Stockpiling During COVID-19: The Solicitation of the Stimulus– Organism–Response Model

Stockpiling emerged as a common feature during the second wave of COVID-19 as people rushed to markets to stock up everything from packaged foods such as biscuits, noodles, packaged rice and edible oils, to hygiene and sanitizing products, to medicines and oxygen cylinders, the list is endless. Accordingly, it becomes imperative to investigate this stockpiling behaviour to get better insights into the phenomenon and to provide implications for both marketers as well as the government. Based on the Stimulus?Organism?Response (SOR) model, this study aims to investigate how in the stress and tension resulted in the second stage of COVID-19, stimuli like perceived risk, perceived scarcity and social influence affect the judgement of consumers for perceived benefits of stockpiling, which in turn motivate them to stockpile. Additionally, the study examines the mediating effect of perceived benefits. The proposed model is tested and validated using structural equation modelling and bootstrapping based on 309 responses collected from Indian consumers who were involved in stockpiling during the second stage of COVID-19.

Clinical Profile and Immediate Outcome of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children Associated with COVID-19: A Multicentric Study

Introduction: Following an asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic coronavirus disease (COVID-19), otherwise healthy children may develop serious manifestations in the form of cardiac, neurological, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and dermatologic dysfunction. Many such cases were being observed in Odisha, an eastern state of India, and have been reported from different health-care facilities. We related these unexplained serious manifestations to multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19 (MIS-C) and planned this study. Methods: This retrospective observational study was carried out at the following three tertiary care centers: Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar;MKCG Medical College, Berhampur;and Jagannath Hospital, Bhubaneswar. The study population included all children aged from 1 month to 18 years admitted to the hospitals with MIS-C according to the WHO diagnostic criteria. All the data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: A total of 21 children were included in our study. Majority of the cases were male (76.2%), and the predominant age group was 6–10 years (47.6%). Common symptoms and signs in our observation included fever, pain abdomen, seizure, and hypotension. Most of these cases were positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus antibody (80.95%). Response to immunotherapy was dramatic. Mortality (9%) of our study was higher than 1.8%–3% from that of Western literature. None of our patients had coronary abnormality, while two patients had mild cardiac dysfunction at discharge comparable to that of other studies. Conclusion: MIS-C following exposure to COVID-19 infection in children is a clinical syndrome, which needs early suspicion and appropriate intervention to prevent mortality.

Short-term outcomes in children recovered from multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 is a recently recognised potentially life-threatening entity. There is limited data on post-MIS-C sequelae. 21 children fulfilling the WHO criteria for MIS-C were included in our study. Data were collected at baseline and at 12-16 weeks post-discharge to look for any persistent sequelae mainly relating to the lungs or heart including coronary arteries. Fever was the most common presentation, found in 18 (85.7%) patients. All had a marked hyper-inflammatory state. Low ejection fraction (EF) was found in 10 (47.6%), but none had any coronary artery abnormality. All received corticosteroids, while 7 (33.3%) children required additional treatment with intravenous Immunoglobulins. 20 children improved while 1 left against medical advice. At discharge, 3 children had impaired left ventricular function. At median 15 weeks' follow-up, no persistent complications were found. EF had returned to normal and no coronary artery abnormalities were found during repeat echocardiography. Chest radiographs showed no fibrosis and all biochemical parameters had normalized. The children with MIS-C are extremely sick during the acute stage. Timely and adequate management led to full recovery without any sequelae at a median follow-up of 15 weeks.