Little bugs and wicked viruses: Communicating the COVID-19 pandemic through picturebooks for children

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth F. Caldwell ◽  
Sarah Falcus
Keyword(s):  
Health Professionals ◽  
Hand Washing ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
National Public Health ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Staying At Home

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the production of large numbers of books to educate children about the novel coronavirus and the measures to control its spread. The books have been produced by a wide variety of different individuals and organizations, from health professionals and educators to national public health organizations and the United Nations. This study provides a detailed analysis of 73 picturebooks about coronavirus/COVID-19 available in English and produced between March and June 2020. The analysis reveals that the books combine early scientific knowledge about the novel coronavirus with pre-existing connotations of germs to produce a specific, comprehensible cause for the social disruption produced by the pandemic. This portrayal is frequently used to mobilize children to be heroes and fight the virus through a number of behavioural measures, principally frequent hand washing and staying at home. The books also reveal adult anxieties about the nature of childhood and the uncertainty of the nature and timing of a post-pandemic future.

scholarly journals The COVID-19 Misinfodemic: Moving Beyond Fact-Checking

2020 ◽  
pp. 109019812098067
Author(s):  
Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou ◽  
Anna Gaysynsky ◽  
Robin C. Vanderpool
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
The Novel ◽  
False Information ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Insufficient Response ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Online misinformation regarding COVID-19 has undermined public health efforts to control the novel coronavirus. To date, public health organizations’ efforts to counter COVID-19 misinformation have focused on identifying and correcting false information on social media platforms. Citing extant literature in health communication and psychology, we argue that these fact-checking efforts are a necessary, but insufficient, response to health misinformation. First, research suggests that fact-checking has several important limitations and is rarely successful in fully undoing the effects of misinformation exposure. Second, there are many factors driving misinformation sharing and acceptance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic—such as emotions, distrust, cognitive biases, racism, and xenophobia—and these factors both make individuals more vulnerable to certain types of misinformation and also make them impervious to future correction attempts. We conclude by outlining several additional measures, beyond fact-checking, that may help further mitigate the effects of misinformation in the current pandemic.

Coronavirus: Towards controlling of the pandemic - Indian scenario

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 462-468
Author(s):  
Latika kothari ◽  
Sanskruti Wadatkar ◽  
Roshni Taori ◽  
Pavan Bajaj ◽  
Diksha Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Control Measures ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Medical Treatments ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Infection Control Measures ◽  
The Social ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
The Government ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a communicable infection caused by the novel coronavirus resulting in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV). It was recognized to be a health crisis for the general population of international concern on 30th January 2020 and conceded as a pandemic on 11th March 2020. India is taking various measures to fight this invisible enemy by adopting different strategies and policies. To stop the COVID-19 from spreading, the Home Affairs Ministry and the health ministry, of India, has issued the nCoV 19 guidelines on travel. Screening for COVID-19 by asking questions about any symptoms, recent travel history, and exposure. India has been trying to get testing kits available. The government of India has enforced various laws like the social distancing, Janata curfew, strict lockdowns, screening door to door to control the spread of novel coronavirus. In this pandemic, innovative medical treatments are being explored, and a proper vaccine is being hunted to deal with the situation. Infection control measures are necessary to prevent the virus from further spreading and to help control the current situation. Thus, this review illustrates and explains the criteria provided by the government of India to the awareness of the public to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

scholarly journals Social and Cognitive Psychology Theories in Understanding COVID-19 as the Pandemic of Blame

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayoub Bouguettaya ◽  
Clare E. C. Walsh ◽  
Victoria Team
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

When faced with adverse circumstances, there may be a tendency for individuals, agencies, and governments to search for a target to assign blame. Our focus will be on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, where racial groups, political parties, countries, and minorities have been blamed for spreading, producing or creating the virus. Blame—here defined as attributing causality, responsibility, intent, or foresight to someone/something for a fault or wrong—has already begun to damage modern society and medical practice in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. Evidence from past and current pandemics suggest that this tendency to seek blame affects international relations, promotes unwarranted devaluation of health professionals, and prompts a spike of racism and discrimination. By drawing on social and cognitive psychology theories, we provide a framework that helps to understand (1) the effect of blame in pandemics, (2) when people blame, whom they blame, and (3) how blame detrimentally affects the COVID-19 response. Ultimately, we provide a path to inform health messaging to reduce blaming tendencies, based on social psychological principles for health communication.

scholarly journals The Impact of Armed Conflict on the Epidemiological Situation of COVID-19 in Libya, Syria and Yemen

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed A. Daw
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Cumulative Number ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Public Data ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Impact

Background: Since the Arab uprising in 2011, Libya, Syria and Yemen have gone through major internal armed conflicts. This resulted in large numbers of deaths, injuries, and population displacements, with collapse of the healthcare systems. Furthermore, the situation was complicated by the emergence of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, which made the populations of these countries struggle under unusual conditions to deal with both the pandemic and the ongoing wars. This study aimed to determine the impact of the armed conflicts on the epidemiology of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) within these war-torn countries and highlight the strategies needed to combat the spread of the pandemic and its consequences.Methods: Official and public data concerning the dynamics of the armed conflicts and the spread of SARS-COV-2 in Libya, Syria and Yemen were collected from all available sources, starting from the emergence of COVID-19 in each country until the end of December 2020. Datasets were analyzed by a set of statistical techniques and the weekly resolved data were used to probe the link between the intensity levels of the conflict and the prevalence of COVID-19.Results: The data indicated that there was an increase in the intensity of the violence at an early stage from March to August 2020, when it approximately doubled in the three countries, particularly in Libya. During that period, few cases of COVID-19 were reported, ranging from 5 to 53 cases/day. From September to December 2020, a significant decline in the intensity of the armed conflicts was accompanied by steep upsurges in the rate of COVID-19 cases, which reached up to 500 cases/day. The accumulative cases vary from one country to another during the armed conflict. The highest cumulative number of cases were reported in Libya, Syria and Yemen.Conclusions: Our analysis demonstrates that the armed conflict provided an opportunity for SARS-CoV-2 to spread. The early weeks of the pandemic coincided with the most intense period of the armed conflicts, and few cases were officially reported. This indicates undercounting and hidden spread during the early stage of the pandemic. The pandemic then spread dramatically as the armed conflict declined, reaching its greatest spread by December 2020. Full-blown transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic in these countries is expected. Therefore, urgent national and international strategies should be implemented to combat the pandemic and its consequences.

scholarly journals Prevalence and correlates of forgone care among adult Israeli Jews: A survey conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0260399
Author(s):  
Perla Werner ◽  
Aviad Tur-Sinai
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Model ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Seeking Help ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Efforts to control the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic include drastic measures such as isolation, social distancing, and lockdown. These restrictions are accompanied by serious adverse consequences such as forgoing of healthcare. The study aimed to assess the prevalence and correlates of forgone care for a variety of healthcare services during a two-month COVID-19 lockdown, using Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Healthcare Utilization. A cross-sectional study using computerized phone interviews was conducted with 302 Israeli Jewish participants aged 40 and above. Almost half of the participants (49%) reported a delay in seeking help for at least one needed healthcare service during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Among the predisposing factors, we found that participants aged 60+, being more religious, and reporting higher levels of COVID-19 fear were more likely to report forgone care than younger, less religious and less concerned participants. Among need factors, a statistically significant association was found with a reported diagnosis of diabetes, with participants with the disease having a considerably higher likelihood of forgone care. The findings stress the importance of developing interventions aimed at mitigating the phenomenon of forgoing care while creating nonconventional ways of consuming healthcare services. In the short term, healthcare services need to adapt to the social distancing and isolation measures required to stanch the epidemic. In the long term, policymakers should consider alternative ways of delivering healthcare services to the public regularly and during crisis without losing sight of their budgetary consequences. They must recognize the possibility of having to align medical staff to the changing demand for healthcare services under conditions of health uncertainty.

scholarly journals The Buffering Effects of Social Insurance for the Spread of Covid-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4(I)) ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
Moein Mirani Ahangarkolaei ◽  
Eser Demir ◽  
Tolga Constantinou ◽  
Mostafa Toranji ◽  
Tadashi Adino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Transmission Rate ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Monthly Data ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Low Educated

Global pandemics are associated with substantial losses of human capital. The best strategy of policymakers in public health before a population-wide vaccination is to reduce the outbreak of the disease and finding ways to alleviate its negative consequences in society. Previous studies show that welfare programs have externalities in unintended areas and for unplanned outcomes including a wide range of health outcomes. In this paper, we show that payments under the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program have the potential to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. Applying a difference-in-difference technique on monthly data of all US counties from January 2020 to January 2021, we document that the social insurance under the umbrella of UI payments can reduce the transmission rate of Covid-19. The results show heterogeneity across subsample with the largest effects among blacks, poor, and low educated regions

scholarly journals Prevalence and Characteristics of Twitter Posts About Court-Ordered, Tobacco-Related Corrective Statements: Descriptive Content Analysis (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dannielle E Kelley ◽  
Meredith Brown ◽  
Alice Murray ◽  
Kelly D Blake
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Descriptive Content ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Philip Morris ◽  
The Social ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Initial Release

BACKGROUND Three major US tobacco companies were recently ordered to publish corrective statements intended to prevent and restrain further fraud about the health effects of smoking. The court-ordered statements began appearing in newspapers and on television (TV) in late 2017. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to examine the social media dissemination of the tobacco corrective statements during the first 6 months of the implementation of the statements. METHODS We conducted a descriptive content analysis of Twitter posts using an iterative search strategy through Crimson Hexagon and randomly selected 19.74% (456/2309) of original posts occurring between November 1, 2017, and March 27, 2018, for coding and analysis. We assessed post volume over time, source or author, valence, linked content, and reference to the industry (eg, big tobacco, tobacco industry, and Philip Morris) and media outlet (TV or newspaper). Retweeted content was coded for source/author and prevalence. RESULTS Most posts were published in November 2017, surrounding the initial release of the corrective statements. Content was generally neutral (58.7%, 268/456) or positive (33.3%, 152/456) in valence, included links to additional information about the statements (94.9%, 433/456), referred to the industry (87.7%, 400/456), and did not mention a specific media channel on which the statements were aired or published (15%). The majority of original posts were created by individual users (55.2%, 252/456), whereas the majority of retweeted posts were posted by public health organizations (51%). Differences by source are reported, for example, organization posts are more likely to include a link to additional information compared with individual users (<italic>P</italic>=.03). CONCLUSIONS Conversations about the court-ordered corrective statements are taking place on Twitter and are generally neutral or positive in nature. Public health organizations may be increasing the prevalence of these conversations through social media engagement.

scholarly journals Research on the Visual Design of Data Charts Based on the COVID-19 Epidemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 257 ◽  
pp. 02034
Author(s):  
Qiu Feng ◽  
Ren Fuchen
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Visual Design ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Correct Understanding ◽  
Social Level

Purpose The sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus has caused varying degrees of damage to China and the world. In today’s era of information explosion, data and information are the driving force for decision-making. The improvement of medical treatment and public health systems is the most fundamental, but what a citizen needs is an intuitive and clear “seeing” the development of the epidemic. The correct trend, an accurate view and understanding of the epidemic requires us to use visual design methods to present it to the public, which is helpful to establish a correct understanding of the psychological construction of anti-epidemic at the social level.

scholarly journals Modelling the Potential Impact of Social Distancing on the COVID-19 Epidemic in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
F. Nyabadza ◽  
F. Chirove ◽  
C. W. Chukwu ◽  
M. V. Visaya
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Deterministic Model ◽  
Cumulative Number ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Policy Direction ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Impact

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to be a global health problem whose impact has been significantly felt in South Africa. With the global spread increasing and infecting millions, containment efforts by countries have largely focused on lockdowns and social distancing to minimise contact between persons. Social distancing has been touted as the best form of response in managing a rapid increase in the number of infected cases. In this paper, we present a deterministic model to describe the impact of social distancing on the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in South Africa. The model is fitted to data from March 5 to April 13, 2020, on the cumulative number of infected cases, and a scenario analysis on different levels of social distancing is presented. The model shows that with the levels of social distancing under the initial lockdown level between March 26 and April 13, 2020, there would be a projected continued rise in the number of infected cases. The model also looks at the impact of relaxing the social distancing measures after the initial announcement of the lockdown. It is shown that relaxation of social distancing by 2% can result in a 23% rise in the number of cumulative cases whilst an increase in the level of social distancing by 2% would reduce the number of cumulative cases by about 18%. The model results accurately predicted the number of cases after the initial lockdown level was relaxed towards the end of April 2020. These results have implications on the management and policy direction in the early phase of the epidemic.

scholarly journals Evaluating Classical Airplane Boarding Methods Considering COVID-19 Flying Restrictions

Symmetry ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liviu-Adrian Cotfas ◽  
Camelia Delcea ◽  
R. John Milne ◽  
Mostafa Salari
Keyword(s):  
Health Risk ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Zone Method ◽  
Economic Productivity ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Impact

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has imposed the need for a series of social distancing restrictions worldwide to mitigate the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic. This applies to many domains, including airplane boarding and seat assignments. As airlines are considering their passengers’ safety during the pandemic, boarding methods should be evaluated both in terms of social distancing norms and the resulting efficiency for the airlines. The present paper analyzes the impact of a series of restrictions that have been imposed or mooted worldwide on the boarding methods used by the airlines, featuring the use of jet-bridges and one-door boarding. To compare the efficacy of classical airplane boarding methods with respect to new social distancing norms, five metrics were used to evaluate their performance. One metric is the time to complete the boarding of the airplane. The other four metrics concern passenger health and reflect the potential exposure to the virus from other passengers through the air and surfaces (e.g., headrests and luggage) touched by passengers. We use the simulation platform in NetLogo to test six common boarding methods under various conditions. The back-to-front by row boarding method results in the longest time to complete boarding but has the advantage of providing the lowest health risk for two metrics. Those two metrics are based on passengers potentially infecting those passengers previously seated in the rows they traverse. Interestingly, those two risks are reduced for most boarding methods when the social distance between adjacent passengers advancing down the aisle is increased, thus indicating an unanticipated benefit stemming from this form of social distancing. The modified reverse pyramid by half zone method provides the shortest time to the completing boarding of the airplane and—along with the WilMA boarding method—provides the lowest health risk stemming from potential infection resulting from seat interferences. Airlines have the difficult task of making tradeoffs between economic productivity and the resulting impact on various health risks.

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