scholarly journals The concept of disease in the time of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 203-221
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Amoretti ◽  
Elisabetta Lalumera

AbstractPhilosophers of medicine have formulated different accounts of the concept of disease. Which concept of disease one assumes has implications for what conditions count as diseases and, by extension, who may be regarded as having a disease (disease judgements) and for who may be accorded the social privileges and personal responsibilities associated with being sick (sickness judgements). In this article, we consider an ideal diagnostic test for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection with respect to four groups of people—positive and asymptomatic; positive and symptomatic; negative; and untested—and show how different concepts of disease impact on the disease and sickness judgements for these groups. The suggestion is that sickness judgements and social measures akin to those experienced during the current COVID-19 outbreak presuppose a concept of disease containing social (risk of) harm as a component. We indicate the problems that arise when adopting this kind of disease concept beyond a state of emergency.

Medicina ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 153
Author(s):  
Yosuke Fujii ◽  
Hiroki Daijo ◽  
Kiichi Hirota

Background and objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread to more than 200 countries. In light of this situation, the Japanese Government declared a state of emergency in seven regions of Japan on 7 April 2020 under the provisions of the law. The medical care delivery system has been under pressure. Although various surgical societies have published guidelines on which to base their surgical decisions, it is not clear how general anesthesia has been performed and will be performed in Japan. Materials and Methods: One of the services provided by the social network service Twitter is a voting function—Twitter Polls—through which anonymous surveys were conducted. We analyzed the results of a series of surveys 17 times over 22 weeks on Twitter on the status of operating restrictions using quadratic programming to solve the mathematical optimizing problem, and public data provided by the Japanese Government were used to estimate the current changes in the number of general anesthesia performed in Japan. Results: The minimum number of general anesthesia cases per week was estimated at 67.1% compared to 2015 on 27 April 2020. The timeseries trend was compatible with the results reported by the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists (correlation coefficient r = 0.69, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The number of general anesthesia was reduced up to two-thirds during the pandemic of COVID-19 in Japan and was successfully quantitatively estimated using a quick questionnaire on Twitter.


Author(s):  
Samuel Ekung ◽  
James Effiong

Strategy to construction stakeholders’ engagement in Nigeria is anchored on environmental impact assessment (EIA) law. While EIA is conducted only in large projects, every project continues to witness one form of opposition or another from the community stakeholders. This study examined social impact assessment’s (SIA) procedures as a scaffold to mapping framework for construction stakeholders’ engagement. The objectives were to examine problems associated with the implementation of EIA which hitherto ought to address the social risk triggers in project delivery and to develop a framework embedded in SIA for construction stakeholders’ engagement in Nigeria. The study engaged a sample of 46 respondents comprising project managers, environmental management experts and community stakeholders in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria in a qualitative structured interviewing. Collected data were sorted and analysed. The study reveals extant approach to stakeholders’ management failed as a result of low social context and impact mitigation are based on monetary incentives whereas there are relevant urgent needs to be satisfied. A framework integrating SIA procedures and construction stakeholder engagement strategy was also developed based on the peculiarity of the industry needs. The implication is that construction stakeholders’ management must be structured on satisfying real needs of the citizenry.


2020 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 87-101
Author(s):  
Grega Strban ◽  
Sara Bagari

There have always been people who cannot take care of their daily needs and are reliant on care. However, due to higher life expectancy and low birth rates, changes in lifestyle and increased mobility, reliance on long-term care is becoming a general risk in life. Therefore, it must be provided with social protection. In this respect, the criteria for shaping the (new) social risk of reliance on long-term care are also fulfilled. Although different benefits are already provided within different parts of the social security system, the paper discusses that the best option is to define reliance on long-term care as an independent social risk. Furthermore, we must ensure that providing long-term care will not turn out to be a double social risk. The issue has to be addressed at the national and at the EU level.


2021 ◽  
Vol 06 (04(01)) ◽  
pp. 72-77
Author(s):  
Iryna Kolosovska Iryna Kolosovska ◽  
Radosław Zagórski Radosław Zagórski

This article conceptualizes modern approaches to the transformation of the social function of the state in the context of the influence of globalization processes, the ambiguity of the formation of the socio-cultural context, the actualization of the latest risks and threats associated with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. We accentuate the inconsistencies and contradictions between the declared social priorities and the inefficiency of the management mechanisms of their practical implementation. The article substantiates the priority directions of the regulatory role of the state in the context of social risk management, formation of social security, adherence to the principle of social justice, and harmonization of interests of representatives of various social groups. Key words: public administration, state, social functions, governance mechanisms, globalization, social risks, COVID-19 pandemic, social justice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 835-842
Author(s):  
Roman Garbiec

AbstractSocial risks are an unusual type of risks occurring in insurance. Their specific feature is the implementation of risk in the sphere of social life of a person with special regard to the work environment. Social risks are an element of research in economics and law and in social policy. The author of the paper shows that the structure of the Polish social insurance system is not optimal and requires radical reform. This paper contains, among others, characteristics of the scope of protection of social risks identified in Poland by Social Security Administration and the basis for financing benefits from this system. The summary of the paper presents opinions on improving the financial efficiency of this system.


Author(s):  
Ayuto Kodama ◽  
Yu Kume ◽  
Sangyoon Lee ◽  
Hyuma Makizako ◽  
Hiroyuki Shimada ◽  
...  

Background: Recent longitudinal studies have reported proportion of frailty transition in older individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study aimed at clarifying the impact of social frailty in community-dwelling older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and at identifying factors that can predict transition to social frailty. Methods: We performed this study from 2019 (before declaration of the state of emergency over the rising number of COVID-19 cases) to 2020 (after declaration of the emergency). We applied Makizako’s social frail index to our study subjects at the baseline and classified into robust, social prefrailty, and social frailty groups. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed using robust, social prefrailty, or social frailty status as dependent variable. Results: Analysis by the Kruskal–Wallis test revealed significant differences in the score on the GDS-15 among the robust, social prefrailty, and social frailty groups (p < 0.05). Furthermore, multiple regression analysis identified a significant association between the social frailty status and the score on GDS-15 (odds ratio, 1.57; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.15–2.13; p = 0.001). Conclusion: The increase in the rate of transition of elderly individuals to the social frailty group could have been related to the implementation of the stay-at-home order as part of the countermeasures for COVID-19. Furthermore, the increased prevalence of depressive symptoms associated with the stay-at-home order could also have influenced the increase in the prevalence of social frailty during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Author(s):  
Luminița MUNTEANU

The article is the result of a complex research activity. The starting point was to make a diagnosis of the Iasi community on the needs of social assistance. The interest of local authorities is to ensure optimal conditions for the provision of quality social services, leading to an improvement in the quality of life of people at social risk. This article makes a complex assessment of the social problems faced by the local community in Iasi, using the analysis of documents, questionnaires and focus groups. The special contribution is given by the development strategy of the resulting local social assistance system, with emphasis on the category of elderly beneficiaries.


Author(s):  
Pei-Yuen Tsai

This chapter examines the low fertility phenomenon in Taiwan and argues that the low fertility problem can be identified as a type of new social risk. Existing studies on new social risks tend to focus on the social risks that have negative influences on individuals but ignore those that have more negative influences on the whole society, such as the low fertility problem. This chapter illustrates how the Taiwanese government recognizes low fertility as a social risk and how such recognition facilitated the recent development of policies that support families and children.


Author(s):  
Dana Atslēga ◽  
Līga Enģele ◽  

A lack of social skills makes it very difficult for people to function and stay social, this is particularly the case with teenagers, where social networking is an important function for self-development and building up ones’ personality, as well as building a social group in order to fell affiliation. The study summarized various studies and their results on social skills and social networking as well as the impact of social risk families on the social networking process of teenagers. Also, a collection of different music therapy studies and sources for promoting social skills for teenagers from social risk families is evaluated. The selection consisted of the teens living in the crisis center from social risk families, who have received the referral of the social service of Rīga municipality or Jūrmala municipality. The amount of the selection that participated in 12 musical therapy sessions consisted of 59 teens aged 11 to 15 years. The results show that the musical therapy promotes social skills for teens from families of social risks.


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