, RUDN UNiversity. All rights reserved.

The one health landscape in Sub-Saharan African countries.

OBJECTIVES: One Health is transiting from multidisciplinary to transdisciplinary concepts and its viewpoints should move from 'proxy for zoonoses', to include other topics (climate change, nutrition and food safety, policy and planning, welfare and well-being, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), vector-borne diseases, toxicosis and pesticides issues) and thematic fields (social sciences, geography and economics). This work was conducted to map the One Health landscape in Africa. METHODS: An assessment of existing One Health initiatives in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries was conducted among selected stakeholders using a multi-method approach. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to One Health initiatives were identified, and their influence, interest and impacts were semi-quantitatively evaluated using literature reviews, questionnaire survey and statistical analysis. RESULTS: One Health Networks and identified initiatives were spatiotemporally spread across SSA and identified stakeholders were classified into four quadrants. It was observed that imbalance in stakeholders' representations led to hesitation in buying-in into One Health approach by stakeholders who are outside the main networks like stakeholders from the policy, budgeting, geography and sometimes, the environment sectors. CONCLUSION: Inclusion of theory of change, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and tools for standardized evaluation of One Health policies are needed for a sustained future of One Health and future engagements should be outputs- and outcomes-driven and not activity-driven. National roadmaps for One Health implementation and institutionalization are necessary, and proofs of concepts in One Health should be validated and scaled-up. Dependence on external funding is unsustainable and must be addressed in the medium to long-term. Necessary policy and legal instruments to support One Health nationally and sub-nationally should be implemented taking cognizance of contemporary issues like urbanization, endemic poverty and other emerging issues. The utilization of current technologies and One Health approach in addressing the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 and other emerging diseases are desirable. Finally, One Health implementation should be anticipatory and preemptive, and not reactive in containing disease outbreaks, especially those from the animal sources or the environment before the risk of spillover to human.

Inter-state transmission potential and vulnerability of COVID-19 in India.

Since the first case of COVID-19 traced in India on 30th January, 2020, the total no. of confirmed cases is amplified. To assess the inter-state diversity in spreading potentiality of COVID-19, the exposure, readiness and resilience capability have been studied. On the basis of the extracted data, the outbreak scenario, growth rate, testing amenities have been analysed. The study reflects that there is an enormous disparity in growth rate and total COVID-19 cases. The major outbreak clusters associated with major cities of India. COVID-19 cases are very swiftly amplifying with exponential growth in every four to seven days in main affected states during first phase of lockdown. The result shows the vibrant disproportion in the aspects of, hospital bed ratio, coronavirus case-hospital bed ratio, provision of isolation and ventilators, test ratio, distribution of testing laboratories and accessibility of test centres all over India. The study indicates the sharp inequality in transmission potentiality and resilience capacity of different states. Every state and union territory are not well-prepared to contain the spreading of COVID-19. The strict protective measures and uniform resilience system must be implemented in every corner of India to battle against the menace of COVID-19.