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The Social and Psychological Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Society

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 June 2023) | Viewed by 2336

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
2. Center of Social Welfare and Governance, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: social policy; welfare states; health governance; old-age security; long-term care; digitalization

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Guest Editor
School of Sociology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Interests: social policy; social security; social welfare

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the risk of the pandemic has gradually spilled over into a global risk, which is in line with the German sociologist Ulrich Beck's discourse on the "world risk society". In today's increasingly globalized world, most countries around the world have been continuously affected by the outcomes of the pandemic. Since different regions in the world have taken lockdown measures for months, the strict implementation of this social distancing approach has also greatly affected people's social and economic life and children's education. At the same time, people's mental and psychological states have also been affected by prolonged quarantines and curfews, during which people experience loneliness, fear, despair, and social exclusion. Affected by the lockdown of cities and communities during the pandemic, large numbers of people around the world were also forced to work from home, while also inevitably disconnected from social life and the job market. The phenomenon of social disconnection and social exclusion caused by the pandemic deserves special attention. This Special Issue focuses on how the emergency management implemented by different national governments during the pandemic affected and continues to affect people's social life, employment status, mental and psychological state, health, and wellbeing. Family relations and intrafamily conflicts (such as the rise of domestic violence) amid the pandemic are also of interest to this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Tao Liu
Dr. Yingqi Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • pandemic
  • social distancing
  • emergency management
  • risk management
  • social and psychological impact
  • health and wellbeing
  • isolation and decoupling
  • social exclusion
  • family relations and conflicts

Published Papers (2 papers)

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11 pages, 1270 KiB  
Article
Unique SARS-CoV-2 Variants, Tourism Metrics, and B.1.2 Emergence in Early COVID-19 Pandemic: A Correlation Analysis in South Dakota
by Ahmed Nahian, Victor C. Huber and Lisa M. McFadden
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(18), 6748; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20186748 - 13 Sep 2023
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Abstract
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, which is the source of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was declared a pandemic in the March of 2020. Travel and tourism were severely impacted as restrictions were imposed to help slow the disease spread, [...] Read more.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, which is the source of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was declared a pandemic in the March of 2020. Travel and tourism were severely impacted as restrictions were imposed to help slow the disease spread, but some states took alternative approaches to travel restrictions. This study investigated the spread of COVID-19 in South Dakota during the early pandemic period to better understand how tourism affected the movement of the virus within the region. Sequences from the fall of 2020 were retrieved from public sources. CDC and other sources were used to determine infections, deaths, and tourism metrics during this time. The data were analyzed using correlation and logistic regression. This study found that the number of unique variants per month was positively correlated with hotel occupancy, but not with the number of cases or deaths. Interestingly, the emergence of the B.1.2 variant in South Dakota was positively correlated with increased case numbers and deaths. Data show that states with a shelter-in-place order were associated with a slower emergence of the B.1.2 variant compared to states without such an order, including South Dakota. Findings suggest complex relationships between tourism, SARS-CoV-2 infections, and mitigation strategies. The unique approach that South Dakota adopted provided insights into the spread of the disease in areas without state-wide restrictions. Our results suggest both positive and negative aspects of this approach. Finally, our data highlight the need for future surveillance efforts, including efforts focused on identifying variants with known increased transmission potential to produce effective population health management. Full article
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7 pages, 304 KiB  
Commentary
Obligation Is Not a Compulsion—The Quality of the Law and the Effectiveness and Safety of Vaccination against COVID-19
by Kamila Kocańda and Dorota Zarębska-Michaluk
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(21), 14003; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114003 - 27 Oct 2022
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Abstract
In December 2021, the Minister of Health in Poland announced via Twitter that vaccination was not compulsory. Such a message from a public authority, who was to a significant extent responsible for organising the process of preventing and combating the infections caused by [...] Read more.
In December 2021, the Minister of Health in Poland announced via Twitter that vaccination was not compulsory. Such a message from a public authority, who was to a significant extent responsible for organising the process of preventing and combating the infections caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, appeared to have a negative impact on the public perception of the role of vaccination in combating this disease. The impossibility of directly enforcing vaccination, in the sense that there is no legal basis for its compulsory administration, should not weaken the sense of obligation towards a socially necessary attitude of vaccination as a means of protecting the population against the disease; this should be promoted by public authorities. An auxiliary role in shaping this type of message should be played by the law of appropriate quality, regulating the rules related to vaccination in a way that encourages citizens’ trust in the state and the law. Full article
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