scholarly journals Unemployment in Socially Disadvantaged Communities in Tennessee, US, During the COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anzhelika Antipova ◽  
Ehsan Momeni

Urban studies related to previous pandemics and impacts on cities focused on vulnerable categories including poor and marginalized groups. We continue this tradition and analyze unemployment outcomes in a context of a multi-dimensional social disadvantage that is unfolding during the ongoing public health crisis. For this, we first propose an approach to identify communities by social disadvantage status captured by several key metrics. Second, we apply this methodology in the study of the effect of social disadvantage on unemployment during the COVID-19 and measure the COVID-19-related economic impact using the most recent data on unemployment. The study focuses upon vulnerable communities in in the southeastern US (Tennessee) with a concentration of high social vulnerability and rural communities. While all communities initially experienced the impact that was both sudden and severe, communities that had lower social disadvantage pre-COVID were much more likely to start resuming economic activities earlier than communities that were already vulnerable pre-COVID due to high social disadvantage with further implications upon community well-being. The impact of social disadvantage grew stronger post-COVID compared with the pre-pandemic period. In addition, we investigate worker characteristics associated with adverse labor market outcomes during the later stage of the current economic recession. We show that some socio-demographic groups have a systematically higher likelihood of being unemployed. Compared with the earlier stages, racial membership, poverty and loss of employment go hand in hand, while ethnic membership (Hispanics) and younger male workers are not associated with higher unemployment. Overall, the study contributes to a growing contemporaneous research on the consequences of the COVID-19 recession. Motivated by the lack of the research on the spatial aspect of the COVID-19-caused economic recession and its economic impacts upon the vulnerable communities during the later stages, we further contribute to the research gap.

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 103-110
Author(s):  
S. Tomassi ◽  
M. Ruggeri

Summary Background: The global crisis that began in 2007 has been the most prolonged economic recession since 1929. It has caused worldwide tangible costs in terms of cuts in employment and income, which have been widely recognised also as major social determinants of mental health (1, 2). The so-called “Great Recession” has disproportionately affected the most vulnerable part of society of the whole Eurozone (3). Across Europe, an increase in suicides and deaths rates due to mental and behavioural disorders was reported among those who lost their jobs, houses and economic activities as a consequence of the crisis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Marshall ◽  
Kate Lanyi ◽  
Rhiannon Green ◽  
Georgie Wilkins ◽  
Fiona Pearson ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND There is increasing need to explore the value of soft-intelligence, leveraged using the latest artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) techniques, as a source of analysed evidence to support public health research activity and decision-making. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to further explore the value of soft-intelligence analysed using AI through a case study, which examined a large collection of UK tweets relating to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS A search strategy comprising a list of terms related to mental health, COVID-19, and lockdown restrictions was developed to prospectively collate relevant tweets via Twitter’s advanced search application programming interface over a 24-week period. We deployed a specialist NLP platform to explore tweet frequency and sentiment across the UK and identify key topics of discussion. A series of keyword filters were used to clean the initial data retrieved and also set up to track specific mental health problems. Qualitative document analysis was carried out to further explore and expand upon the results generated by the NLP platform. All collated tweets were anonymised RESULTS We identified and analysed 286,902 tweets posted from UK user accounts from 23 July 2020 to 6 January 2021. The average sentiment score was 50%, suggesting overall neutral sentiment across all tweets over the study period. Major fluctuations in volume and sentiment appeared to coincide with key changes to any local and/or national social-distancing measures. Tweets around mental health were polarising, discussed with both positive and negative sentiment. Key topics of consistent discussion over the study period included the impact of the pandemic on people’s mental health (both positively and negatively), fear and anxiety over lockdowns, and anger and mistrust toward the government. CONCLUSIONS Through the primary use of an AI-based NLP platform, we were able to rapidly mine and analyse emerging health-related insights from UK tweets into how the pandemic may be impacting people’s mental health and well-being. This type of real-time analysed evidence could act as a useful intelligence source that agencies, local leaders, and health care decision makers can potentially draw from, particularly during a health crisis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iram Osman ◽  
Shaista Hamid ◽  
Veena S. Singaram

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health professionals were pushed to the front line of a global health crisis unprepared and resource constrained, which affected their mental well-being.Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a brief online mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on stress and burnout for health professionals training and working in South Africa during the COVID-19 crisis.Setting: The context of the study is the overburdened, under-resourced health care system in South Africa during a global pandemic.Methods: A mixed method framework was adopted for this study. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive analysis and the participants’ qualitative experiences were interpreted using interpretative phenomenological analysis.Results: Forty-seven participants took part in this study. The study found a statistically significant (p 0.05) reduction in stress levels and emotional exhaustion as well as an increase in mindful awareness and feelings of personal accomplishment after the intervention. The participants’ shared experiences were analysed in two parts. The pre-intervention analysis presented with central themes of loss of control and a sense of powerlessness because of COVID-19. The post-intervention analysis comprised themes of a sense of acquired control and empowerment through increased mindfulness.Conclusions: The study found that a brief online MBI can be associated with reduced levels of stress and burnout as well as an increased sense of control and empowerment, felt both personally and professionally, during a global crisis.Contribution: The impact of an online MBI for health care professionals amidst a pandemic has not been previously documented.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debashree Das ◽  
Avik Datta ◽  
Patanjal Kumar

COVID 19 pandemic is the worst crisis that mankind has seen since World War-II. It has exposed glaring loopholes in the healthcare system and led to a global health crisis. In absence of any specific treatment or vaccine, countries began to enforce strict lockdown measures leading to a complete shutdown of economic activities. The purpose of this study is to identify key exit strategies that can be implemented to mitigate the impacts of COVID 19. Identification and categorisation of parameters have been done using multi criterion decision making tool of Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) and MICMAC analysis. The study highlights a classification of key strategies based on their driving power and dependence which may enable Government to strengthen the disease surveillance system and effectively reduce the impact of the disease. The findings of the study suggest that Environmental Sustainability and Human Well-being; Online Awareness and Capacity Building Programme; Graded Surveillance- Targeted Restrictions and Stricter norms for Inter-State Mobility; and Harmonization between Centre, State and Local Authorities are the most important strategies that needs to be factored in while planning for the post lockdown economic recovery. Thus, the study can assist the government in devising exit strategies while framing the pandemic response plan.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 831-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Kohler

Water is a vital natural resource, demanding careful management. It is essential for life and integral to virtually all economic activities, including energy and food production and the production of industrial outputs. The availability of clean water in sufficient quantities is not only a prerequisite for human health and well-being but the life-blood of freshwater ecosystems and the many services that these provide. Water resource intensity measures the intensity of water use in terms of volume of water per unit of value added. It is an internationally accepted environmental indicator of the pressure of economic activity on a country’s water resources and therefore a reliable indicator of sustainable economic development. The indicator is particularly useful in the allocation of water resources between sectors of the economy since in waterstressed countries like South Africa, there is competition for water among various users, which makes it necessary to allocate water resources to economic activities that are less intensive in their use of water. This study focuses on economy-wide changes in South Africa’s water intensity using both decomposition and empirical estimation techniques in an effort to identify and understand the impact of economic activity on changes in the use of the economy’s water resources. It is hoped that this study will help inform South Africa’s water conservation and resource management policies


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (32) ◽  
pp. 8580-8585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron P. Ramus ◽  
Brian R. Silliman ◽  
Mads S. Thomsen ◽  
Zachary T. Long

While invasive species often threaten biodiversity and human well-being, their potential to enhance functioning by offsetting the loss of native habitat has rarely been considered. We manipulated the abundance of the nonnative, habitat-forming seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla in large plots (25 m2) on southeastern US intertidal landscapes to assess impacts on multiple ecosystem functions underlying coastal ecosystem services. We document that in the absence of native habitat formers, this invasion has an overall positive, density-dependent impact across a diverse set of ecosystem processes (e.g., abundance and richness of nursery taxa, flow attenuation). Manipulation of invader abundance revealed both thresholds and saturations in the provisioning of ecosystem functions. Taken together, these findings call into question the focus of traditional invasion research and management that assumes negative effects of nonnatives, and emphasize the need to consider context-dependence and integrative measurements when assessing the impact of an invader, including density dependence, multifunctionality, and the status of native habitat formers. This work supports discussion of the idea that where native foundation species have been lost, invasive habitat formers may be considered as sources of valuable ecosystem functions.


Author(s):  
Inas R. Kelly ◽  
John Komlos

The Oxford Handbook of Economics and Human Biology introduces the scholarly community to the relationship between economic processes and human biology. A society’s biological well-being is important if one is to understand numerous aspects of political and economic developments: the outbreak of revolutions; the effect of industrialization and modernization on a population’s well-being; the demographic transition; and changes in the degree of social inequality by gender, social class, and geographic location. The contributions in this Handbook examine the various ways the economy affects human biological outcomes and, reciprocally, the impact of the latter on the former both over time and cross-sectionally. Another focus is on biological measures as inputs, such as how height and weight affect labor market outcomes and the role of genetic markers on economic variables. A third purpose is to introduce the reader to developmental aspects and policy, particularly correlates of malnutrition and poverty across the world.


Author(s):  
Gediminas Kuliešis ◽  
Lina Pareigienė

After joining EU Lithuania started to receive the support for modernization of agricultural production processes, to maintain farmers' income, upgrade rural infrastructure, improve people's quality of life. Farmers, the local authorities, as well as rural communities had to absorb EU support administration procedures, what formed a new culture of communication. That is why it is important to analyze what was the EU support impact on rural residents, especially their social capital, which is one of the sources to improve life quality and well-being. The purpose of this article is to assess the impact of EU support on rural residents’ social capital. To achieve the set goal Lithuanian rural wards’ elders were selected as representatives of the local authorities. Survey results showed that the rural communities residents became more motivated, self-reliant, the number of cultural and other events increased, the residents began to build their leisure. And pay more attention and resources for the maintenance of living environment and rural landscape.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 124-134
Author(s):  
Waqas Mehmood ◽  
Rasidah Mohd-Rashid ◽  
Attia Aman Ullah ◽  
Owais Shafique

The purpose of this study is to describe the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia and the way the government of Malaysia manages the impact of this pandemic through economic recovery packages such as economic stimulus packages. This study focuses on the effects of the economic stimulus packages released by the government of Malaysia as a response to the economic recession triggered by COVID-19. Malaysia is one of the favourite tourist destinations, and the tourism industry generates about 5.9% of the country’s GDP. However, the lockdown imposed by the Malaysian government to combat the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected almost every sector of the economy. The Malaysian government has taken several steps to control the spread of the pandemic, such as declaring hotspots of COVID-19, imposing lockdowns, and creating mass scale awareness through social media and TV channels. The government has also deployed several economic strategies such as economic stimulus packages to help industries and the people. This study concludes that the mitigation techniques, i.e., economic stimulus packages adopted are working properly; however, some improvements are required as these techniques are inadequate to manage the transmission capability and virulence of COVID-19. Thus, more attention is required for the revival of economic activities. This study helps to obtain an insight into the effects of economic packages and how effective these packages have been in managing the spread of the COVID-19 virus and mitigating the economic recession. It also provides an understanding of how these packages will help flatten the pandemic curve in the future. This study provides information on the current COVID-19 situation in Malaysia. It also offers information on the policies and methods used by the government to solve economic and public health issues. Further, this study lays out guidelines for policymakers and government officials for the development of more effective strategies for economic recovery and public health initiatives.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S328-S330
Author(s):  
Shuba Balan ◽  
Shweta Anjan ◽  
Alison Ohringer ◽  
Jose Gonzales-Zamora ◽  
Deborah Jones Weiss ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) global health crisis has resulted in an unprecedented strain on healthcare systems, reorganization of medical training programs and disruption in professional and personal lives of medical trainees. The impact of COVID-19 on infectious disease (ID) fellows, who are frontline healthcare professionals, has not been assessed. Methods We conducted a national survey of adult and pediatric ID fellows to assess impact on educational activities, availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), well-being, and career prospects. Anxiety and burnout were assessed by 7-item generalized anxiety disorder scale and abbreviated Maslach burnout inventory respectively. Invitations to participate in the survey were sent via email to all ID fellows through Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) fellowship directors. Survey responses collected from August 1 to September 30, 2020 have been reported. Results 136 fellows completed the survey (Table 1). 84% reported their institution had provided evidence-based didactics for management of COVID-19 and 53% indicated their general ID didactics were affected by the pandemic. 86% of fellows were involved in care of patients with COVID-19, and 31% reported a shortage of PPE affecting their clinical duties. Those living in highly impacted states (CA, FL, NY, TX) at the time of the survey were 1.70 times as likely to experience moderate to severe anxiety (vs. minimal to moderate) than those in other states; similarly, those who saw ≥11 COVID-19 patients weekly and reported PPE shortages were 2.5 and 2.0 times as likely, respectively, to experience moderate to severe anxiety compared to their peers who took care of 10 or fewer COVID-19 patients and did not experience PPE shortages. Burnout scores were not significant (Table 2). Table 1. Demographics, Responses to Personal Exposure, Educational Activities and Career Prospects Table 2. Stress, Burnout, Anxiety , Sleep and Quality of Life Among Survey Participants. Conclusion It is imperative that ID fellows feel adequately protected and supported during this pandemic. Pandemic preparedness should be included in the ID fellowship curriculum. Interventions for anxiety and burnout reduction should be implemented. ID fellowship programs should continue to accept feedback from fellows to ensure their ongoing safety, well-being, and education as we navigate this pandemic. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures


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