scholarly journals Impact of excluding nursing home COVID-19 cases when assessing the relationship between county-level social distancing behavior and COVID-19 cases across the US during the early phase of the pandemic, February 2020-May 2020

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0260151
Author(s):  
Phoebe Tran ◽  
Lam Tran ◽  
Liem Tran
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Home ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Early Phase ◽  
Exponential Growth Phase ◽  
County Level ◽  
Leaving Home ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Relationship

Objectives To conduct a cross-sectional nationwide study examining how exclusion of nursing home COVID-19 cases influences the association between county level social distancing behavior and COVID-19 cases throughout the US during the early phase of the pandemic (February 2020-May 2020). Methods Using county-level COVID-19 data and social distancing metrics from tracked mobile devices, we investigated the impact social distancing had on a county’s total COVID-19 cases (cases/100,000 people) between when the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in a county and May 31st, 2020 when most statewide social distancing measures were lifted, representing the pandemic’s exponential growth phase. We created a mixed-effects negative binomial model to assess how implementation of social distancing measures when they were most stringent (March 2020-May 2020) influenced total COVID-19 cases while controlling for social distancing and COVID-19 related covariates in two scenarios: (1) when COVID-19 nursing home cases are not excluded from total COVID-19 cases and (2) when these cases are excluded. Model findings were compared to those from February 2020, a baseline when social distancing measures were not in place. Marginal effects at the means were generated to further isolate the influence of social distancing on COVID-19 from other factors and determine total COVID-19 cases during March 2020-May 2020 for the two scenarios. Results Regardless of whether nursing home COVID-19 cases were excluded from total COVID-19 cases, a 1% increase in average % of mobile devices leaving home was significantly associated with a 5% increase in a county’s total COVID-19 cases between March 2020-May 2020 and about a 2.5% decrease in February 2020. When the influence of social distancing was separated from other factors, the estimated total COVID-19 cases/100,000 people was comparable throughout the range of social distancing values (25%-45% of mobile phone devices leaving home between March 2020-May 2020) when nursing home COVID-19 cases were not excluded (25% of mobile phones leaving home: 163.84 cases/100,000 people (95% CI: 121.81, 205.86), 45% of mobile phones leaving home: 432.79 cases/100,000 people (95% CI: 256.91, 608.66)) and when they were excluded (25% of mobile phones leaving home: 149.58 cases/100,000 people (95% CI: 111.90, 187.26), 45% of mobile phones leaving home: 405.38 cases/100,000 people (95% CI: 243.14, 567.62)). Conclusions Exclusion of nursing home COVID-19 cases from total COVID-19 case counts has little impact when estimating the relationship between county-level social distancing and preventing COVID-19 cases with additional research needed to see whether this finding is also observed for COVID-19 growth rates and mortality.

scholarly journals Epidemiological dynamics of enterovirus D68 in the US: implications for acute flaccid myelitis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang Woo Park ◽  
Jeremy Farrar ◽  
Kevin Messacar ◽  
Lindsay Meyers ◽  
Margarita Pons-Salort ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Active Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Data ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Neurological Condition ◽  
Acute Flaccid Myelitis ◽  
The Us ◽  
Enterovirus D68 ◽  
Epidemiological Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The lack of active surveillance for enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) in the US has hampered the ability to assess the relationship with predominantly biennial epidemics of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), a rare but serious neurological condition. Using novel surveillance data from the BioFire® Syndromic Trends (Trend) epidemiology network, we characterize the epidemiological dynamics of EV-D68 and demonstrate strong spatiotemporal association with AFM. Although the recent dominant biennial cycles of EV-D68 dynamics may not be stable, we show that a major EV-D68 epidemic, and hence an AFM outbreak, would still be possible in 2020 under normal epidemiological conditions. Significant social distancing due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could reduce the size of an EV-D68 epidemic in 2020, illustrating the potential broader epidemiological impact of the pandemic.

scholarly journals Relationship Between the Number of Patients Visiting Emergency Department and Tokyo Health System’s Capacity During Early Stages of the First Wave of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (11) ◽  
pp. 2158-2160
Author(s):  
Yohei Ishikawa ◽  
Toru Hifumi ◽  
Norio Otani ◽  
Ryosuke Miyamichi ◽  
Mitsuyoshi Urashima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Emergency Departments ◽  
Early Phase ◽  
Ministry Of Health ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Whitney Test ◽  
Mann Whitney Test ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe first coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) patients were reported in China on December 12, 2019, and the first COVID-19 patients were reported in Japan on January 16, 2020. Here, we investigated the number of patients in Emergency Departments (EDs) in three major hospitals in Tokyo, and also briefly discussed about the relationship between the number of patients in EDs and health system’s capacity. We compared the number of patients in 2020 to the average number of patients from 2016 to 2019. Numbers were compared in three periods: before the first COVID-19 patient was reported in Japan (January 1 to January 16), after the government encouraged social distancing (February 26 to March 10), and the interval between them (January 17 to February 25). The average number of daily patients in 2020 (n = 122) decreased by 17% compared to the average number of patients from 2016 to 2019 (n = 144) (Mann-Whitney test, p < 0.001). This phenomenon might be due to a fear of contracting the virus at hospitals, companies having their employees work remotely and postponing events, people following the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s instructional guidelines for going to the hospital, prevention awareness becoming widespread, and a decreased number of tourists. The number of patients visiting Emergency Departments in Tokyo was decreased and the number of COVID-19 infections has remained within the health system’s capacity during the early phase of COVID-19 first wave.

scholarly journals Who is more susceptible to Covid-19 infection and mortality in the States?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Han ◽  
V.O.K. Li ◽  
J.C.K. Lam ◽  
P. Y Guo ◽  
R.Q Bai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Treatment ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
The State ◽  
County Level ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Poor ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Rich

AbstractBackgroundA novel coronavirus was detected in Wuhan, China and reported to WHO on 31 December 2019. WHO declared a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. The first case in the US was reported in January 2020. Since mid-March 2020, the number of confirmed cases has increased exponentially in the States, with 1.1 million confirmed cases, and 57.4 thousand deaths as of 30 April 2020. Even though some believe that this new lethal coronavirus does not show any partiality to the rich, previous epidemiological studies find that the poor in the US are more susceptible to the epidemics due to their limited access to preventive measures and crowded living conditions. In this study, we postulate that the rich is more susceptible to Covid-19 infection during the early stage before social distancing measures have been introduced. This may be attributed to the higher mobility (both inter- and intra-city), given their higher tendency to travel for business/education, and to more social interactions. However, we postulate after the lockdown/social distancing has been imposed, the infection among the rich may be reduced due to better living conditions. Further, the rich may be able to afford better medical treatment once infected, hence a relatively lower mortality. In contrast, without proper medical insurance coverage, the poor may be prevented from receiving timely and proper medical treatment, hence a higher mortality.MethodWe will collect the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the US during the period of Jan 2020 to Apr 2020 from Johns Hopkins University, also the number of Covid-19 tests in the US from the health departments across the States. County-level socio-economic status (SES) including age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education, occupation, employment status, immigration status, and housing price, will be collected from the US Census Bureau. State/county-level health conditions including the prevalence of chronic diseases will be collected from the US CDC. State/county-level movement data including international and domestic flights will be collected from the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. We will also collect the periods of lockdown/social distancing. Regression models are constructed to examine the relationship between SES, and Covid-19 infection and mortality at the state/county-level before and after lockdown/social distancing, while accounting for Covid-19 testing capacities and co-morbidities.Expected FindingsWe expect that there is a positive correlation between Covid-19 infection and SES at the state/county-level in the US before social distancing. In addition, we expect a negative correlation between Covid-19 mortality and SES.

scholarly journals Association of state social distancing restrictions with nursing home COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 outcomes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Li ◽  
Zijing Cheng ◽  
Xueya Cai ◽  
Yunjiao Mao ◽  
Helena Temkin-Greener
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nursing Home ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Nursing Home Residents ◽  
The United States ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
State Strength ◽  
Nursing Home Patients ◽  
The Us

AbstractThe COVID-19 poses a disproportionate threat to nursing home residents. Although recent studies suggested the effectiveness of state social distancing measures in the United States on curbing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality among the general population, there is lack of evidence as to how these state orders may have affected nursing home patients or what potential negative health consequences they may have had. In this longitudinal study, we evaluated changes in state strength of social distancing restrictions from June to August of 2020, and their associations with the weekly numbers of new COVID-19 cases, new COVID-19 deaths, and new non–COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes of the US. We found that stronger state social distancing measures were associated with improved COVID-19 outcomes (case and death rates), reduced across-facility disparities in COVID-19 outcomes, but more deaths due to non–COVID-19 reasons among nursing home residents.

scholarly journals Association between population density and infection rate suggests the importance of social distancing and travel restriction in reducing the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heliang Yin ◽  
Tong Sun ◽  
Lan Yao ◽  
Yan Jiao ◽  
Ma Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Infection Rate ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
R Value ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Travel Restriction

Background: Currently, the 2019-nCoV has spread to most countries of the world. Understanding the environmental factors that affect the spread of the disease COVID-19 infection is critical to stop the spread of the disease. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether population density is associated with the infection rate of the COVID-19. Methods: We collected data from official webpages of cities in China and in the US. The data were uploaded on Excel spreadsheets for statistical analyses. We calculated the morbidity and population density of cities and regions in these two countries. We then examined the relationship between the morbidity and other factors. Results: Our analysis indicated that the population density in cities in Hubei province where the COVID-19 was severe was associated with a higher percentage of morbidity, with an r value of 0.62. Similarly, in the US, the density of 51 states and territories is also associated with morbidity from COVID-19 with an r value of 0.55. In contrast, as a control group, there is no association between the morbidity and population density in 33 other regions of China, where the COVID-19 epidemic is well under control. Interestingly, our study also indicated that these associations were not influenced by the first case of COVID-19. The rate of morbidity and the number of days from the first case in the US has no association, with an r value of -0.1288. Conclusions: Population density is positively associated with the percentage of patients with COVID-19 infection in the population. Our data support the importance of such as social distancing and travel restriction in the prevention of COVID-19 spread.

scholarly journals Using Mobile Devices for Educational Purposes in Compulsory Secondary Education to Improve Student’s Learning Achievements

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melchor Gómez-García ◽  
Roberto Soto-Varela ◽  
Juan Agustín Morón-Marchena ◽  
María José del Pino-Espejo
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Secondary Education ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Strong Correlation ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Correlation Study ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
The Relationship

The number of mobiles surpassed the population of the planet in 2018. Without a doubt, they have become the tool of reference in our social life, as well as in our work and leisure, but in educational centers, they continue to be used inefficiently or are declared off limits to some classrooms. This study aims to establish the relationship that the use of mobile phones in secondary education schools may have in regard to the student’s academic performance. For this purpose, we will carry out a secondary exploitation of the Ministry of Education database for 2017 with the data of 1,887,027 students from 7381 compulsory secondary education schools in Spain. As a method of analysis, a multilevel correlation study is carried out. The results show a strong correlation between centers and territories that allow the usage of mobile devices in education and academic performance. Although the methodology that accompanies the use of the smartphone as an educational tool is very important, the data obtained leads us to think that using mobile phones in schools is a proposal that somehow influences the achievement of better academic results, with almost any methodology used.

scholarly journals Viewing the US presidential electoral map through the lens of public health

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tymor Carpenter Hamamsy ◽  
Michael Danziger ◽  
Jonathan Nagler ◽  
Richard Bonneau
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
County Level ◽  
Health Trends ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
The Us ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
The Relationship

Health, disease, and mortality vary greatly at the county level, and there are strong geographical trends of disease. Healthcare is a top priority for voters in the United States, and it is important to examine the relationship between voting patterns at the county level and health, disease, and mortality. We perform a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between voting patterns and over 150 different public health and wellbeing variables, comparing counties in all states, including counties in 2016 battleground states, and counties in states that flipped from Democrat to Republican from 2012 to 2016. We also investigate county-level health trends over the last 30+ years and find statistically significant relationships between a number of health measures and the voting patterns of counties in presidential elections. Collectively, this data exhibits a strong pattern: counties that voted Republican in the 2016 election counties are "sicker" than those that voted Democrat.

“I stay at work for you, you stay at home for us.” Does this Covid-19 campaign work for the youth in Asia?

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-175
Author(s):  
Jappy Fanggidae ◽  
Ridolof Batilmurik ◽  
Pieter Samadara
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Method ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Asian Context ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
At Home

This study investigated the relationship between guilt appeal and compliance with social distancing measures. We proposed that the relationship is double mediated by empathy and responsibility for the unfortunate people who have suffered from COVID-19. This research is novel to an extent as an experimental method is used in the Asian context. The results exhibited that guilt positively affected compliance with social distancing measures. The respondents were directly or indirectly compliant due to the emotions of empathy and responsibility. The theoretical and practical contributions of this study were presented.

The United States and the Iranian Nuclear Programme

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Hurst
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nixon Administration ◽  
Comprehensive Plan ◽  
The Us ◽  
Nuclear Issue ◽  
The Relationship

The United States, Iran and the Bomb provides the first comprehensive analysis of the US-Iranian nuclear relationship from its origins through to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. Starting with the Nixon administration in the 1970s, it analyses the policies of successive US administrations toward the Iranian nuclear programme. Emphasizing the centrality of domestic politics to decision-making on both sides, it offers both an explanation of the evolution of the relationship and a critique of successive US administrations' efforts to halt the Iranian nuclear programme, with neither coercive measures nor inducements effectively applied. The book further argues that factional politics inside Iran played a crucial role in Iranian nuclear decision-making and that American policy tended to reinforce the position of Iranian hardliners and undermine that of those who were prepared to compromise on the nuclear issue. In the final chapter it demonstrates how President Obama's alterations to American strategy, accompanied by shifts in Iranian domestic politics, finally brought about the signing of the JCPOA in 2015.

From Competition to Cooperation: A History of Canada–US National Park Relations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence Young ◽  
Alan MacEachern ◽  
Lary Dilsaver
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Us ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Settler Societies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Flow Of Information ◽  
The Relationship

This essay explores the evolving international relationship of the two national park agencies that in 1968 began to offer joint training classes for protected-area managers from around the world. Within the British settler societies that dominated nineteenth century park-making, the United States’ National Park Service (NPS) and Canada’s National Parks Branch were the most closely linked and most frequently cooperative. Contrary to campfire myths and nationalist narratives, however, the relationship was not a one-way flow of information and motivation from the US to Canada. Indeed, the latter boasted a park bureaucracy before the NPS was established. The relationship of the two nations’ park leaders in the half century leading up to 1968 demonstrates the complexity of defining the influences on park management and its diffusion from one country to another.

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