COVID, Volume 3, Issue 2 (February 2023) – 17 articles

Teachers, particularly in developing contexts, were vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. As natural parental figures for students, they had to reconcile the dual role of ensuring the safety and health of students and their own and their family’s well-being. The external crisis of COVID-19 heightened the negative experiences of teachers in their work environments during both online and physical instruction. This qualitative phenomenological study involving thirty (30) secondary school teachers in Ghana took a comprehensive and fresh look at how COVID-19 impacted the work motivation of teachers. It was found that teachers suffered a great deal of stress in the wake of the pandemic and had to face mounting concerns about their working conditions. The low morale of teachers precipitated by COVID-19 made them develop attrition intentions. However, intrinsic and altruistic traits such as passion, the feeling of responsibility, and the desire to contribute to society and foster student development made teachers resilient towards the deleterious effects of the pandemic to promote optimal teaching. Future studies should investigate the installation of support structures that strengthen the motivation of teachers in unforeseen crises. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in rapid, unprecedented changes in the lives of children and adolescents worldwide. During the first year in the COVID-19 pandemic German schools were partially closed. The restrictions to limit the pandemic can be viewed as incongruent with developmental tasks of children and adolescent, and this can harbor risks such as loss of education, well-being, and daily structure. Additionally, social skills could decrease. The current study analyzed behavioral changes in traditional bullying and cyberbullying, externalizing behavior problems and prosocial behavior from spring 2020 (pandemic outbreak) to spring 2021 (during the pandemic; a time when schools were closed and infection rates peaked). We addressed our research question with an online survey in a German sample. A total of 130 students (65 females and 65 males) with ages ranging from 10 to 17 (M_T1 = 13.88; SD_T1 = 1.26) participated. Our results revealed significant differences in cyberbullying and prosocial behavior and no significant differences in traditional bullying and externalizing behavior problems across one year. Cyberbullying increased and prosocial behavior decreased during the first year of pandemic. Full article

COVID-19 has had a negative impact on the majority of rising economies since 2020. The economic effects of the majority of countries were mixed as a result of the lockdown measure they enacted. Economic conditions have a significant impact on the spread of pandemics, as history has proved. This article concentrates on India in order to ascertain the relationship between migration, FDI, and COVID-19. We undertake this study to determine whether labour movement (in/out) inside COVID-19 has an effect on FDI influx. Our research—based on qualitative secondary sources—reveals that multinational corporations prefer native workers over imported personnel in India due to the country’s abundant skilled manpower. This implies that multinational corporations can replace foreign workers with locally employed workers if they can find suitable candidates among the local labour force. According to our findings, FDI and skilled migration to India appear to be linked. Full article

The aim of this study is to assess the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on undergraduate students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors on hand and mobile phone hygiene. An anonymous self-reported questionnaire was distributed among 100 Greek male and female undergraduate students of all academic years who attended healthcare as well as non-healthcare curriculums. Descriptive statistics and statistical tests (chi-squared and Wilcoxon signed-rank test) were used (α = 5%). Students provided better responses during COVID-19, compared to the period before the COVID-19 pandemic, concerning their hand washing frequency (p < 0.001), hand washing circumstances, certain hand washing procedures, as well as their mobile phones’ cleaning/disinfection methods and frequency (p < 0.001). Statistically significant differences were observed between males and females in their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors on hand and mobile phone hygiene, followed by faculty and year of studies. Overall, being a final-year female undergraduate student of health sciences has a positive influence on correct knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors on hand and mobile phone hygiene. Full article

COVID-19 vaccination rate disparities continue to persist in the U.S., despite their wide availability. A multidimensional host of sociodemographic, economic, political, and cultural factors have resulted in differences in vaccine coverage rates across the U.S. The present study descriptively explores one component of the complex relationship among what drives COVID-19 vaccination rate differences—specifically, the relationship between neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics and vaccination rates in Michigan. Data from the 2019 5-Year American Community Survey are merged with vaccine coverage rate data at the census tract level for the 18-years-and-older population for Michigan from 15 December 2020 to 19 November 2021. On the one hand, the results reveal that a neighborhood’s racial and ethnic composition and socioeconomic status characteristics are part of the complex bundle of characteristics affecting neighborhood vaccination coverage rates across Michigan. On the other hand, the findings also reveal a set of surprising patterns as they relate to the racial and ethnic composition of neighborhoods in Michigan. Future studies should further explore the extent to which race/ethnicity and class-related neighborhood characteristics are statistically relevant in examining the broader community effects on vaccine coverage rates in Michigan. Full article

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s rapid expansion, the creation of vaccines is crucial for lowering disease transmission. Therefore, to determine the safety and efficacy of the vaccine against symptomatic illness and to evaluate breakthrough infections, those who received single or both the doses of vaccine against COVID-19 infection. A retrospective observational study was carried out on vaccine efficacy and the incidence of the breakthrough infections among the heath care workers, support staff and administrative staff. Out of 599 fully vaccinated health care workers, those who tested COVID-19 positive post-vaccination only 1.16% developed a severe illness that necessitates hospitalization. This study reflects a significant vaccine efficacy of 81.3% after a complete dose of vaccination and protection of 76.9% after one standard dose against symptomatic disease. The frequency of COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough is very low, which means that COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing COVID-19, particularly when it comes to severity. Full article

Vaccine breakthrough COVID-19 clusters with high attack rates are very rare. They paralyze affected section/s of the institution; thus, awareness of them is important. This is an analysis of a vaccine breakthrough COVID-19 cluster with an 88% attack rate involving 35 security guards (SGs) of the Teaching Hospital-Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. The identification of the particular combination of factors that resulted in this outbreak’s 88% attack rate was our main objective, because this knowledge is useful to prevent similar clusters of COVID-19 and other similar infections. We traced and documented contact details, risky behaviors, and medical history of all SGs. Contacts of all COVID-19 cases were tested for COVID-19. We created an epi-curve and identified the index case (IC). The epi-curve pattern indicates a propagated source outbreak. No SG was seriously immunocompromised. There was no breach in the local cold chain. The following combination of factors synergistically created this outbreak: communal meals at cramped spaces, unfamiliarity with vaccine breakthrough cases, disregard of the risk of infection from fully vaccinated coworkers, hesitancy to report COVID-19-like symptoms early on, symptomatic treatment of COVID-19-like patients without testing for COVID-19, permission to return home, and the Alpha variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Full article

(1) Background: The present study aimed to investigate the onset of mental disorders in the six months following hospitalization for COVID-19 in people without a previous psychiatric history. (2) Methods: This was a longitudinal study carried out among adults who had been hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection. Six months after discharge, a series of questionnaires were administered (the World Health Organization Well-being Index (WHO-5), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the General Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire-7, and the Drug Abuse Screen Test, among others). Based on these scores, a compound Yes/No variable that indicated the presence of common mental disorders was calculated. A multivariate logistic regression was built to explore the factors associated with the presence of common mental disorders. (3) Results: One hundred and sixty-eight patients (57.34%) developed a common mental disorder in the 6 months following hospital discharge after COVID-19 infection. Three variables were independently associated with the presence of common mental disorders after hospitalization for COVID-19, and the WHO-5 duration of hospitalization), and severity of illness. (4) Conclusions: Among people with no previous psychiatric history, we observed a high incidence of mental disorders after COVID-19 hospitalization. A moderate (1–2 weeks) duration of hospitalization may pose a higher risk of post-COVID-19 onset of a mental health condition than longer or shorter durations of medical hospitalization. Further research is needed to better understand the mechanisms underlying the psychopathological consequences of COVID-19 and their predictors. Full article

Real-world effectiveness studies of remdesivir in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 conducted to date have produced conflicting findings which may be due, in part, to treatment heterogeneity within standard of care comparison groups. Our objective was to evaluate the comparative effectiveness and safety of remdesivir in a cohort of patients all treated with corticosteroids. We conducted a retrospective cohort study in the National Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. We included hospitalized patients (>18 years old) with positive COVID-19 PCR tests and COVID-19 diagnosis codes, and corticosteroid treatment within 2 days of admission, from 1 May 2020 to 30 November 2021. Time-to-event outcomes included time to inpatient mortality (primary), discharge, mortality after discharge, readmission, and acute kidney injury and bacterial infection after treatment initiation. Propensity score (PS)-adjusted, PS-matched, and inverse probability of treatment weighted (IPTW) Cox proportional hazards regression models controlled for study timeframe, supplemental oxygen, vaccination status, and other important confounders. We observed significantly lower inpatient mortality, 90-day post-discharge mortality, 30-day post-discharge readmission, and significantly longer hospital stays in the remdesivir group (n = 14,509) compared with the non-remdesivir group (n = 4365). Higher rates of bacterial infections were observed in the remdesivir group. Acute kidney injury was lower in subgroup analyses restricting the study population to index dates in 2021, on supplemental oxygen, and fully vaccinated, and higher in those without baseline supplemental oxygen. When comparing the effectiveness and safety of remdesivir plus corticosteroids to a homogenous comparison group, all also treated with corticosteroids, mortality and readmission were significantly lower in the remdesivir group. Longer length of stay corresponds with duration of remdesivir treatment and may impact the risk of developing infections during the hospitalization, which requires further study. Full article

Coronavirus disease 2019 is a highly contagious infectious disease. Research on heart rhythm disorders in children affected by COVID-19 infection is quite lacking. An infant and a congenital heart disease (CHD) teenager with a pacemaker presented fascicular tachycardia and atrial flutter, respectively, during COVID-19 pauci-symptomatic infection. The hemodynamic condition was always stable. The self-resolving trend of the atrial flutter and progressive resolution of the ventricular tachycardia occurred in conjunction with the negativization of the swab. These particular tachyarrhythmias have been reported as a form of potential arrhythmic complication during active pauci-symptomatic COVID-19 infection for the first time ever. Full article

Clinically mild encephalitis/encephalopathy with reversible splenial lesions (MERS) is a mild form of encephalitis/encephalopathy that appears in association with various conditions, including infection. COVID-19 is also known to cause MERS. MERS more commonly occurs in children, and adult cases are relatively rare. Typical head MRI findings include a round lesion in the mid-layer of the corpus callosum with a high signal intensity on diffusion-weighted images. Most improve within a week. Although the exact mechanism by which the cerebral corpus callosum is affected is still unknown, several hypotheses have been proposed, including the involvement of electrolyte abnormalities (e.g., hyponatremia) and inflammatory cytokines (e.g., IL-6). In this report, we describe the first case of COVID-associated MERS with a typical imaging course and hyponatremia, with a review of the relevant literature. When psychiatric symptoms and the disturbance of consciousness appear in COVID patients, MERS should be considered in addition to delirium due to fever and hypoxia. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruptions to health, economic and social lives globally. This qualitative study explores frontline healthcare workers’ (HCWs) experiences delivering routine care in Kenya’s informal settlements during the early phases of the pandemic, amidst stringent COVID-19 mitigation measures. Thirteen telephone interviews were conducted with facility and community-based HCWs serving three informal settlements in Nairobi and Mombasa. Data were analyzed using the framework approach. Results indicate there were widespread fears and anxieties surrounding COVID-19 and its management. Secondly, access to facility-based care at the onset of the pandemic was reported to decline, with service availability hampered by the imposed curfew hours and guidance on the maximum allowable number of clients. HCWs experienced heightened risk of COVID-19 infection due to poor working conditions including inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and unavailable isolation areas for COVID-19 positive patients. HCWs also experienced stigma associated with contact with persons suspected of having COVID-19 infection, thereby causing a strain on their mental health and wellbeing. The study recommends the need for interventions to support and protect HCWs’ physical and mental health, alongside health system preparedness. Additionally, it is vital to identify ways of taking health services closer to the community to address access barriers in health emergency contexts. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic coincided with a rise in reports of hate crime against East and Southeast Asian minorities. Political rhetoric blaming China for causing the pandemic was tantamount to a ‘permission to hate’, making COVID-19 a catalyst of hate crime against Chinese people which also fuelled overt prejudice against other ethnic minorities. Researching experiences of hate offences in an ethnically diverse university student population in the United Kingdom during COVID-19, this qualitative study found that actual reported cases potentially underestimate the problem of hate crime. Analysing data from semi-structured interviews, we argue that a focus on reported cases alone risks obscuring the full extent of pandemic-related harassment and the insidious nature of hate crimes more generally. Minority ethnic interview participants lived with varying degrees of fear of victimisation, even if they were not personally subjected to any actual incidents during the pandemic. Accounts of pre-pandemic experiences, along with vicarious experiences involving victims with similar characteristics as interview participants, confirm the status of hate crime as a ‘message crime’. Third-party bystander accounts involving the victimisation of others whose identity research participants did not share afford additional insights into the nature and extent of pandemic-related hate. Full article

Many surgical practices closed at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We implemented operational changes to safely continue treating patients with cutaneous tumors during the pandemic. This study seeks to evaluate the impact of pandemic-based operational changes on safety, access, and treatment. Here, we report results from a retrospective study from a single academic office-based surgical practice that provided treatment to patients with skin cancer between November 2019 and September 2020. Time to treatment, tumor area, and upstaging after treatment were compared among patients seen “pre-pandemic” (November 2019 to March 2020), during the “pause” (March 2020 to June 2020), and in the “reopening” (June 2020 to September 2020). One-way ANOVA or Fisher Exact analyses were performed, and p < 0.05 was considered significant. Our study included 691 patients (22–101 years old) with a total of 912 tumors. No cases of COVID-19 transmission occurred during the study period. The time from consultation to treatment was reduced during the pause and reopening periods relative to pre-pandemic (p ≤ 0.002), and the average Mohs post-operative defect size remained unchanged throughout the study period (p = 0.75). Consistent with the prioritization of higher-risk tumors in the pandemic peak, a significant reduction in the treatment of basal cell carcinoma tumors was noted during the pause (p = 0.01), and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma tumors were upstaged more frequently after treatment (p < 0.001). Our findings demonstrate that practice modifications can permit essential surgical care to be delivered safely to patients with high-risk skin cancers during a pandemic. Full article

Due to COVID-19 and prolonged lockdown, banks in the UK have reported impact on their operational activities and financial aspects. To deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, banks have adopted different strategies that reshape consumer banking behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study evaluates the impact of COVID-19 on three banks in the UK, including HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Barclays Bank. A mixed research approach was adopted where a closed-ended survey with 30 employees (10 employees from each bank) were chosen to participate in the survey. Interviews are conducted with three managers of the banks. The study findings show that banks adopted social distancing to ensure that their brand operations were not affected. The banks did not consider shutting down the branches for cutting the cost. However, there has been a shift from a manual to a digital process for client queries to improve efficiency. The banks also created the brand image of operating during the pandemic. Full article

The SI4CARE project is a transnational project which aims to develop both strategy and action plans to improve health and social care in the Adriatic–Ionian region. Starting from a survey of the status quo, each partner has developed some pilots to support the development and monitoring of the policy actions. In particular, partner number three, the Municipality of Miglierina, designed and developed a pilot related to the use of wearable devices for monitoring elderly patients in rural areas. With the collaboration of the complex unity of primary care (UCCP) of the Reventino area, the pilot is based on the use of smart wearable devices to monitor some parameters of older adults after their vaccinations for flu and covid. This paper focused on the design and implementation of the system. It describes its application in the Municipality of Miglierina. Presentation of the results and a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses will be presented, in detail, in future work. Finally, the possibility of extending the experiment to other Adriatic–Ionian regions is addressed. Full article