International students' collective resilience in crisis: Sense of community reduced anxiety via social contact and social support during lockdown.

Objectives: The role of community in individuals' well-being has been extensively examined in the Western context. However, little is known about how the host community is related to sojourners' well-being in a crisis in an Asian context. The current study aims at exploring international students' sense of community in the Chinese context under the direct threat of a global health crisis. Methods: Using a cross-sectional sample of 102 international students staying in Wuhan during the 76-day lockdown at the earliest stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the current study explored the relationship between international students' sense of community and anxiety, and the mediating role of social contact, social support from three key sources in the host community (host university, international students, and Chinese friends). Results: Results showed that participants' stronger sense of community indirectly reduced anxiety via the role of sources of contact and support from the host community. Conclusions: This study provided further evidence to support the nurturance of the sense of community in community resilience and provided implications on how the host community can help to enhance sojourners' psychological well-being in a global crisis.

The 'Myth of Zero-COVID' Nation: A Digital Ethnography of Expats' Survival Amid Shanghai Lockdown during the Omicron Variant Outbreak.

This study presents a digital ethnography of expats' survival amid the Shanghai lockdown during the Omicron variant outbreak. This study drew insights from studies on resilience and secondary coping within the context of global migration to comprehend the diverse emotional challenges faced by expats in a series of lockdowns and persistent nucleic acid amplification tests. Thus, this study asks what the major emotional challenges expats faced and what sources of social support they could draw from citizens in their host country during the Shanghai lockdown. Accordingly, this study collected WeChat group conversations to draw empirical findings, promoted scholarly conversations about fundamental survival necessity, and traced the process for establishing intercultural collective resilience with citizens from their host country. Overall, this study emphasized the significance of host country members who can promote certain coping mechanisms for their visitors in the specific regional and geographical context of China.

COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in the Context of the First Delta Outbreak in China During the Early Summer of 2021: The Role of Geographical Distance and Vaccine Talk.

Purpose: Vaccination is essential to control the prevalence of COVID-19. However, vaccine hesitancy has been a major issue globally. Some studies have suggested that community outbreaks might boost vaccine uptake. Consistent with that idea, vaccination rates increased dramatically during the first outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta variant in Guangdong, China, in June 2021. Based on the risk perception attitude theory, this study attempted to explore the joint effect of geographical distance to the outbreak and the frequency of talking about the COVID-19 vaccine (vaccine talk) on people's COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Methods: An anonymous self-report online questionnaire was completed by citizens living in Guangdong Province, China, from June 6 to 11, 2021, during the Delta variant outbreak in that region. The relationship between COVID-19 vaccine uptake, geographical distance to the epicenter of the outbreak, and vaccine talk was analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Results: Data from 350 respondents were included in the final analysis. Results showed a negative association between geographical distance and COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Furthermore, the relationship was moderated by vaccine talk. Specifically, when individuals infrequently discussed vaccine talk with others, close distance to the epicenter of the outbreak served as a motivator for getting vaccinated, whereas for people who frequently discussed the vaccine, geographical distance might have played less of a role in motivating them to get vaccinated. Conclusion: This research highlights the joint effect of geographical distance to the outbreak of COVID-19 and vaccine talk in COVID-19 vaccine uptake. While the findings may only be a starting point for launching a public health awareness campaign, encouraging people to engage in more conversations about vaccines may be a promising solution for future health emergencies, especially among people far from the outbreak.

Historical rice farming explains faster mask use during early days of China's COVID-19 outbreak.

In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, we observed mask use in public among 1,330 people across China. People in regions with a history of farming rice wore masks more often than people in wheat regions. Cultural differences persisted after taking into account objective risk factors such as local COVID cases. The differences fit with the emerging theory that rice farming's labor and irrigation demands made societies more interdependent, with tighter social norms. Cultural differences were strongest in the ambiguous, early days of the pandemic, then shrank as masks became nearly universal (94%). Separate survey and internet search data replicated this pattern. Although strong cultural differences lasted only a few days, research suggests that acting just a few days earlier can reduce deaths substantially.