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The political participation literature has documented a long-term trend of the normalization of noninstitutional participation that is often equated with the conventionalization of engagement in protest politics. Less is known on the extent to which noninstitutional forms are differentiated by their mobilization context. Population surveys find it difficult to contextualize individual engagement, and on-site surveys point to effects that are hard to generalize. This study fills this gap by emphasizing differentiation and distinguishing participation according to the issue of engagement. It introduces a conceptual distinction between political insiders and outsiders, defined based on the extent to which they are embedded in the organizational landscape of the dominant cleavage dimension. Using an original survey conducted in Germany during the Covid-19 crisis, the analysis demonstrates that general-population surveys are fit to examine issue-specific participation patterns. The results expose an insider and outsider divide, captured by the effect of attitudinal and behavioral indicators, and demonstrates that the two groups are equally likely to participate in noninstitutional forms. However, insiders engage on the established issues of climate and anti-racism, whereas outsiders engage on the new issues of Covid-19 related economic assistance and civil liberties restrictions. In addition, dynamic models reveal that noninstitutional participation is rooted in volatile issue preferences. Overall, the paper argues that participation during the Covid-19 crisis has furthered the trend towards a differentiated protest arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic was a major challenge for journalism. In the case of Germany, critics very early on voiced concerns over the quality of mainstream media coverage. Mainstream media were attacked for the intensity of their coverage, for reporting too much and unnecessarily frightening audiences, for not presenting a diversity of viewpoints on the pandemic and the measures taken to mitigate it, and for being one-sided and too close to the government. Against this background, this paper examines the intensity and viewpoint diversity of the coverage of 13 mainstream and two alternative media in Germany in 2020 and 2021. Based on a comprehensive manual content analysis of almost 9000 news stories, we conclude that the mainstream media did not cover the pandemic in a fundamentally exaggerated or one-sided way. However, they did not always report intensively when the pandemic was particularly severe, and they tended to warn against the pandemic rather than criticize the measures taken. In contrast, alternative media coverage tended to be more one-sided and generally biased against government measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines school management and policies in Germany and Australia during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study, which is comparative and qualitative, explores the interrelationship between different levels of governance and the responses of teacher unions. The inquiry is informed by the perspectives of historical institutionalism and path dependency, and the document analysis is conducted by utilising the justification categories of value, collective, and formal and procedural driven arguments. We argue the contestation which occurred between different levels of school governance and the teacher unions amidst the pandemic created the potential for changes in policy settings and influence over the administration of schooling. However, there is no indication of fundamental shifts in the organisation, policy direction or control over schooling in Germany or Australia. Instead, there is a conformity to established institutional arrangements and path dependencies, which secure and protect the vested interests of the different policy actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate determinants of willingness to adopt telerehabilitation, willingness of technology use, core affect regarding using telerehabilitation, and digital competencies in rehabilitation professionals in Austria and Germany before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional paper-based and online survey was conducted before and during COVID-19, respectively, with three cohorts of rehabilitation professionals. Outcomes were the willingness to adopt telerehabilitation evaluated using the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology; willingness of technology use using the short scale for assessing the willingness of technology use; digital competencies and core affect using the Digital Competence Framework and semantic differential, respectively. Multivariate ordinal regression analysis was performed to determine predictors. Included were 603 rehabilitation professionals. Analysis revealed differences between Austria and Germany and before and during the pandemic for most outcomes. German residency, the pandemic, and a higher educational level were most important predictors of higher willingness to adopt telerehabilitation, willingness of technology use, digital competencies, and positive core affect. The pandemic increased most aspects of willingness to adopt telerehabilitation, willingness of technology use, digital competencies, and positive core affect. Results confirm that rehabilitation professionals with higher degrees are more prone to adopt innovations in healthcare.Registration: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00021464) The willingness to adopt telerehabilitation is associated with external factors increasing the need for alternative rehabilitation delivery, such as COVID-19, and with financial facilitators, such as reimbursement. As the willingness to adopt telerehabilitation is higher among speech and language therapists and dietitians, efforts are necessary to enhance its use in physiotherapists and occupational therapists. As a higher willingness to adopt telerehabilitation was observed in younger rehabilitation professionals and those with higher education, increasing the importance of telerehabilitation in education curricula and further knowledge transfer into practice for those already working in the field seems necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-time surveillance is a crucial element in the response to infectious disease outbreaks. However, the interpretation of incidence data is often hampered by delays occurring at various stages of data gathering and reporting. As a result, recent values are biased downward, which obscures current trends. Statistical nowcasting techniques can be employed to correct these biases, allowing for accurate characterization of recent developments and thus enhancing situational awareness. In this paper, we present a preregistered real-time assessment of eight nowcasting approaches, applied by independent research teams to German 7-day hospitalization incidences during the COVID-19 pandemic. This indicator played an important role in the management of the outbreak in Germany and was linked to levels of non-pharmaceutical interventions via certain thresholds. Due to its definition, in which hospitalization counts are aggregated by the date of case report rather than admission, German hospitalization incidences are particularly affected by delays and can take several weeks or months to fully stabilize. For this study, all methods were applied from 22 November 2021 to 29 April 2022, with probabilistic nowcasts produced each day for the current and 28 preceding days. Nowcasts at the national, state, and age-group levels were collected in the form of quantiles in a public repository and displayed in a dashboard. Moreover, a mean and a median ensemble nowcast were generated. We find that overall, the compared methods were able to remove a large part of the biases introduced by delays. Most participating teams underestimated the importance of very long delays, though, resulting in nowcasts with a slight downward bias. The accompanying prediction intervals were also too narrow for almost all methods. Averaged over all nowcast horizons, the best performance was achieved by a model using case incidences as a covariate and taking into account longer delays than the other approaches. For the most recent days, which are often considered the most relevant in practice, a mean ensemble of the submitted nowcasts performed best. We conclude by providing some lessons learned on the definition of nowcasting targets and practical challenges. Author summary: Current trends in epidemiological indicators are often obscured by the fact that recent values are still incomplete. This is due to reporting delays and other types of delays. Statistical nowcasting methods can be used to account for these biases and reveal yet unobserved trends, thereby improving situational awareness and supporting public health decision-making. While numerous methods exist for this purpose, little is known about their behavior in real-time settings and their relative performance. In this paper, we compared eight different nowcasting methods in an application to COVID-19 hospitalization incidences in Germany from November 2021 to April 2022. Additionally, we combined the predictions of these methods to create so-called ensemble nowcasts. Our findings indicate that while all methods yielded practically useful results, some systematic biases in nowcasts occurred and the remaining uncertainty was generally underestimated. Combined ensemble nowcasts showed promising performance relative to individual models and thus represent a promising avenue for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the changes in time use, working conditions and subjective time wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Our analysis draws on panel data collected before and during the first lockdown among 786 employees. It employs a recently developed scale on time wealth which has been suggested as a comprehensive measure to capture the subjective experience of time. We provide separate analyses according to gender and essential occupation. First-difference regressions are applied to examine how changes in time use and changes in working conditions during the lockdown affected subjective time wealth. Our results show a general growth in time wealth during the lockdown which is, among other factors, driven by a decline in work hours and an increase in sleep duration. We also find positive effects on time wealth from decreased time pressure at work, more autonomy in organising one's working day, and an improved reconciliation of work and private life. This study contributes to existing research by identifying key aspects how to improve time wealth among employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While communication generally embodies an essential part of public leadership, this is even more true in times of crisis when uncertainty prevails, and the public expects the leader not only to take adequate measures to mitigate the crisis, but also to justify and explain these measures. In the COVID-19 pandemic, Angela Merkel's communication differed from other Western political leaders who strongly relied on a war narrative. This paper focuses on the framing by the German Chancellor during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (March--July 2020). We examine Merkel's crisis communication in three different public arenas: her public speeches, her press conference appearances and her weekly podcasts. Based on a qualitative content analysis, our study provides three relevant insights. First, it proves that the claim for solidarity -- national as well as European solidarity - represents the crucial element of Merkel's meaning-making narrative. Second, the study shows that both statements on the protection of public health and of economy strongly resonate in her communication, but that the prioritisation shifted over time. Finally, our analysis manifests how Merkel's framing differs in the three communicative arenas. Additionally, our findings indicate that Merkel followed a modified leadership style during the COVID- 19 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has created a widespread need for social support. Similar to previous crises, we can observe activation in society to meet these needs: citizens have offered practical, emotional, and financial support, often within their social networks, but also to strangers and civil society organizations. In this paper, we examine the role of social capital in receiving social support during the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany using unique micro-level survey data. We investigate the importance of three aspects of social capital – the size of one's support network, social trust, and organizational membership – for receiving (sufficient) social support. We focus on three types of support networks: family and friends, neighbors, and civil society actors. First, we find that while all three elements of social capital matter for receiving social support, a larger support network and organizational embeddedness matter primarily for receiving support beyond family and friendship networks. Second, civil society actors have been less likely to provide sufficient support in the pandemic, mainly acting in addition to strong ties and providing complementary support for individuals in particular need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The international study PRICOV-19 aims to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organisation of primary health care. The German part focuses on German general practitioners during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper addresses the following research questions: (1) How were changes in tasks on primary care and patient treatment perceived by GPs?, (2) What was the role of GPs during the pandemic, and how was their wellbeing?, (3) How did GPs perceive health policy measures?, and, (4) What influenced the attitudes of GPs on health policy measures? Methods: This study pursues a multi-country cross-sectional design. Data collection took place throughout Germany from 01.02. to 28.02.2021 with a quantitative online questionnaire consisting of 53 items. The questionnaire was analysed through descriptive and inferential analyses using correlation and multiple regression models. Results: The response rate was 20.4% (n = 349). The respondents were mainly GPs (59.6%) in single practices (62.5%) with a mean work experience of 15 to 20 years. GPs experienced a change in their work and practice organisation (80.3%). They felt a high responsibility (70.6%) and found their work has become more meaningful to them (76%). They also saw a lack of political support (75.2%) and that the measures taken by the government overburdened the daily practice (66.4%). Not many GPs were at risk of being distressed (53.4%) but rated the health policies rather negatively (60%). The multiple regression showed, the more GPs were exposed to risk of distress, the worse they assessed the government's measures. Conclusion: GPs perceived their work as relevant and felt confident they could fulfil their tasks, but noticed that health policy initially hardly supported the outpatient sector. Health policies should increase their competence in relation to primary care, ensure its needs and consider an active inclusion of GPs in preparedness plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effects that mobility restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic have had on different types of co-presence, which the existing literature considers to be central for science and innovation. Drawing on a regional analysis of COVID-19 restrictions in Germany, it links specific mobility restrictions to concrete impacts on co-presence, differentiating between co-presence in organizations, dynamic temporary co-presence, and the local 'buzz'. It highlights that co-presence at workplaces and conferences was resilient to restrictions but that the detrimental effects on the 'local buzz' may have been substantial and long-lasting. In conclusion, it cautions against the severe effects of placing restrictions on the education system. Subsequently, the discussion links the reported disruptions of co-presence to the potential effects of the pandemic on preconditions for innovative processes and economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cornerstone of well-being research is that the resource-rich are happier with their lives than the resource-poor and better positioned to cope with stressful life events. This paper addresses the role of various resources—human, economic, social, and psychological capital—in life satisfaction during the coronavirus pandemic, using panel data from Germany and the United Kingdom for 2020 and 2021. Cross-sectionally, we find life satisfaction to be clearly related to all these forms of capital, with psychological capital being the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. Longitudinally, the capital endowments in 2020 did not predict changes in life satisfaction within individuals from 2020 to 2021, except for psychological capital. Our results suggest two things: first, the unfolding pandemic did not heighten well-being inequalities; and second, weathering the pandemic required psychological resources in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The current paper analyzed the effect of the pandemic-induced lockdown on maternal mental health during the first 12 postpartum weeks in Germany. Methods: In this cohort study, we compared the participants' anamnestic backgrounds and the results of psychological tests, measuring stress levels, depressive symptoms and attachment. The 327 participants were divided into two groups with one representing the "pre-COVID" sample and the other the "lockdown" sample. We performed multiple comparisons, investigating the distribution of diagnoses and the correlating risk profiles between the two cohorts. Results: Our analysis showed a significant difference between the two cohorts, with a 13.2% increase in the prevalence of adjustment disorders (AD), but not postpartum depression (PPD), in the first 12 weeks postpartum. However, during the pandemic, women with AD had fewer risk factors compared to their pre-pandemic counterparts. In the "lockdown" cohort, a tendency toward higher stress and lower mother-child attachment was observed in AD. Conclusions: In sum, we observed some negative impact of the pandemic on maternal mental health. The lockdown might have contributed to an increase in the number of cases involving AD in the postpartum period. The prevalence of PPD (ca. 6–10%), on the other hand, was not affected by the lockdown. Thus, the effect of COVID-19 on maternal mental health might not, after all, have been as severe as assumed at the beginning of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Childcare policy responses towards Covid-19 differed in European welfare states. • Policy responses cause informalization of childcare to different degrees. • Informalization of childcare is mainly connected with social risks for women. • Cultural and institutional differences help to understand varying policy responses. The closure of extra-familial childcare facilities by European governments in 2020 was an important part of interventions against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. One consequence was that childcare was provided by parents at home, mainly by women. As a result, women mainly experienced financial and employment risks related to this "informalization" of childcare. The childcare policies of European welfare states differ in the extent to which they include measures to reduce the social risks related to informalization. Against this backdrop, this paper asks: How should one understand cross-national differences in childcare policies during the pandemic? We are also particularly interested in the effects of childcare policies on the social risks connected with the informalization of childcare and what these mean for the gendered division of paid work and care. Differences in childcare policies during the pandemic are commonly explained in terms of the path dependence of such policies. Using the theoretical approach of "care arrangement," this article introduces a broader theoretical framework that considers the role of cultural and institutional factors for understanding the cross-national differences in childcare policies during the pandemic. We introduce the findings of a comparative empirical study of childcare policies in three European welfare states—Denmark, Germany and England—that represent different types of care arrangements. This paper uses policy and media documents, quantitative data on childcare and women's employment, cultural ideas and secondary analysis of empirical studies. We find that governments did not per se respond to the pandemic based on institutional path dependence regarding childcare policies, while the integration of culture into the theoretical framework allows for a more comprehensive understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, religious organizations increasingly mediatized their activities. Studies examining this process mostly focused on communal offerings, while ignoring how rapid mediatization affected programs geared toward interfaith dialogue. This paper examines the effects and possibilities of this shift to virtual spaces by focusing on frameworks that promote Jewish–Muslim dialogue in Germany. It traces how Jews and Muslims intervene in popular discourse using social media platforms to self-define their respective religions and the relationship between them. In this process, those involved in creating virtual spaces focused on the intersectionality between gender biases and Christonormativity. This paper utilizes a broad methodological approach, including participant observation in dialogue events in virtual spaces, discursive analyses of videos and podcasts, and qualitative interviews with Jews and Muslims involved in the creation of virtual spaces. The first section discusses Jewish–Muslim encounters occurring in organized dialogue events on video communication platforms that are ephemeral in nature (no recordings). The subsequent sections analyze German-language formats that have a representative character and are streamed, recorded, and presented on social media platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though the immediate urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have passed, many countries did not reach the vaccination rates they initially aimed for. The stagnation in vaccine uptake during the height of the pandemic presented policy makers with a challenge that remains unresolved and is paramount for future pandemics and other crises: How to convince the (often not insubstantial) unvaccinated proportion of the population of the benefits of a vaccination? Designing more successful communication strategies, both in retrospect and looking ahead, requires a differentiated understanding of the concerns of those that remain unvaccinated. Guided by the elaboration likelihood model, this paper has two objectives: First, it explores by means of a latent class analysis how unvaccinated individuals might be characterized by their attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination. Second, we investigate to what extent (i) varying types of evidence (none/anecdotal/statistical) can be employed by (ii) different types of communicators (scientists/politicians) to improve vaccination intentions across these subgroups. To address these questions, we conducted an original online survey experiment among 2145 unvaccinated respondents from Germany where a substantial population share remains unvaccinated. The results suggest three different subgroups, which differ regarding their openness towards a COVID-19 vaccination: Vaccination opponents (N = 1184) , sceptics (N = 572) and those in principle receptive (N = 389) to be vaccinated. On average, neither the provision of statistical nor anecdotal evidence increased the persuasiveness of information regarding the efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, scientists were, on average, more persuasive than politicians (relatively increase vaccination intentions by 0.184 standard deviations). With respect to heterogeneous treatment effects among the three subgroups, vaccination opponents seem largely unreachable, while sceptics value information by scientists, particularly if supported by anecdotal evidence (relatively increases intentions by 0.45 standard deviations). Receptives seem much more responsive to statistical evidence from politicians (relatively increases intentions by 0.38 standard deviations). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criminological research on COVID-19 and its repercussions on crimes, criminals and law enforcement agencies is still in its infancy. This paper fills that void with regard to the influence of COVID-19 on organized crime and the work of law enforcement agencies' investigations of organized crime in Germany by presenting empirical findings from a nationwide qualitative interview study. Through the methodological combination of Grounded Theory and Situational Analysis, we find three central narratives (us vs. them, nationalization vs. internationalization, conservatism vs. innovation) that were provided by law enforcement personnel in terms of the way in which COVID-19 influenced both organized crime groups and their work in the investigation thereof. Following a reflexive approach, the implications of COVID-19 on the research process itself are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although research on mathematics learning programs has taken off in recent years, little is known about how different person characteristics are related to practice behaviour with such programs. When implementing a mathematics learning program in the classroom, it might be important to know whether students with specific characteristics need more encouragement to make use of this learning opportunity. Objectives: Using a supply‐use model, we analysed the predictive power of students' cognitive characteristics (prior mathematics knowledge), personality traits (conscientiousness), motivational‐affective characteristics (mathematics self‐concept and mathematics anxiety), and family background characteristics (socioeconomic status and migration background) for practising with an adaptive arithmetic learning program. Methods: We used longitudinal data from 203 fifth graders from seven non‐academic‐track schools in Germany. Practice behaviour, measured by completed tasks in the learning program, was recorded weekly for every student over a period of 22 weeks. Results and Conclusions: The results of our multilevel analyses showed that mathematics anxious students practised less with the program. We did not find any relationship with the other characteristics. Takeaways: Our results suggest that mathematics anxious students need more encouragement when practising with a mathematics learning program; otherwise, they do not get the chance to benefit from the use. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: The use of mathematics learning programmes in mathematics education has recently intensified.It is important that students practice with such learning programmes regularly over a longer period of time in order for them to achieve learning success.Students differ in their mathematics learning behaviour. What this paper adds: Little is known about how person characteristics are related to practice behaviour with mathematics learning programmes.Students may differ in their use of a mathematics learning programme, which is why cognitive characteristics, personality traits, motivational‐affective characteristics, and family background characteristics may affect students' practice behaviour. Implications for practice: Mathematics anxious students practiced less with a mathematics learning program, and need more encouragement to benefit equally from the implementation in school.Teachers should keep in mind that after the initial enthusiasm, practice with a programme may decrease over time, especially after school holidays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residents of care homes across the globe are affected by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 as they have been identified as a high-risk group and because they experienced strict social isolation regulations during the first wave of the pandemic. Social isolation of older people with poor physical and mental health is strongly associated with mental health problems and decreased life expectancy. Other research has shown that older people managed to adapt to the changes brought about by the pandemic and have linked this to the concept of resilience. The aim of this research project was to investigate how this applied to residents in care home settings during the first phases of the contact ban in Germany from sociology, developmental psychology and environmental gerontology perspectives, and to gain in-depth understanding of residents' experiences. This paper draws on structured interview data collected from residents in two care homes during early June 2020 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The findings show that their experiences were shaped by three factors: care home settings and the approach of staff to handling the contact ban; biographical sense of resilience; and a hierarchy of life issues. The findings highlight the importance of locally specific response mechanisms in care homes, agency and belonging of residents despite health-related limitations and the importance of a critical (gendered) lens on understanding their experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In times of crisis, governments have strong incentives to influence banks' credit allocation because the survival of the economy depends on it. How do governments make banks 'play along'? This paper focuses on the state-guaranteed credit programs (SGCPs) that have been implemented to help firms survive the COVID-19 crisis. Governments' capacity to save the economy depends on banks' capacity to grant credit to struggling firms (which they would not be naturally inclined to do in the context of a global pandemic). All governments thus face the same challenge: How do they make sure that state-guaranteed loans reach their desired target and on what terms? Based on a comparative analysis of the elaboration and implementation of SGCPs in France and Germany, this paper shows that historically-rooted institutionalized modes of coordination between state and bank actors have largely shaped the terms of the SGCPs in these two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The international collaboration study PRICOV-19 –Primary Health Care in times of COVID-19 aims to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organisation of primary health care. The German part focuses on the subjective perceptions of general practitioners on primary health care and the impact of political measures during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this survey, the "open text field" of the questionnaire was utilised remarkably frequently and extensively by the respondents. It became clear that the content that was named needed to be analysed in an exploratory manner. Accordingly, this paper addresses the following question: What preoccupies general practitioners in Germany during COVID-19 that we have not yet asked them enough? Methods: The data collection took place throughout Germany from 01.02.2021 to 28.02.2021with a quantitative online questionnaire consisting of 53 items arranged across six topics as well as an "open text field" for further comments. The questionnaire's open text field was analysed following the premises of the qualitative content analysis. Results: The topics discussed by the respondents were: insufficient support from health policies, not being prioritised and involved in the vaccination strategy, feeling insufficient prepared, that infrastructural changes and financial concerns threatened the practice, and perceiving the own role as important, as well as that health policies affected the wellbeing of the respondents. One of the main points was the way general practitioners were not sufficiently acknowledged for their contribution to ensuring high-quality care during the pandemic. Discussion: German general practitioners perceived their work and role as highly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. In controversy with their perception, they described political conditions in which they were the ones who contributed significantly to the fight against the pandemic but were not given enough recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sars-CoV-2 virus and the related public health measures have triggered a break in everyday life. Despite growing global protest movements against these health measures, 'solidarity' was called for by civil society groups, affected businesses, and politicians as an intuitive mode of action in this crisis. Writing from Germany, we explore how in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis a specific discourse of solidarity and locality blossomed; namely a call to solidarity-based consumption. Using documentary photography, we discuss the shifts in the attribution of meaning and discourses through which consumption has been framed by small-shop owners in Linden, Hannover, Germany. In the paper, we explore the local geographies of boycotting and specifically the ways calls for boycotting are articulated by shop owners in the neighbourhood. We find that these calls became entangled with a specific neighbourhood identity. Through our photographic documentation we also find that purchases at local stores are now framed as a necessary act of local support. Finally, we reflect on the limitations of consumption as a strategy to overcome crisis and express solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When countries closed their borders to curb the spread of COVID‐19 in spring 2020, seasonal migrant workers in agriculture were either unable to travel or faced unsafe conditions when performing "essential" field work. Some countries, like Germany, subsequently implemented policies to let them travel to work, and simultaneously, called on their residents to temporarily help farmers harvest crops. This paper explores the case of these temporary pandemic workers on Bavarian hops farms. Based on ethnographic research and interviews, this paper discusses the complex relationships between temporary pandemic workers, farmers, and the mostly absent seasonal workers in the exceptional moment of a global pandemic. We argue that in the state of exception of the Corona pandemic in Germany, biopolitical sorting highlighted migrant workers' indispensability and disposability in a peculiar way: their short‐term replaceability through recruited temporary pandemic workers formed a self‐ascribed "parallel universe" or "Coronal bubble". Through new encounters (with farmers) and hands‐on experiences in agricultural fields, the parallel universe often also meant uncomfortable insights into an unjust agricultural system. For those widely unexposed to agriculture, the state of exception revealed both the general and temporary biopolitics of seasonal migrant workers in agriculture and the key role they play for German agriculture as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How distancing requirements in the COVID-19 pandemic transformed intimate relationships is under-researched. Against the backdrop of research on the HIV pandemic, the paper departs from the assumption that decreased legitimacy of intimate arrangements and subjective worry about the likeliness of infection may reduce the frequency of multiple sexual contact and intimate well-being during the pandemic. Based on findings from a quantitative study which included measures of risk perception, frequency of contact with sexual partners and communities, concealment, as well as relationship quality in Austria and Germany, this paper examines sexual behaviour in association with relationship status and sexual identity. Analysing data from a convenience sample of 4,709 respondents, of whom 24 per cent identified as LGBQA+, 2 per cent as non-binary, and 6 per cent as consensually non-monogamous, bivariate analysis found significant differences in social distancing, frequency of contact with sexual communities and satisfaction with current sex life. Text analysis of the survey's open-ended responses indicates monogamisation due to declined legitimacy of less conventional intimate arrangements during the pandemic. Findings point to the importance of the sexual morality that defined pandemic experiences in times of HIV for understanding normative pressure on intimate life during COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Conspiracy beliefs have become widespread throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies have shown that endorsing conspiracy beliefs leads to lower protective guideline adherence (i.e., wearing face masks), posing a threat to public health measures. The current study expands this research across the lifespan, i.e., in a sample of adolescents with mental health problems. Here, we investigated the association between conspiracy beliefs and guideline adherence while also exploring the predictors of conspiracy beliefs. Methods: N = 93 adolescent psychiatric outpatients (57% female, mean age: 15.8) were assessed using anonymous paper–pencil questionnaires. Endorsement of generic and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs was assessed, in addition to items measuring adherence to protective guidelines and mental health (stress, depressive symptoms, emotional/behavioral problems, and adverse childhood experiences). Multiple regressions and supervised machine learning (conditional random forests) were used for analyses. Results: Fourteen percent of our sample fully endorsed at least one COVID-19 conspiracy theory, while protective guidelines adherence was relatively high (M = 4.92, on a scale from 1 to 7). The endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs—but not of generic conspiracy beliefs—was associated with lower guideline adherence (β = − 0.32, 95% CI − 0.53 to − 0.11, p <.001). Conditional random forests suggested that adverse childhood experiences and peer and conduct problems were relevant predictors of both conspiracy belief categories. Conclusion: While a significant proportion of our sample of adolescents in psychiatric treatment endorsed conspiracy beliefs, the majority did not. Furthermore, and to some degree, contrary to public perception, we found that adolescents show relatively good adherence to public health measures—even while experiencing a high degree of mental distress. The predictive value of adverse childhood experiences and peer/conduct problems for conspiracy beliefs might be explained by compensatory mechanisms to ensure the safety, structure, and inclusion that conspiracies provide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic bring along challenges for individuals and society. In the case of Germany, vaccination against COVID-19 was identified as the primary measure to overcome the pandemic. This put those individuals in the spotlight who did not decide for it. This paper aims to analyze how vaccinated people perceived the group of unvaccinated individuals and whether they wished to punish those who did not contribute to ending the pandemic by vaccination. For this purpose, an online survey was conducted in the spring of 2022. Two hundred eighty-five answered the questionnaire. As a result, many respondents tried to make the best of the pandemic, although many reported negative emotions. Stereotypes of unvaccinated individuals revealed prejudices. Data also demonstrate an attempt to reduce contact with unvaccinated individuals as far as possible and an openness to discrimination or a desire for punishment. Although data result from a relatively small study, they can provide an illustrative example that can stimulate considerations of possible consequences and to further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An accurate estimator of the real-time fatality rate is warranted to monitor the progress of ongoing epidemics, hence facilitating the policy-making process. However, most of the existing estimators fail to capture the time-varying nature of the fatality rate and are often biased in practice. A simple real-time fatality rate estimator with adjustment for reporting delays is proposed in this paper using the fused lasso technique. This approach is easy to use and can be broadly applied to public health practice as only basic epidemiological data are required. A large-scale simulation study suggests that the proposed estimator is a reliable benchmark for formulating public health policies during an epidemic with high accuracy and sensitivity in capturing the changes in the fatality rate over time, while the other two commonly-used case fatality rate estimators may convey delayed or even misleading signals of the true situation. The application to the COVID-19 data in Germany between January 2020 and January 2022 demonstrates the importance of the social restrictions in the early phase of the pandemic when vaccines were not available, and the beneficial effects of vaccination in suppressing the fatality rate to a low level since August 2021 irrespective of the rebound in infections driven by the more infectious Delta and Omicron variants during the fourth wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German Federal Climate Change Act includes binding annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets for the economic sectors energy, industry, buildings, transport, agriculture and waste. For sectors that fail to meet their targets, climate policy measures have to be implemented immediately. However, some sectors may only have achieved their targets thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, while others may have missed their targets because of COVID-19. For policy making, it is therefore important to disentangle the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic from the effects of policy and other drivers on emissions. In this paper, the effects of the pandemic on GHG emissions in Germany in 2020 are estimated at the national level and at the levels of the economic sectors. Counterfactual emissions are estimated here based on autoregressive econometric models, thereby distinguishing between different factors of emissions based on decomposition analysis. The findings at the national level suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic lowered GHG emissions in 2020 in Germany by about 41 Mt CO2-eq (5.15%) compared to counterfactual emissions. Accordingly, about 58% of the reduction in emissions between 2019 and 2020 in Germany may be attributed to the pandemic. The findings at the sectoral level imply that without the COVID-19 pandemic, all sectors with the exception of the transport sector, would have met their emissions target in 2020 as set in the Federal Climate Change Act. The transport sector would have missed its emission target in 2020 without COVID-19, suggesting that existing policies were not strong enough to bend the curve of emissions trends sufficiently down. In contrast, the buildings sector failed to meet its target in 2020 because of COVID-19, prompting immediate climate policy measures in this sector. The COVID-19 pandemic lowered greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Germany in 2020 by 5.5% compared to counterfactual emissions and accounted for about 58% of total estimated reductions between 2019 and 2020. Without COVID-19, all sectors but the transport sector would have met their emissions targets. Climate policy response should take into account the effects of extraordinary events like COVID-19 suppressing GHG emissions based on counterfactual emissions because failure to implement measures early on may turn out to be costly in the medium term once the transitory emissions reductions no longer occur. Counterfactual emissions should be considered prior to crediting emissions surplus or deficit to subsequent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Author Contributions, Lukas Broichhaus should be listed as the only author who wrote the paper under 'Writing–original draft.By Lukas Broichhaus; Julian Book; Sven Feddern; Barbara Grüne; Florian Neuhann; Johannes Nießen; Gerhard A. Wiesmüller; Annelene Kossow and Christine JoistenReported by Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author [Extracted from the article]

In order to slow the spread of the CoViD-19 pandemic, governments around the world have enacted a wide set of policies limiting the transmission of the disease. Initially, these focused on non-pharmaceutical interventions; more recently, vaccinations and large-scale rapid testing have started to play a major role. The objective of this study is to explain the quantitative effects of these policies on determining the course of the pandemic, allowing for factors like seasonality or virus strains with different transmission profiles. To do so, the study develops an agent-based simulation model, which explicitly takes into account test demand and behavioral changes following positive tests. The model is estimated using data for the second and the third wave of the CoViD-19 pandemic in Germany. The paper finds that during a period where vaccination rates rose from 5 to 40%, seasonality and rapid testing had the largest effect on reducing infection numbers. Frequent large-scale rapid testing should remain part of strategies to contain CoViD-19; it can substitute for many non-pharmaceutical interventions that come at a much larger cost to individuals, society, and the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we have calculated the basic reproduction number (R0) and doubling time (Td) for the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The calculation is performed for March 2020 from the data provided by worldometer. We have investigated the data for Germany and Bangladesh. The calculation of R0 is performed based on SIR model. The parameter Td is estimated based on the new cases of each day. Since Td and R0 in use to judge the lockdowns and other measures to prevent spreading of the virus, we have provided simple approximation of both parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic bring along challenges for individuals and society. In the case of Germany, vaccination against COVID-19 was identified as the primary measure to overcome the pandemic. This put those individuals in the spotlight who did not decide for it. This paper aims to analyze how vaccinated people perceived the group of unvaccinated individuals and whether they wished to punish those who did not contribute to ending the pandemic by vaccination. For this purpose, an online survey was conducted in the spring of 2022. Two hundred eighty-five answered the questionnaire. As a result, many respondents tried to make the best of the pandemic, although many reported negative emotions. Stereotypes of unvaccinated individuals revealed prejudices. Data also demonstrate an attempt to reduce contact with unvaccinated individuals as far as possible and an openness to discrimination or a desire for punishment. Although data result from a relatively small study, they can provide an illustrative example that can stimulate considerations of possible consequences and to further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between poverty and the infection and case-fatality rates of COVID-19 has emerged as a controversial but understudied topic. In previous studies and reports from the UK and US evidence emerged that poverty-related indicators had a significant statistical effect on case and mortality rates on district level. For Germany, it has largely been assumed that poverty is an equally relevant factor influencing the transmission rates of the outbreak. This was mostly due to anecdotal evidence from local outbreaks in meat processing plants and reported incidents of infection clusters in poorer city districts. This paper addresses the lack of statistical evidence and investigates thoroughly the link between poverty-related indicators and detected infection and mortality rates of the outbreak using multivariate, multilevel regression while also considering the urban-rural divide of the country. As proxies for poverty the unemployment rate, the per capita presence of general practitioners (physicians), per capita GDP, and the rate of employees with no professional job training is evaluated in relation to the accumulated case and mortality numbers on district level taken from RKI data of June and July 2020. Interestingly, the study finds no general evidence for a poverty-related effect on mortality for German districts during the first wave in the first half of 2020. Furthermore, only employment in low qualification jobs approximated by the job training variable consistently affected case numbers in urban districts in the expected direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Die COVID-19-Pandemie beeinträchtigt den Tourismus weltweit, jedoch zeigen beliebte Urlaubsregionen bei Betrachtung der realen Buchungen für das Jahr 2020 sehr heterogene Abweichungsmuster im Vergleich zum Vorjahr. In diesem Zusammenhang ist unklar, ob und welche Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung der Pandemie das heterogene Buchungsverhalten erklären. Im vorliegenden Artikel werden tourismusrelevante Maßnahmen identifiziert und anhand von Flugpauschalreisebuchungen im deutschen Quellmarkt für Reisen zwischen Mai und Oktober 2020 untersucht. Die Analyse eines umfassenden Primärdatensatzes mittels Fixed-Effects-Modellierung zeigt, dass verschiedene, vom Quellland sowie vom Zielland ausgehende Maßnahmen das Buchungsverhalten in unterschiedlicher Effektstärke signifikant beeinflussen. Darunter fallen insbesondere Reisewarnungen und Quarantäneverordnungen für Rückkehrer. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the global tourism industry. However, when comparing the bookings made for different popular destinations in 2020 and 2019, the differences are very heterogeneous. Given this context, it is unclear whether and which COVID-19 countermeasures taken explain the heterogeneous booking behavior. In this paper, tourism-related measures are identified and analyzed with regard to flight package tour bookings from Germany, travel dates being between May and October 2020. The analysis of a comprehensive primary data set by using Fixed Effects Model methodology shows that several measures in both source and destination countries have had a significant influence on booking behavior. These include, amongst others, governmental travel warnings and quarantine regulations on return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments around the globe use non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. Making decisions under uncertainty, they all face the same temporal paradox: estimating the impact of NPIs before they have been implemented. Due to the limited variance of empirical cases, researchers could so far not disentangle effects of individual NPIs or their impact on different demographic groups. In this paper, we utilize large-scale agent-based simulations in combination with Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) models to investigate the spread of COVID-19 for some of the most affected federal states in Germany. In contrast to other studies, we sample agents from a representative survey. Including more realistic demographic attributes that influence agents' behavior yields accurate predictions of COVID-19 transmissions and allows us to investigate counterfactual what-if scenarios. Results show that quarantining infected people and exploiting industry-specific home office capacities are the most effective NPIs. Disentangling education-related NPIs reveals that each considered institution (kindergarten, school, university) has rather small effects on its own, yet, that combined openings would result in large increases in COVID-19 cases. Representative survey-characteristics of agents also allow us to estimate NPIs' effects on different age groups. For instance, re-opening schools would cause comparatively few infections among the risk-group of people older than 60 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic various ambulatory health care models (SARS-CoV-2 contact points: Subspecialised Primary Care Practices, Fever Clinics, and Special Places for Corona-Testing) were organised in a short period in Baden-Wuerttemberg, a region in Southern Germany. The aim of these SARS-CoV-2 contact points was to ensure medical treatment for patients with (suspected) and without SARS-CoV-2 infection. The present study aimed to assess the beliefs and practices of primary care physicians who either led a Subspecialised Primary Care Practice or a Primary Care Practice providing care as usual in Baden-Wuerttemberg during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on a paper-based questionnaire in primary care physicians during the first wave of the pandemic. Participants were identified via the web page of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians Baden-Wuerttemberg. The questionnaire was distributed in June and July 2020. It measured knowledge, practices, self-efficacy and fears towards SARS-CoV-2, using newly developed questions. Data was descriptively analysed. Results: One hundred fifty-five participants (92 leads of SARS-CoV-2 contact points/ 63 leads of primary care practices) completed the questionnaire. Out of 92 leads of SARS-CoV-2 contact points 74 stated to lead n Subspecialised Primary Care Practices. About half participants of both groups did not fear an own infection with the novel virus (between 50.8% and 62.2%), however about 75% feared financial loss. Knowledge was gained using various sources; main sources were the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (between 82.5% and 83.8%) and the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (RKI) (between 88.9% and 95.9%). Leads of Subspecialised Primary Care Practice felt more confident to perform anamnestic/diagnostic procedures (p < 0.001). The same was found for the confidence level regarding decision-making concerning the further treatment (p < 0.001). Several prevention measures to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 were adopted. Subspecialised Primary Care Practice had treated on average more patients with (suspected) COVID-19 (mean 408.12) than primary care practices (mean 83.8) (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the Subspecialised Primary Care Practice that were implemented during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic contributed containment of the pandemic. Leads of Subspecialised Primary Care Practice indicated that physical separation of patients with potential SARS-CoV-2 infection was easier compared to those who continued working in their own practice. Additionally, leads of Subspecialised Primary Care Practice felt more confident in dealing with patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Trial registration: The study has been prospectively registered at the German Clinical Trial Register (DRKS00022224). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the containment effects of public health measures to curb the spread of Covid‐19 during the first wave of the pandemic in spring 2020 in Germany. To identify the effects of six compound sets of public health measures, we employ a spatial difference‐in‐differences approach. We find that contact restrictions, mandatory wearing of face masks and closure of schools substantially contributed to flattening the infection curve. The significance of the impact of restaurant closure does not prove to be robust. No incremental effect is evidenced for closure of establishments and the shutdown of nonessential retail stores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is currently facing an unprecedented pandemic crisis. The highly contagious coronavirus, or COVID-19, first occurred in Wuhan (China) in December 2019. The outbreak of the virus quickly spread all over the world, reaching Europe in January 2020. The first case in Germany was reported to be diagnosed on January 27. This study focuses on assessing the mental health consequences of the German public during COVID-19 outbreak. Psychological discomfort, generalized anxiety disorder, sleep disturbances, depressive symptoms and threat perception are especially investigated with respect to demographics, security importance and negative affectivity. The psychological vulnerabilities that go along with the pandemic are evaluated in detail. The cross-sectional online survey conducted in Germany reveals a prevalence of depressive symptoms, psychological discomfort, threat perception, generalized anxiety disorder and sleep disturbances associated with the pandemic crisis. The results also indicate a relationship between mental health issues and negative affectivity as well as the perception of threat. This paper gives an outlook on long-term consequences and what could be the strategies to mitigate the negative mental health outcomes of the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 frequently necessitates in-patient treatment and in-patient mortality is high. Less is known about the long-term outcomes in terms of mortality and readmissions following in-patient treatment. Aim: The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed account of hospitalized COVID-19 patients up to 180 days after their initial hospital admission. Methods: An observational study with claims data from the German Local Health Care Funds of adult patients hospitalized in Germany between February 1 and April 30, 2020, with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 and a related principal diagnosis, for whom 6-month all-cause mortality and readmission rates for 180 days after admission or until death were available. A multivariable logistic regression model identified independent risk factors for 180-day all-cause mortality in this cohort. Results: Of the 8,679 patients with a median age of 72 years, 2,161 (24.9%) died during the index hospitalization. The 30-day all-cause mortality rate was 23.9% (2,073/8,679), the 90-day rate was 27.9% (2,425/8,679), and the 180-day rate, 29.6% (2,566/8,679). The latter was 52.3% (1,472/2,817) for patients aged ≥80 years 23.6% (1,621/6,865) if not ventilated during index hospitalization, but 53.0% in case of those ventilated invasively (853/1,608). Risk factors for the 180-day all-cause mortality included coagulopathy, BMI ≥ 40, and age, while the female sex was a protective factor beyond a fewer prevalence of comorbidities. Of the 6,235 patients discharged alive, 1,668 were readmitted a total of 2,551 times within 180 days, resulting in an overall readmission rate of 26.8%. Conclusions: The 180-day follow-up data of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a nationwide cohort representing almost one-third of the German population show significant long-term, all-cause mortality and readmission rates, especially among patients with coagulopathy, whereas women have a profoundly better and long-lasting clinical outcome compared to men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of federal states to manage the COVID-19 pandemic has created much debate. Federations differ considerably in the way they have been tackling the crisis, however. To shed light on how European federations (Austria, Germany, Switzerland) managed COVID-19, this paper distinguishes two dimensions of federal decision making: centralised/decentralised and unilateral/coordinated decision making. Drawing on official government documents and press reports, it examines decisions on the introduction of containment measures and their subsequent easing during the first wave. While Austria and Switzerland adopted a centralised approach, decentralised decision making prevailed in Germany. However, most decisions were coordinated between the governments at the federal and constituent unit level in Austria and Germany, in contrast to Switzerland where unilateralism prevailed. This difference in approaches can partly be explained by the distribution of powers. Political and economic factors also influenced the choice of crisis management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the everyday realities of refugees living in camps in certain federal states of Germany during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. It provides a systematic analysis of refugees' testimonies and demonstrates that they have not received similar levels of care and protection as German citizens, and that their movement has become increasingly regulated. Drawing on Achille Mbembe's notion of 'necropolitics', I argue that the German State has treated refugees' lives as less liveable than those of their own citizens during the pandemic, as was the case before it broke out. Much scholarship has explained the notion of refugee camps in various ways, but there has been less discussion of Lagers (camps) as a site where colonial oppression persists outside the temporal and spatial contexts of former colonies. Data are drawn from archived data sets and testimonies that refugees uploaded to websites of various refugee activist groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged in the end of January 2020 in Germany, a large number of individuals suffered from severe symptoms and eventually needed intensive care in hospitals. Due to the rapid spread of the disease, the number of deceased individuals increased as well, which is a motivation to prevent as many new infections as possible. Therefore, the knowledge about the current evolution of the virus spread is crucial to predict its future behavior and to react with suitable interventions. In this paper, the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany is forecasted by a network-based inference method, in which the interactions of individuals are taken into account using a contact matrix. Then the results are compared to the predictions without considering a contact matrix as well as to the logistic regression, which shows the advantage of incorporating the contact matrix. Furthermore, the basic reproduction number of the pandemic in Germany using a neural network approach is estimated and used for further predictions of the evolution of COVID-19 in Germany. In order to mathematically model the different compartments of the population in the considered regions, the classical SIR model is employed. In this work, we deploy the LASSO (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator) for the unknown parameter estimation. Furthermore, we calculate and illustrate the MAPE (Mean Absolute Percentage Error) of the estimations to show the accuracy of the predictions. The results include model parameter estimation and model validation, as well as the outbreak forecasting using network-informed algorithms. Our findings show that the network-inference based approach outperforms the logistic regression as well as the neural network approach and the SIR model calibration without a contact network. Furthermore according to the results, the network-inference based approach is particularly suitable for short- to mid-term predictions, even when there is not much information about the new disease. Moreover, the predictions based on the estimation of the reproduction number in Germany can yield more reliable results with increasing the availability of data, but could not outperform the network-inference based algorithm. • The evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany and Bavaria state is forecasted. • The approach takes into account the interactions of individuals via a contact matrix. • The Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of the estimation is calculated. • The prediction results are compared with the true data, NNs and logistic regression. • The predictions outperform the results of estimations without contact matrix. • The network-based approach is suitable for short- to mid-term predictions. • The predictions are informative for decision-makers to set protective measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to better understand retailers' resilience by conducting a micro-level analysis of retailers against the backdrop of the current Covid-19 crisis. Focusing on e-commerce strategies, the paper reveals that for a better understanding of retailer's resilience it proves helpful to analytically differentiate subjective and objective aspects that influence the personal 'capacities to respond', leading to more or less (pro)active reactions (absorptive, adaptive, transformative) to the crisis. This results in the differentiation of four broad response, respectively retailer types. As such, the paper contributes to existing research frameworks by providing analytical categories for defining subjective and objective aspects of resilience as well as by applying this framework to an empirical study on retailers (and urban) resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic. A mixed method approach is applied, which includes a survey as well as expert interviews with retailers located in the German city centre of Würzburg. For urban policy makers the results provide an opportunity to redefine retail policy frameworks contributing to retailers' and urban resilience alike. • The paper contributes to existing research frameworks by providing analytical categories for defining subjective and objective aspects of resilience. • A mixed method approach is applied, which includes a survey as well as expert interviews with retailers located in the German city centre of Würzburg. • The paper reveals the differentiation of four broad response, respectively retailer types. • For urban policy makers the results provide an opportunity to redefine retail policy frameworks contributing to retailers' and urban resilience alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 is a lung disease, and there is medical evidence that air pollution is one of the external causes of lung diseases. Fine particulate matter is one of the air pollutants that damages pulmonary tissue. The combination of the coronavirus and fine particulate matter air pollution may exacerbate the coronavirus' effect on human health. This paper considers whether the long-term concentration of fine particulate matter of different sizes changes the number of detected coronavirus infections and the number of COVID-19 fatalities in Germany. Data from 400 German counties for fine particulate air pollution from 2002 to 2020 are used to measure the long-term impact of air pollution. Kriging interpolation is applied to complement data gaps. With an ecological study, the correlation between average particulate matter air pollution and COVID-19 cases, as well as fatalities, are estimated with OLS regressions. Thereby, socioeconomic and demographic covariates are included. An increase in the average long-term air pollution of 1 μg/m3 particulate matter PM 2.5 is correlated with 199.46 (SD = 29.66) more COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Germany. For PM 10 the respective increase is 52.38 (SD = 12.99) more cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The number of COVID-19 deaths were also positively correlated with PM 2.5 and PM 10 (6.18, SD = 1.44, respectively 2.11, SD = 0.71, additional COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants). Long-term fine particulate air pollution is suspected as causing higher numbers of COVID-19 cases. Higher long-term air pollution may even increase COVID-19 death rates. We find that the results of the correlation analysis without controls are retained in a regression analysis with controls for relevant confounding factors. Nevertheless, additional epidemiological investigations are required to test the causality of particulate matter air pollution for COVID-19 cases and the severity. • COVID-19 infections are substantially positively correlated with long-term particulate matter concentration in German counties. • The correlation is robust to the inclusion of relevant control variables in multiple OLS regressions. • COVID-19 fatalities are also positively correlated with long-term particulate matter concentration. • The correlation between particulate matter concentration and COVID-19 fatalities was not robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]