A rare case of cortical blindness following vaccination against SARS-CoV-2.

A 61-year-old male presented with sudden loss of vision in both the eyes about 8 days after the first shot of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine (Covishield). On examination, the visual acuity was no perception of light in both the eyes. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with diffusion-weighted imaging showed acute cerebral infarcts involving bilateral parieto-occipital region. Considering the temporal correlation with the vaccine shot and absence of any other precipitating factor, we hypothesized that this was probably an immunologic response to the vaccine.

COVID-19 Breaking News in the Print Media in Bangladesh: People's Reactions to the Evolving Pandemic, and Perceptions Regarding Government's Response, in the First Four Months (preprint)

Background: The news media play a critical role in disseminating accurate and reliable information during an outbreak like COVID-19, especially in LMICs. Studying how people react and reflect on the information provided and how it affects their trust in the health systems, are important for designing effective risk communication. This study was undertaken to explore and analyse newspaper readers’ reactions to the unfolding news of the COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh and how this affected and shaped their compliance with the mitigation measures advised by the government.Methods: We collected readers’ comments on relevant news and features on the COVID-19 outbreak (n=1,055) which were posted in the online versions of the four top circulating Bangla newspapers and one online news portal published during Jan.-Apr. 2020. A search protocol was developed and a team of three researchers searched and extracted data for content analysis according to some pre-determined study themes.Results: Analysis of data revealed several characteristics with implications for risk-communication: a faith-based and fatalistic attitude to the unfolding pandemic, a “denial” syndrome in the initial stage, a returning expatriate-bashing for specific countries, and a concern about the safety of the frontline health workers. The readers were resentful of the all-pervasive corruption in the health sector even in times of a pandemic and the Government’s poorly coordinated, fragmented, and delayed COVID-19 response. The pandemic severely shook their trust in the already weak health system and perceived it to be incompetent, corrupt, and non-responsive. They had deplorable personal and family experiences while seeking treatment for COVID-19 patients. Expert committees were formed to advise the government, but few recommendations were implemented on the ground. This helpless scenario made people sharply critical of the political leadership, especially for the failure of providing stewardship at the moment of crisis.Conclusions: The COVID-19 related information () reaching the people including misinformation, disinformation, and rumours was equivocal in the early months of the pandemic and failed to build the trust and transparency that is necessary for an inclusive response across constituencies. The government should pay attention and weightage to people’s perceptions about its COVID-19 response and take appropriate measures to re-build trust for implementing pandemic control measures.Funding Information: The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interest.Ethics Approval Statement: The very nature of the data (readers’ reactions and comments) did not allow us to get individual consent for participation. Also, the reactions/comments were posted by name only without an address, thus further follow-up being impossible. However, the study followed ethical principles in conducting the study and the confidentiality of the data was strictly maintained by the study team and the readers’ reactions /comments were used anonymously for research purposes only.

Коя е истинската конспирация? (May the Real Conspiracy Please Stand Up?) (preprint)

Bulgarian Abstract: В началото на пандемията изглеждаше, че най-голямата заплаха за демокрацията, свързана с COVID, в Източна Европа и навсякъде другаде, е увеличаването на силата на изпълнителната власт. Фокусът върху поведението на изпълнителната власт обаче може да ни накара да пренебрегнем по-голяма заплаха за източноевропейската демокрация. Ние твърдим, че първородния грях на източноевропейските демокрации, „превзетата държава“, се е влошил от възхода на теориите на конспирацията, чийто запас само расте с добавянето на дезинформация за CОVID. Източноевропейските избиратели се борят да разграничат „истинската“ политическа конспирация, която позволява на частни интереси да контролират държавата, и конспирациите без емпирична основа, като отричането на COVID, наличието на световно правителство или политическата коректност като тираничен заговор. В резултат, конспиративните теории дават възможност на превзелите държавата да разцепят реформаторската опозиция и да запазят хватката си, като същевременно твърдят, че управляват компетентно и в съответствие с европейските ценности. Използваме оригинално проучване от България и международно проучване GLOBSEC 2020, за да изследваме тази хипотеза. Призоваваме за повече изследвания как конспиративните виждания обясняват процесите на демократично отстъпление.English Abstract: At the start of the pandemic, it looked like the biggest COVID-related threat to democracy, in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, was executive aggrandizement. This focus, however, may lead us to overlook a bigger threat to Eastern European democracy. We argue that Eastern European democracies' original sin of state capture has been exacerbated by the rise of conspiracy theories, whose stock has only increased with the addition of COVID misinformation. Eastern European voters struggle to differentiate between the `true' political conspiracy that enables private interests to control the state and conspiracies without empirical basis, such as COVID denialism, world government, or political correctness as a tyrannical plot. As a result, conspiracy theories enable the state capture camp to divide the reformist opposition and maintain their grip, while simultaneously claiming that they are governing competently and in line with European values. We use an original survey from Bulgaria and a GLOBSEC 2020 cross-national survey to explore this hypothesis. Finally, we draw some theoretical implications from the empirical evidence for assessing the nature of democratic backsliding in Eastern Europe. We call for more research on the conspiracy cleavage as a factor in explaining backsliding processes.

Will the Real Conspiracy Please Stand Up: Sources of Post-communist Democratic Failure (preprint)

At the start of the pandemic, it looked like the biggest COVID-related threat to democracy, in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, was executive aggrandizement. This focus, however, may lead us to overlook a bigger threat to Eastern European democracy. We argue that Eastern European democracies' original sin of state capture has been exacerbated by the rise of conspiracy theories, whose stock has only increased with the addition of COVID misinformation. Eastern European voters struggle to differentiate between the `true' political conspiracy that enables private interests to control the state and conspiracies without empirical basis, such as COVID denialism, world government, or political correctness as a tyrannical plot. As a result, conspiracy theories enable the state capture camp to divide the reformist opposition and maintain their grip, while simultaneously claiming that they are governing competently and in line with European values. We use an original survey from Bulgaria and a GLOBSEC 2020 cross-national survey to explore this hypothesis. Finally, we draw some theoretical implications from the empirical evidence for assessing the nature of democratic backsliding in Eastern Europe. We call for more research on the conspiracy cleavage as a factor in explaining backsliding processes.

Journalistic Denial of Death During the Very First Traumatic Period of the Italian SARS-CoV2 Pandemic (preprint)

Exactly one year ago, between February and March 2020, the SARS-CoV2 infection went from an epidemic confined to China to a worldwide pandemic that was particularly lethal in Italy. This study examined media accounts during that period by analysing the representation of death-related constructs in Corriere della Sera, the most widely read newspaper in Italy. A textual and thematic analysis of articles published between period A (epidemic: 23 January–22 February 2020) and period B (pandemic: 23 February–31 March 2020) was conducted using Nvivo-11. A total of 141 articles comprising 48,524 words was collected. The most utilized words and meanings linked to SARS-CoV2 were computed. In the rank distribution, ‘China’ and ’virus’ were the terms most frequently used in both periods. The terms ‘death’ and ‘dead’ were completely absent in period A and appeared in the 535th position in period B. The term ‘dead’ was used primarily to indicate the number of deceased. From a Terror Management Theory perspective, it is possible that the minimal reference to death-related issues was a reflection of death denial and a manifestation of efforts to deny death to manage terror. These findings highlight the ambiguities and ambivalence surrounding any issue pertaining to death; on one side, undue alarmism may provoke exaggerated reactions, such as moral panic, while on the other denial-based messages that minimize references to mortality may reduce safe behaviour during a pandemic.

SARS-COV-2 infection during pregnancy, a risk factor for eclampsia or neurological manifestations of COVID-19? Case report.

BACKGROUND: There are no published cases of tonic-clonic seizures and posterior bilateral blindness during pregnancy and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Coronavirus (COV) 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection. We do not just face new and unknown manifestations, but also how different patient groups are affected by SARS-COV-2 infection, such as pregnant women. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), preeclampsia, eclampsia and posterior reversible leukoencephalopathy share endothelium damage and similar pathophysiology. CASE PRESENTATION: A 35-year-old pregnant woman was admitted for tonic-clonic seizures and SARS-COV-2 infection. She had a normal pregnancy control and no other symptoms before tonic-clonic seizures development. After a Caesarean section (C-section) she developed high blood pressure, and we initiated antihypertensive treatment with labetalol, amlodipine and captopril. Few hours later she developed symptoms of cortical blindness that resolved in 72 h with normal brain computed tomography (CT) angiography. CONCLUSION: The authors conclude that SARS COV-2 infection could promote brain endothelial damage and facilitate neurological complications during pregnancy.

Regulación del derecho de propiedad en un contexto de extrema desigualdad y Covid-19. Una mirada desde el derecho constitucional argentino e interamericano de derechos humanos (Regulation of Property Rights in a Context of Extreme Inequality and Covid-19. A look from the Argentine and Inter-American Constitutional and Human Rights Law) (preprint)

Spanish Abstract: Los efectos de la pandemia pusieron en evidencia dramática, para quienes no lo querían ver, que millones de personas en la región viven hacinadas, sin acceso a agua potable y servicios sanitarios, sin conexión a la red digital y trabajando en empleos informales que apenas alcanzan para cubrir la alimentación necesaria. En este trabajo sostenemos que las acciones estatales, incluidas las que regulan el uso y la disposición de la propiedad privada, requieren ser abordadas desde un marco constitucional macro que considere los múltiples factores que en forma interseccionada perpetúan la desigualdad e implican la negación de condiciones materiales que harían posible el goce efectivo del derecho a una vida digna para millones de personas. Sostenemos que este enfoque, en particular en el marco del Covid-19, requiere revisitar los tests que evalúan una restricción al derecho de propiedad para enfatizar la necesidad de la inclusión de la situación de vulnerabilidad en que se encuentran las poblaciones que no tienen acceso al goce efectivo de los derechos que hacen a la posibilidad de vivir en condiciones dignas. A su vez, sostenemos que las regulaciones y la posible restricción al derecho de propiedad no pueden ser planteadas como un caso aislado sino que se requieren un análisis de contexto nacional e internacional que dé cuenta de la complejidad estructural en el que se inserta el planteo. Esta perspectiva es clave para interpretar el alcance del derecho de propiedad en los ámbitos del “seguro” que en los hechos ofrece para las empresas multinacionales el sistema del CIADI, el escaso margen de acción de los Estados en la reestructuración/negociación de la deuda externa; como así también en la regulación del acceso medicamentos y vacunas por el régimen de patentes.English Abstract: The effects of the pandemic dramatically show that millions of people in the Latin-American region live in overcrowded conditions, without access to drinking water and sanitation services, connection to the digital network, and with informal jobs that barely provide living wages, or even the means to obtain necessary food. We argue that state actions, including those regulating the use and disposition of private property, need to be framed through a macro-constitutional approach. Such an approach takes into account the multiple intersecting factors that perpetuate inequality and imply the denial of material conditions that would make the effective enjoyment of the right to a decent life for millions of people possible. In the specific context of the Covid-19 pandemic, this approach requires a re-elaboration of the standards to adjudicate a restriction on property rights, aimed to emphasize the need to include the situation of vulnerability in which populations find themselves. At the same time, the regulations and the possible restriction to property rights cannot be considered as isolated cases, but they rather need an analysis of the national and international context to account for the structural complexity in which the state actions are placed. This perspective is crucial to interpret the limits of property rights in the context of the “insurance” that the ICSID system actually offers to multinational companies; the limited margin of action of States in restructuring/negotiating foreign debt; as well as the regulation of access to medicines and vaccines.

Anatomy of a Conspiracy Theory: Law, Politics, and Science Denialism in the COVID-19 Era (preprint)

With COVID-19, we are facing the most serious public health threat of our lifetime. Now, more than ever, we need experts and sound scientific advice to guide critical decision-making during the pandemic. With conspiracy theories and other similar rhetorical weapons being used to discredit our scientific experts, we face a myriad of misinformation, mistruths, and all-out attacks on our experts, breeding distrust among the public and the policymakers leading the fight against the pandemic. Since President Trump took office, scientists have been routinely denigrated and isolated, while science denialism has permeated its way up to the highest levels of government, resulting in disastrous public policy decisions that have been detrimental to environmental and public health. Funding has been cut for much needed research on zoonotic-borne diseases, the U.S. government has pulled its support from the Paris Climate Agreement, and well-respected scientists have been removed from various advisory roles in agencies. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these decisions have gone unnoticed by the general public. But, in courtrooms over the past 30 years, judges have recognized the danger of fake experts and acted as gatekeepers in ensuring that experts are credible and that science is reliable. The use of Daubert in the courtroom has provided judges with a tool for allowing expert testimony that has met certain indicia of reliability, so jurors can focus on making factual determinations instead of judging whether the sources of the expertise should be trusted. Without a similar gatekeeping function in society, citizens are charged with making those determinations on their own. Scientists and advocates of science should employ rhetorical methods of their own to restore the credibility and importance of science in protecting our environment and now, our health. Change can only truly come from the ground up. Citizens must actually believe that the climate is changing; they must believe that the health advice they are receiving from public health experts is accurate and trustworthy enough to follow. It’s time to put science first; we can only do that if we stop science denialism in its tracks and restore resources and trust in our scientific community.

Psychological underpinnings of pandemic denial - patterns of disagreement with scientific experts in the German public during the COVID-19 pandemic (preprint)

We investigated pandemic denial in the general public in Germany after the first wave of COVID-19 in May 2020. Using latent class analysis, we compared patterns of disagreement with claims about (a) the origin, spread, or infectiousness of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and (b) the personal risk from COVID-19 between scientific laypersons (N = 1,575) and scientific experts (N = 128). Two groups in the general public differed distinctively from expert evaluations. The Dismissive (8%) are characterized by low-risk assessment, low compliance with containment measures, and mistrust in politicians. The Doubtful (19%) are characterized by low cognitive reflection, high uncertainty in the distinction between true and false claims, and high social media intake. Our research indicates that pandemic denial cannot be linked to a single and distinct pattern of psychological dispositions but involves different subgroups within the general population that share high COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and low beliefs in epistemic complexity.