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This paper evaluates the risk of zombification of the French economy during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, as a result of the unconditional financial support provided to firms by public authorities, to limit the impact of lockdown measures. We develop a simple theoretical framework based on a partial-equilibrium model to simulate the liquidity and solvency stress faced by a large panel of French firms and assess the impact of government support. Simulation results suggest that those policies helped healthy but illiquid firms to withstand the shock caused by the pandemic. Moreover, the analysis finds no evidence of a "zombification effect", as less productive companies did not disproportionately benefit from government support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review aims to understand the problems associated with lockdown and the various conditions of Covid-19 infection and to help prepare athletes and exercise enthusiasts for the safe resumption of sport in a manner that promotes wellness, healthy competition, and a sports industry that survives the current situation. This systematic review was carried out, following the recommendations of the currently pre-established reporting elements for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The following databases were consulted: ISI Web of Science (WOS), Scopus and Google Scholar. This review includes a total of 19 articles. The results are presented based on three predominant themes: (1) psychological impact produced by SARS-CoV-2; (2) post-Covid-19 cardiac abnormalities and (3) protocols for an adequate return to physical practice. Most of the protocols shown by the various papers are consistent in terms of duration and number of phases. Based on this, the safe return to practice protocol can be divided into four stages of seven days in each phase in order to progress according to the symptoms perceived. In each phase, the physiological demand and efforts necessary to cover the proposed activities are increased until optimal physical condition is recovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Average weekly WFH frequency may rise from 0.69 (pre-COVID) to 1.29 (post-COVID). • Theory of Planned Behaviour used to examine intention to increase WFH post-COVID. • Intention influenced by subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. • Job type; access to tech, materials; employer and family support key determinants. • Determinants differ based on pre-COVID WFH experience and work location. COVID related lockdowns have forced many workers around the world into work from home (WFH) arrangements. While the proportion of people who work from home has typically been very low (4.5% in Melbourne in 2016), it is worth considering how trends might change once the world emerges out of COVID lockdowns. This paper aims to examine (1) the long-term impacts of COVID on WFH and (2) the psycho-social factors which will impact workers' intention to increase WFH post-COVID. The paper uses the Theory of Planned Behaviour as a lens to examine these psycho-social determinants. The study uses the survey responses of 1,364 workers which were collected in June-August 2020 as part of a larger survey (n = 2,158), which aimed to capture a representative population of Greater Melbourne. Quasi-longitudinal investigation of self-reported WFH frequency revealed that WFH as a share of average weekday employment increased 310% during COVID lockdown. In the longer term, when COVID is no longer an issue, WFH can be expected to be 75% higher than pre-COVID levels. Structural Equation Modelling was applied to the Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand motivators for and barriers to increasing WFH post-COVID. Perceived Behavioural Control (e.g. job type, technology, access to materials) and Subjective Norms (e.g. employer and family support) will be crucial determinants of the intention to work from home post-COVID. Attitudes regarding WFH will only have a weak impact on future intention to work from home, a finding which contrasts with previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19 seriously impacts and endangers lives of millions worldwide. To fight the spread of the virus, governments have taken various restricting measures including stay at home orders. Ultimately, the home delivery volume increased significantly, which still bears the risk of human–human infection during the final delivery. From a logisticians perspective, autonomous delivery vehicles (ADVs), which are a contactless delivery solution, have the potential to radically change the way groceries are delivered to customer homes and help to stop the spread of the virus. However, to date, research on user acceptance of ADVs is rare. This paper theoretically extends the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) including gender as a moderator. The study is based on quantitative data collected in Germany through an online questionnaire (n = 501). Data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results indicate that trust in technology, price sensitivity, innovativeness, performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, social influence, and perceived risk determine behavioural intention. However, some constructs are only significant for women. The findings of this paper have theoretical, managerial and policy contributions and implications within the areas of last-mile delivery and technology acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To use theory and practice to show how disease progression and regression can be described pre- and post-lockdown using an attack-sustain-decline-respite (ASDR) model and investigate how pre-lockdown disease prevalence and household size impacts on the effectiveness of lockdown.Materials and Methods: Computed tomography (CT) scans from major trauma patients (considered as a random population sample) from the radiology department of St George's University Hospitals NHS Trust, London, have been used to explore COVID-19 disease at the population level.Results: At lockdown on 23 March 2020 in the catchment area of St George's University Hospitals NHS Trust, an earlier paper showed that there was a high prevalence of disease of >20%. With further follow-up and at the end of lockdown, it have been now estimated that around 57% of the population had been affected, which was similar to that predicted from a simple model based on average household size and prevalence at lockdown. With an average household size of around three persons, there was a 2-week sustain period and a 5-week decline period before the prevalence of the disease returned to background levels.Conclusions: The present results suggest that the effect of lockdown is dependent on the disease prevalence at the start of lockdown and the average household size. It may therefore be important to lockdown early in an area with a high average household size. This paper is the second in a series of papers to show how radiology measurements of major trauma patients can be used to help monitor the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An agent-based model describes the individual choices of cultural consumption. • Two kinds of cultural goods, designed as 'popular' and 'high-brow', are considered. • Both partial and global lock-down restrictions may produce counter-intuitive effects. • Lockdown entails a change in the structural composition of cultural consumptions. • High-brow cultural sector suffers from larger losses, as compared to popular cultural sector. This paper presents an agent-based model to study the effects of lockdown restrictions, due to epidemic prevention, on cultural consumption. Two kinds of cultural products, designed as 'popular' and 'highbrow', are taken into account. People preferences and choices on different cultural products are influenced by individual education and income; the presence of imitative behaviour through social networks is also considered. Numerical simulations show that partial and global lockdown restrictions produce different –and sometimes counter-intuitive– effects. In particular, highbrow activities are affected by adverse economic consequences of partial lockdown measures to a larger extent, as compared to popular cultural activities. The result is driven by factors related to both the demand and the supply side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the transport sector and the corresponding policy measures are becoming widely investigated. Considering the various uncertainties and unknowns about this virus and its impacts (especially long-term impacts), it is critical to understand opinions and suggestions from experts within the transport sector and related planning fields. To date, however, there is no study that fills this gap in a comprehensive way. This paper is an executive summary of the findings of the WCTRS COVID-19 Taskforce expert survey conducted worldwide between the end of April and late May 2020, obtaining 284 valid answers. The experts include those in the field of transport and other relevant disciplines, keeping good balances between geographic regions, types of workplaces, and working durations. Based on extensive analyses of the survey results, this paper first reveals the realities of lockdowns, restrictions of out-of-home activities and other physical distancing requirements, as well as modal shifts. Experts' agreements and disagreements to the structural questions about changes in lifestyles and society are then discussed. Analysis results revealed that our human society was not well prepared for the current pandemic, reaffirming the importance of risk communication. Geographical differences of modal shifts are further identified, especially related to active transport and car dependence. Improved sustainability and resilience are expected in the future but should be supported by effective behavioral intervention measures. Finally, policy implications of the findings are discussed, together with important future research issues. • Findings are derived from a worldwide expert survey implemented in April–May 2020. • Guidelines and contingency plans were reported by only about 30% of experts. • Remarkable modal shifts away from public transport usage were reported. • Developing countries were equally active in taking measures as developed countries. • Various long-term changes in lifestyles and society were revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Atypical cultural goods offer novelty and influence how cultural markets evolve. • Measures taken to contain crises such as COVID-19 lockdowns induce negative affects. • Both cognition and affects determine how individuals evaluate categorical atypicality. • Negative affects negatively moderate the impact of atypicality on audiences' evaluations. This paper investigates the impact of atypicality on cultural goods reception. While prior research has assumed controlled and highly cognitive mechanisms in audience evaluations, this paper probes the influence of affective states. We suggest that crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, trigger affective states and sway evaluations of atypical cultural goods. In a longitudinal study on movie evaluations ("Study 1"), we analyze how the external shock of the COVID-19 lockdown announcement — proxying heightened negative affects including anxiety — interacted with movies' atypicality and their subsequent audience evaluations. Furthermore, two preregistered controlled experiments establish causal links at the individual level. Study 2 corroborates the causal relationship between the COVID-19 lockdown announcement and increased negative affects. Study 3 shows that higher negative affects moderate how perceived novelty mediates atypicality's effect on audience evaluations. Overall, this paper has important implications for research on categorization, social evaluations, and the consequences of COVID-19 policy consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lockdown of March and April 2020 declared by Spanish authorities in the Valencian Region to bending the Covid-19 curve, caused a drastic reduction of the economic activity and a severe limitation of mobility. People were asked to stay at home as much as possible. Education and administrative centers, as well as restaurants, theaters, sport arenas, etc., were closed. Work at conventional workplaces was prohibited for people who could tele-work, and students were compelled to attend classes on-line. Such limitation of mobility and spending so many time at home, could affect the wellbeing of people. The objective of the present paper is to present a study on the differences on wellbeing according to the mobility of respondents during the lockdown. Information from 1,827 individuals regarding the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs (Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness) and Positive and Negative affect were collected through and web-survey during the first lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with mobility data and sociodemographic characteristics. Mann-Whitney U tests, Confirmatory Factor Analyses and Structural Equation models are used to find out differences in the wellbeing of people according to their mobility characteristics during the first lockdown, and how these mobility characteristics are associated to the psychological variables studied. Mobility of people during the first lockdown reduced drastically, especially the youngest ones, and the main travel mode was walking. In general, the youngest participants in this research and females present lower values of the psychological wellbeing variables during the lockdown. A very low or very high degree of mobility is also associated to discomfort, although the more time spent traveling the better people feel. Those who walked more are related to lower values of wellbeing. Some lessons are learned to improve transport and mobility planning during a pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Developing a time-fractional compartmental model that incorporates the effect of contact tracing for Covid-19. • Describe the effective reproduction number in terms of observable quantities. • Discuss effects of tracking, reporting and monitoring in contact tracing. • Monitoring proportion of reported cases which must be tracked to ensure that the reproduction number is below one. • Numerical simulations are done to discuss the impact of contact tracing on the pandemic. Contact Tracing (CT) is one of the measures taken by government and health officials to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. In this paper, we investigate its efficacy by developing a compartmental model for assessing its impact on mitigating the spread of the virus. We describe the impact on the reproduction number R 0 of COVID-19. In particular, we discuss the importance and relevance of parameters of the model such as the number of reported cases, effectiveness of tracking and monitoring policy, and the transmission rates to contact tracing. We describe the terms "perfect tracking", "perfect monitoring" and "perfect reporting" to indicate that traced contacts will be tracked while incubating, tracked contacts are efficiently monitored so that they do not cause secondary infections, and all infected persons are reported, respectively. We consider three special scenarios: (1) perfect monitoring and perfect tracking of contacts of a reported case, (2) perfect reporting of cases and perfect monitoring of tracked reported cases and (3) perfect reporting and perfect tracking of contacts of reported cases. Furthermore, we gave a lower bound on the proportion of contacts to be traced to ensure that the effective reproduction, R c , is below one and describe R c in terms of observable quantities such as the proportion of reported and traced cases. Model simulations using the COVID-19 data obtained from John Hopkins University for some selected states in the US suggest that even late intervention of CT may reasonably reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and reduce peak hospitalizations and deaths. In particular, our findings suggest that effective monitoring policy of tracked cases and tracking of traced contacts while incubating are more crucial than tracing more contacts. The use of CT coupled with other measures such as social distancing, use of face mask, self-isolation or quarantine and lockdowns will greatly reduce the spread of the epidemic as well as peak hospitalizations and total deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first 22 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, from March 2020 to December 2021, we witnessed a seismic change in the way in which work was undertaken given the restrictions implemented by government to curb the spread of the virus; most prominent has been the rise in working from home (WFH) as a more acceptable work location. In this paper, we explore preferences for and attitudes towards WFH in great detail, leveraging two waves of data to explore the remarkable and globally unique situation of three metro areas (Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area, South-East Queensland, and Melbourne) who despite entering lockdown at the same time in 2021, follow significantly different trajectories with respect to the severity and duration of the lockdowns. We find that irrespective of the degree of severity of the lockdown and the duration thereof, employee preferences for working from home, and importantly productivity, remained unchanged. Rather than diminishing the desire to WFH, evidence indicates that as periods of lockdown extend the desire to continue WFH only seems to intensify. While all workers express a preference to continue WFH in an unrestricted world, more often than they did prior to the pandemic, we further identify three broad segments of workers based primarily on how much of a balance they can strike between the benefits and challenges of WFH, which dictates how often they would like to WFH. Given that the desire to WFH more and the positive externalities of increased WFH, we argue that measures to support ongoing WFH are important to sustainable cities and the people who live in them, across several dimensions. • Three cities in Australia all initiated a lockdown at approximately the same time in 2021. • The lockdowns in each city followed different trajectories and durations. • Longer lockdowns result in greater desire to continue to WFH in the future. • Three segments of workers are revealed who wish to WFH to differing extents. • Potential implications of increased WFH for cities are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides some new insights into the dual function of expressive speech acts discussed in pragmatic theory as either expressions of genuine emotions or conventionalised acts of courtesy. Drawing on the framework of interpersonal pragmatics, it analyses signs displayed on the doors of closed businesses in Athens and London during the first lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic. These closure signs are characterised by a heavy use of relational features, including four expressive speech acts, namely greetings, apologies, thanks and wishes, which form the focus of the analysis. The relational work performed by these speech acts reflects the social changes brought about by the pandemic as well as the business owners' attempts to retain their customers. The expressive speech acts featured on the signs are evaluated against the norms set out by the genre of closure signs. The comparative angle of the study, on the other hand, links the discussion to norms related to the display of emotions and to the use of conventionalised formulae in the two countries under study, thus revealing culture-specific perspectives on the dual function of expressive speech acts. • Covid-19 signage displayed during the first lockdown contains numerous expressive speech acts performing relational work. • The functions of greetings, apologies, thanks and wishes on these signs are compared to their use on standard closure signs. • Expressive speech acts are more frequent and more effusive on signs found in the UK than on signs found in Greece. • The use of expressive speech acts as either expressions of emotions or formulaic acts of courtesy is culture-specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we conduct a mobility reduction rate comparison between the first and second COVID-19 waves in several localities from America and Europe using Google community mobility reports (CMR) data. Through multi-dimensional visualization, we are able to compare the reduction in mobility from the different lockdown periods for each locality selected, simultaneously considering multiple place categories provided in CMR. In addition, our analysis comprises a 56-day lockdown period for each locality and COVID-19 wave, which we analyze both as 56-day periods and as 14-day consecutive windows. We use locality-wise calibrated CMR data, which we process through seasonal-trend decomposition by LOESS (STL) to isolate trend from seasonal and noise effects. We scale trend data to draw Pareto-compliant conclusions using radar charts. For each temporal granularity considered, data for a given place category is aggregated using the area under the curve (AUC) approach. In general, reduction rates observed during the first wave were much higher than during the second. Alarmingly, December holiday season mobility in some of the localities reached pre-pandemic levels for some of the place categories reported. Manaus was the only locality where second wave mobility was nearly as reduced as during the first wave, likely due to the P1 variant outbreak and oxygen supply crisis. [Display omitted] • We compare social distancing adherence in different localities during two COVID-19 waves. • Reduction rates reveal contrasting social distancing dynamics over time. • In general, mobility reduction was much higher during the first wave. • Holiday season mobility reached pre-pandemic levels for some locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There is significant variation in people's compliance with lockdown measures introduced by governments to curb the spread of the COVID-19. • Much of the variation can be explained by different cultural traits. • Individualism, which emphasises personal freedom, makes government intervention harder, whereas collectivism, which emphasises the wellbeing of the group, makes collective action easier. • We conclude that cultural factors play a critical role in successful policy implementation. In the first wave of the pandemic, places where geographic mobility declined more rapidly saw fewer cases of COVID-19. And yet, there is significant variation in people's compliance with the lockdown measures introduced by governments in order to curb the spread of the virus. In this paper, we show that much of this variation can be explained by different cultural traits. Specifically, we advance the hypothesis that individualism, which puts greater value on personal freedom, makes government intervention harder, whereas collectivism, which emphasises the wellbeing of the group, makes collective action easier. We find support for these ideas across 111 countries, but also when exploiting within country variation in the two largest economies in the world: China and the United States. Across a host of specifications, people were less abiding by the lockdown rules in places with greater prevalence of individualistic cultural traits. We conclude that cultural factors play a critical role in successful policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides some new insights into the dual function of expressive speech acts discussed in pragmatic theory as either expressions of genuine emotions or conventionalised acts of courtesy. Drawing on the framework of interpersonal pragmatics, it analyses signs displayed on the doors of closed businesses in Athens and London during the first lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic. These closure signs are characterised by a heavy use of relational features, including four expressive speech acts, namely greetings, apologies, thanks and wishes, which form the focus of the analysis. The relational work performed by these speech acts reflects the social changes brought about by the pandemic as well as the business owners' attempts to retain their customers. The expressive speech acts featured on the signs are evaluated against the norms set out by the genre of closure signs. The comparative angle of the study, on the other hand, links the discussion to norms related to the display of emotions and to the use of conventionalised formulae in the two countries under study, thus revealing culture-specific perspectives on the dual function of expressive speech acts. • Covid-19 signage displayed during the first lockdown contains numerous expressive speech acts performing relational work. • The functions of greetings, apologies, thanks and wishes on these signs are compared to their use on standard closure signs. • Expressive speech acts are more frequent and more effusive on signs found in the UK than on signs found in Greece. • The use of expressive speech acts as either expressions of emotions or formulaic acts of courtesy is culture-specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We estimate the impacts of COVID-19 related policies on the usage of public bicycle share in London. • Segmented regression models and an interrupted time series design are applied. • The lockdown led to a reduction in the public bicycle share usage after its initial imposition. • During the lockdown and the lockdown ease period, the usage showed significant increasing trends. • The impacts of the lockdown and the first lockdown ease vary by the characteristics of trips and docking stations. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the adoption of many unprecedented measures to slow down the spread of the virus. Such measures have greatly impacted the entire transportation system and individuals' travel behaviors. This paper evaluates the impacts of COVID-19 related policies, including the lockdown and the first lockdown ease on the usage of public bicycle share in London using interrupted time series approach. Our results indicate that the UK's lockdown led to an immediate decrease in the London Cycle Hire (LCH) usage, while the first lockdown ease had no statistically significant immediate impacts. Moreover, during the lockdown period, the LCH usage showed an increasing trend and the first lockdown ease led to a much larger increase rate. Such impacts vary by the trip characteristics (i.e., occurring period and trip duration). The morning peak trips and short duration trips maintained a lower usage level during the lockdown and the lockdown ease period. On the contrary, the number of other LCH trips were much larger than that in normal days. Furthermore, the impacts on the LCH stations near the rail stations, hospitals, and parks also varied differently. The LCH trips near the rail stations reduced more after the imposition of the lockdown policy while those near the hospitals reduced less. The LCH stations near the parks had a much higher increase rate during the lockdown and the lockdown ease period than the general level. Our results provide practical implications for the policy makers and operators of the public bicycle share system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the plunge and rebound of the taxi market in Shenzhen, China through the COVID-19 lockdown. A four-week taxi GPS trajectory data set is collected in the first quarter of 2020, which covers the period of lockdown and phased reopening in the city. We conduct a spatiotemporal analysis of taxi demand using the data, and then select taxis that continued to operate through the analysis period to examine whether and how they adjusted operational strategies. We find, among other things: (i) the taxi demand in Shenzhen shrank more than 85% in the lockdown phase and barely recovered from that bottom even after the city began to reopen; (ii) the recovery of taxi travel fell far behind that of the overall vehicle travel in the city; (iii) most taxis significantly cut back work hours in response to the lockdown, and many adjusted work schedule to focus on serving peak-time demand after it was lifted; (iv) taxi drivers demonstrate distinct behavioral adaptations to the pandemic that can be identified by a clustering analysis; and (v) while the level of taxi service dropped precipitately at the beginning, it quickly rebounded to exceed the pre-pandemic level, thanks to the government's incentive policy. These empirical findings suggest (i) incentives aiming at boosting supply should more precisely target where the boost is most needed; (ii) the taxi market conditions should be closely monitored to support and adjust policies; and (iii) when the demand is severely depressed by lockdown orders or when the market is oversupplied, taxi drivers should be encouraged and aided to use more centralized dispatching modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand how COVID-19 pandemic has changed radiology research in Italy. A questionnaire (n = 19 questions) was sent to all members of the Italian Society of Radiology two months after the first Italian national lockdown was lifted. A total of 327 Italian radiologists took part in the survey (mean age: 49 ± 12 years). After national lockdown, the working-flow came back to normal in the vast majority of cases (285/327, 87.2%). Participants reported that a total of 462 radiological trials were recruiting patients at their institutions prior to COVID-19 outbreak, of which 332 (71.9%) were stopped during the emergency. On the other hand, 252 radiological trials have been started during the pandemic, of which 156 were non-COVID-19 trials (61.9%) and 96 were focused on COVID-19 patients (38.2%). The majority of radiologists surveyed (61.5%) do not conduct research. Of the radiologists who carried on research activities, participants reported a significant increase of the number of hours per week spent for research purposes during national lockdown (mean 4.5 ± 8.9 h during lockdown vs. 3.3 ± 6.8 h before lockdown; p =.046), followed by a significant drop after the lockdown was lifted (3.2 ± 6.5 h per week, p =.035). During national lockdown, 15.6% of participants started new review articles and completed old papers, 14.1% completed old works, and 8.9% started new review articles. Ninety-six surveyed radiologists (29.3%) declared to have submitted at least one article during COVID-19 emergency. This study shows the need to support radiology research in challenging scenarios like COVID-19 emergency. • COVID-19 outbreak drastically impacted on Italian radiological research. • Most ongoing radiological trials have been stopped during the first national lockdown. • Italian radiologists spent even more time on radiology research during the lockdown. • Many COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 trials have been pushed forward during the lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many efforts are currently devoted to vaccines development and administration, social distancing measures, including severe restrictions such as lockdowns, remain fundamental tools to contain the spread of COVID-19. A crucial point for any government is to understand, on the basis of the epidemic curve, the right temporal instant to set up a lockdown and then to remove it. Different strategies are being adopted with distinct shades of intensity. USA and Europe tend to introduce restrictions of considerable temporal length. They vary in time: a severe lockdown may be reached and then gradually relaxed. An interesting alternative is the Australian model where short and sharp responses have repeatedly tackled the virus and allowed people a return to near normalcy. After a few positive cases are detected, a lockdown is immediately set. In this paper we show that the Australian model can be generalized and given a rigorous mathematical analysis, casting strategies of the type short-term pain for collective gain in the context of sliding-mode control , an important branch of nonlinear control theory. This allows us to gain important insights regarding how to implement short-term lockdowns, obtaining a better understanding of their merits and possible limitations. Effects of vaccines administration in improving the control law's effectiveness are also illustrated. Our model predicts the duration of the severe lockdown to be set to maintain e.g. the number of people in intensive care under a certain threshold. After tuning our strategy exploiting data collected in Italy, it turns out that COVID-19 epidemic could be e.g. controlled by alternating one or two weeks of complete lockdown with one or two months of freedom, respectively. Control strategies of this kind, where the lockdown's duration is well circumscribed, could be important also to alleviate coronavirus impact on economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines confessions of Covid-19 breaches in two radio phone-ins. The programmes hosted invited experts who were recruited at certain moments in the show to comment on the (in)direct experiences of lockdown compliance or breaches reported by the callers. The analysis focuses on the social actions the participants are seen to be carrying out and orienting to through talk such confessions and disclosures of minor unlawful behaviour in public. A set of features of confessions were found depending on whether personal circumstances could be said to warrant the breaches and the recipients align or not with the warrantability of the breaches. Callers who disclosed their breaches at the first available opportunity, presented them as primarily warranted by a long-term health condition and displayed full awareness of doing confessing. Both early confessions and those that appear later in the narration were carefully crafted. They were mitigated to minimize the seriousness of the transgression and reduce the actor's accountability. The positional nuances of the participants as they share their stories, coupled with their assessment of self- and other behaviour, shines a light on their orientations to, and interactional management of, the moral accountability of behaviour in public spaces during the pandemic. • Confessions. • Discursive construction of morality. • Covid-19 radio phone-ins. • Transgressions. • Public space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Using probe data, we estimated the traffic density information on limited access highways. • We used a mixed effect binomial model to link the odds of speeding to traffic density, roadway characteristics, and COVID-19 phases. • We analyzed and compared speeding in two U.S. states, Maine, and Connecticut. • We found that a better level of service such as A, or B (low density) results in higher odds of speeding. • We found that speeding substantially increased during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and continued to happen even one year after the orders. Stay-at-home orders - imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 - drastically changed the way highways operate. Despite lower traffic volumes during these times, the rate of fatal and serious injury crashes increased significantly across the United States due to increased speeding on roads with less traffic congestion and lower levels of speed enforcement. This paper uses a mixed effect binomial regression model to investigate the impact of stay-at-home orders on odds of speeding on urban limited access highway segments in Maine and Connecticut. This paper also establishes a link between traffic density and the odds of speeding. For this purpose, hourly speed and volume probe data were collected on limited access highway segments for the U.S. states of Maine and Connecticut to estimate the traffic density. The traffic density was then combined with the roadway geometric characteristics, speed limit, as well as dummy variables denoting the time of the week, time of the day, COVID-19 phases (before, during and after stay-at-home order), and the interactions between them. Density, represented in the model as Level of Service, was found to be associated with the odds of speeding, with better levels of service such as A, or B (low density) resulting in the higher odds that drivers would speed. We also found that narrower shoulder width could result in lower odds of speeding. Furthermore, we found that during the stay-at-home order, the odds of speeding by more than 10, 15, and 20 mph increased respectively by 54%, 71% and 85% in Connecticut, and by 15%, 36%, and 65% in Maine during evening peak hours. Additionally, one year after the onset of the pandemic, during evening peak hours, the odds of speeding greater than 10, 15, and 20 mph were still 35%, 29%, and 19% greater in Connecticut and 35% 35% and 20% greater in Maine compared to before pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures imposed as a result affected the lives of people in all parts of society across the world. In 2020, during the first UK national lockdown, older adults (aged 70 years and over) were told to 'shield' within their homes, as they were regarded as being at higher risk of serious COVID-19 infection compared to other age groups. This paper explores older adults' experiences of COVID-19 lockdown measures whilst living in housing with care schemes for older people. The purpose is to examine the impact of the lockdown measures on scheme life including social connections amongst residents and their general everyday wellbeing during this time. We present qualitative findings based on interviews with 72 residents who took part in longitudinal and cross-sectional interviews across 26 housing with care schemes. Data were analysed using a thematic framework approach to examine specifically their experiences of living in housing with care schemes during the 2020 UK lockdown. The paper highlights that COVID-19 restrictions had a detrimental impact on the social connections and interactions of older residents living in housing with care schemes, as well as on their feelings of autonomy and independence. Despite this, residents adapted and coped with self-isolation restrictions and sought out positive ways to maintain social contact with others inside and outside to the scheme. We further highlight the tensions that providers of housing for older adults faced in promoting residents' autonomy and connectedness whilst also trying to provide a safe living environment and protect residents from risk of COVID-19 infection. Our findings apply not only to a pandemic situation but to the broader understanding of how housing with care for older adults must navigate between autonomy and support. • COVID-19 lockdowns challenged the independence and autonomy of older residents of housing with care in the UK. • Older adults in housing with care exercised autonomy through employing practices to maintain social connections. • Housing staff bolstered residents' autonomy, facilitated social interactions, and supported residents' wellbeing. • Housing staff faced challenges in maintaining the independent ethos of housing schemes whilst also protecting residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of spectators on women's football games. COVID-19 and related restrictions provide a unique opportunity with an adequate sample size to test the effect of lockdown on sports activities. Studies have recently exploited this opportunity for men's football to better understand the potential causes of home advantage and, more specifically, assess the psychological consequences when matches are played without supporters. Despite the increased scientific interest, there was only one paper that focused on women's football. Therefore, we aim to contribute to this research field by considering matches from four major European women's football leagues. The findings suggest that for three of these leagues, lockdown has a statistically significant effect on the sanctioned yellow cards by either reducing the number of yellow cards sanctioned to the away teams or increasing the number of yellow cards sanctioned to the home teams. Nonetheless, lockdown does not affect any final match outcomes; therefore, it does not significantly affect the magnitude of home advantage for women's games. • Referreing activities and home advantage of women's football for pre- and post-COVID-19 periods are investigated. • Lockdown does not affect the magnitude of home advantage for women's football. • Sanctioned yellow cards are significantly affected by lockdown in line with the literature for men's football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We surveyed psychological distress by COVID-19 in adults with cystic fibrosis. • Levels of distress were similar in cystic fibrosis and in the general population. • CF lung disease severity and psychological distress were not correlated. • Anxiety and depression symptoms were more frequent in females than in males. Hundreds of papers have been published on the COVID-19 pandemic, and several of them on psychological themes connected with it, but very little is so far known on how adult patients with Cystic Fibrosis (pwCFs) are coping with this dramatic event. An online questionnaire was developed according to the Italian validated COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI) and addressed to the general population (GP). A similar questionnaire, augmented with CF specific questions, targeted pwCFs. The two web-based surveys were accessible for some weeks during the lockdown mandated by the Italian government. The CF questionnaire was completed by 712 adult pwCFs (422 females), matched for sex and age with a 1/5 ratio to GP questionnaire respondents. Mild or medium distress affected 40.2% of pwCFs and 43.9% of GP controls, severe distress 5.3% of pwCFs and 6.2% of GP controls. The level of psychological distress was not correlated with the degree of pulmonary function impairment. When symptoms of anxiety and depression, and physical manifestations were independently analyzed, the control group featured a 55% higher level of mild-moderate anxiety symptoms. Signs of psychological distress, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and physical manifestations were significantly more frequent in female pwCFs compared to males, similarly to GP. Adult pwCFs seem to have equal, and in some domains, lower levels of psychological distress than GP controls. This might be sustained by lifelong experiences in coping with the demands of their chronic disease. These results may orient future psychological interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A user persona oriented toward the enterprise is constructed to characterize power consumption in the context of COVID-19. • Abstract labels are extracted from enterprise power profiles based on industrial, regional, periodic power profiles. • Enterprises with similar electricity consumption characteristics or the same label are grouped to allow recommendations for customized electricity products, policy, and services. The COVID-19 epidemic has led to devastating consequences worldwide due to strict social distancing measures, travel bans, city lockdowns, and other activity restrictions. Numerous lessons have been accumulated by various industries or sectors in the process of coping with COVID-19. In our paper, the actual electricity consumption of 1.145 million enterprises in a province of China is investigated in the normal period, the breakout period, and the recovery period. An artificial intelligence based enterprise profiling model is established to characterize power consumption profile geographically, temporally, and industrially. The recovery rate of enterprise power consumption is proposed as a key indicator representing the status of production resumption. Under lockdown measures, enterprise in different regions or sectors exhibits diversified responses in power consumption, the unsupervised learning model and the correlated coefficient extract the abstract characteristics and labels from various enterprise power profile. Ultimately, enterprises with similar electricity consumption characteristics are grouped and labeled to provide customized power services. Accurate enterprise profiling can effectively aid in facing with the challenges of insufficient orders, tight capital chains, and rising costs caused by the epidemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 spread very quickly around the world following its discovery in China, in December 2019. Lockdowns implemented in China and the Global North to control the propagation of the virus and to save human lives have resulted in a global recession. The transmission of the recessionary effects from the Global North to the Global South is reflected in the decline in sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) GDP and the associated increase in poverty. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the recession induced in China and the Global North by COVID-19 lockdowns may have had indirect effects on SSA mortality that are higher than those directly attributed to the pandemic itself. Our methodology relies on a three-step relationship: (i) the impact of lockdowns on the recession in the North, (ii) the impact of the recession in the North on income in SSA countries, and (iii) the impact of a decline in income on mortality in SSA. We show that COVID-19-induced lockdowns in the Global North, through the severe recessions they induced in the Global South, resulted in the transfer of between 538,000 and 679,000 deaths in one year to SSA, including the deaths of 140,000 to 177,000 children aged 0–5 years. This corresponds to a 6–7% increase in the crude death rate and a 5–6% increase in under-5 mortality. These figures are much higher than the number of deaths directly attributable to COVID-19 in SSA. Thus, policymakers must not lose sight of the indirect excess mortality caused by global economic recession triggered by the pandemic. Our results reveal the need to increase the resilience of SSA countries to exogenous shocks, including COVID-19, which, in addition to increasing poverty, may induce excessive mortality due to the high sensitivity of mortality in SSA countries to economic recession. • Theoretical model of COVID-19 deaths transfer from the Global North to the Global South. • Lockdowns in the Global North generated recession in the Global North. • Spillover effects of the recession from the Global North to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). • Focus on the impact of income declines on mortality in SSA. • The indirect mortality through recessions in SSA would be higher than the direct mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the causal effect of COVID-19 quarantine measures on the electricity consumption of different types of regulated customers. In particular, the average energy consumption of a group of customers in Chile is examined, exploiting the weekly variations in the application of the stages of the Step by Step Plan as a natural experiment. Step by Step Plan was the Chile COVID containment strategy, which involved implementing partial lockdowns based on the COVID incidence in the municipalities, and adjusted on a weekly basis. An econometric model is specified, and estimated using the technique Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference (DDD) to quantify the causal impact of these measures. After applying the model, it is found that the quarantine measures have had a negative effect on the trend weekly consumption of customers located in municipalities where some of the phases of the Plan have been applied. This effect is significantly different depending on each stage of the plan analysis, and statistically significant. It is also observed that, on average, the savings for a representative customer in the sample range from $ 8 to $ 6. 15 for some municipalities, and the sample costs range from $ 0. 02 to $ 0. 26 for others, depending on the municipality analyzed. The results can be expressed in a total of 2.95 tons less CO 2 emitted on a monthly basis. This shows a great impact in terms of sustainability and planning of energy demand and supply. • Quarantines by Covid 19 affected energy consumption, like a "Natural Experiment". • Using Panel Data of 400 thousand observations with geographic, temporal and Daylight Saving Time controls. • Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference method to quantify causal impact of quarantines on electric consumption. • Applying quarantines generated Energetic Savings from 8 cents to 6.15 dollars depending on client type. • An Event Study was designed to check the estimation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Various social, human and physical capitals are needed for home schooling. • Pre-existing capitals cannot predict the emergence of successful home schooling. • Homeschooling requires continuous internal and external interaction. • Social workers support families in interaction and promote necessary capitals. As a response to prevent the spread of COVID-19, during the spring of 2020, home schooling replaced classroom education. From the social worker's perspective, this paper explores how home school was organised among the social work client families and what types of resources were needed and launched to control the complexity of home schooling during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The conceptual frameworks applied to theorise the self-organisation of home school and how resources were mobilised are complexity theory and social capital theory. The empirical analysis is based on digital diaries written by 33 Finnish social workers and analysed using a thematic qualitative content analysis. The findings demonstrate the intertwined combination of social (social environment and communication), human (cultural, psychological and pedagogical) and physical (technological, spatial and biological) capital needed for the successful self-organising of home schooling. These capitals cannot predict the emergence of successful home schooling, nor can they function as a resource alone because self-organisation requires interactions between all essential dimensions. The results provide a deeper understanding for social work professionals regarding schooling and organising multidimensional support for children and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown in Spain during Spring 2020 resulted in a ban on most uses of public space, producing a social redefinition of not only public spaces, but also private spaces such as homes. This paper examines the discourses related to balconies that appeared at this time on Twitter (X), an intermediate microspace and hybrid between the public and private. The study uses data from tweets posted in Spain during the strictest phase of the lockdown (from 15 March to 1 May 2020). Based on a descriptive analytical approach – both quantitative and textual – the study applies text content analysis and natural language processing to identify and analyse the main topics of conversation related to the use of balconies. The study brought to light two primary and complementary results. Firstly, the balcony during the pandemic became a revitalized space in an exceptional situation, partially adapting to the most common practices characteristic of public space and thus reaffirming the importance of the existence of public spaces for citizen encounters. Secondly, the various uses of balconies received different types of attention and generated stronger or weaker interactions on social networks, demonstrating the complexity and diversity of relationships with public spaces. • The impossibility of using public spaces multiplied the importance of balconies • Using Twitter data, we studied the use of balconies in Spain in the spring of 2020 • Balconies became a public microspace through their use towards the outside • Technology did not isolate citizens but was key for the promotion of the new uses • We found important differences by use in attachments to the tweets and interactions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the literature on mobility of care has rapidly expanded, and the concept offers a powerful lens to highlight how everyday mobilities are organised, undertaken, and experienced in gendered ways. The concept can nonetheless benefit from further theoretical development. In this paper we enrich the mobility of care concept by drawing on influential conceptualisations of care from feminist theory and analysis of data collected during the COVID-19 lockdown among a group of 40 low-income women living in peri-urban areas of Itagüí, a municipality in the south of the Medellín metropolitan area, Colombia. Through this approach we first argue that relying on a taxonomy of trip purposes limits the understanding of the role of care in urban mobilities and risks underestimating the prevalence of mobility of care. Second, we suggest that activities of self-care also generate mobility of care and that their consideration allows practices and experiences of receiving care to be considered. Finally, we show how care activities are part of, and generate, intertwined mobilities and immobilities, and argue that rendering visible the full extent of mobilities of care demands that careful consideration be given to immobilities as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to predict the economic resilience to crises of territories based on local pre-existing socioeconomic characteristics. Specifically, we consider the case of Italian municipalities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, leveraging a large-scale dataset of cardholders performing transactions in Point-of-Sales. Based on a set of machine learning classifiers, we show that network-based measures and variables related to the social, economic, demographic and environmental dimensions are relevant predictors of the economic resilience of Italian municipalities to the crisis. In particular, we find accurate classification performance both in balanced and un-balanced scenarios, as well as in the case we restrict the analysis to specific geographical areas. Our analysis predicts that territories with larger income per capita, soil consumption, concentration of real estate activities and commuting network centrality in terms of closeness and Pagerank constitute the set of most affected areas, experiencing the strongest reduction of economic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, we provide an application of an early-warning system able to provide timely evidence to policymakers about the detrimental effects generated by natural disasters and severe crisis episodes, thus contributing to optimize public decision support systems. • We quantify economic resilience of Italian municipalities through bank transaction data. • We model territories with a set of socioeconomic and network-based covariates. • Machine learning classifiers accurately predict economic resilience. • We use SHAP values to identify most relevant predictors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments and health policymakers are now looking for strategies to lift the COVID-19 lockdown, while reducing risk to the public. We propose the population attributable risk (PAR) as an established epidemiological tool that could support decision-making through quickly estimating the main benefits and costs of various exit strategies. We demonstrate the feasibility of use of PAR using pandemic data, that were publicly available in mid-May 2020 from Scotland and the US, to estimate the proportion of COVID-19 hospital admissions which might be avoided, and the proportion of adverse labour market effects – for various scenarios – based on maintaining the lockdown for those of certain ages with and without comorbidities. These calculations could be refined and applied in different countries to inform important COVID-19 policy decisions, using routinely collected data. • Many countries have tried to exit COVID-19 lockdown. Typically, trade-offs are required. • A simple epidemiological tool -- population attributable risk -- can help quantify these trade-offs. • This paper quantifies the proportion of COVID-19 hospitalisations averted, versus the proporition of the labour force locked down, for various combinations of age- and comorbidity-related lockdown exit strategies. • We show that both continuing lockdown for all persons over 65, and those with comorbidities over 50, have similar effects on hospitalisations. • Other considerations, such as equity and acceptability of these policy options, are therefore critical in these final policy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By July 25, Colombia had confirmed 240 795 cases of COVID-19 and 8269 deaths (case fatality rate of 3.4%). All departments had reported cases, but 292 municipalities were apparently free of COVID-19 (26%) and 373 (33.2%) had seen limited transmission. Specific mortality rates by department ranged from 0 in Vichada to 1278 in Amazonas, which was 7.8 times the national rate (incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 7.8, 95% confidence interval 6.4–9.5). Using a conservative approach to assess the potential underestimation of cases, it was estimated that, by July 25, Colombia should have detected 1 328 175 cases instead of the actual 240 795 observed, an underestimation of 82%. Colombia detected its first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case on March 2, 2020. From March 22 to April 25, it implemented a national lockdown that, apparently, allowed the country to keep a low incidence and mortality rate up to mid-May. Forced by the economic losses, the government then opened many commercial activities, which was followed by an increase in cases and deaths. This paper presents a critical analysis of the Colombian surveillance data in order to identify strengths and pitfalls of the control measures. A descriptive analysis of PCR-confirmed cases between March and July 25 was performed. Data were described according to the level of measurement. Incidence and mortality rates of COVID-19 were estimated by age, sex, and geographical area. Sampling rates for suspected cases were estimated by geographical area, and the potential for case underestimation was assessed using sampling differences. By July 25, Colombia (population 50 372 424) had reported 240 745 cases and 8269 deaths (case fatality rate of 3.4%). A total of 1 370 271 samples had been analyzed (27 405 samples per million people), with a positivity rate of 17%. Sampling rates per million varied by region from 2664 to 158 681 per million, and consequently the incidence and mortality rates also varied. Due to geographical variations in surveillance capacity, Colombia may have overlooked up to 82% of the actual cases. Colombia has a lower case and mortality incidence compared to other South American countries. This may be an effect of the lockdown, but may also be attributed, to some extent, to geographical differences in surveillance capacity. Indigenous populations with little health infrastructure have been hit the hardest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the socially optimal lockdown and travel (social activity) restriction policies for communicable virus including COVID-19. In our simple model, we exploit the remarkable similarity in the structure of external costs causing market failure between the socially optimal choices of the COVID-19 pandemic case and the socially optimal urban traffic congestion level. By identifying this similarity, the results obtained from our simple model allow for future pandemic researchers to use the well-established research methodologies for designing socially optimal traffic levels and associated policy tools to find the socially optimal lockdown and travel restrictions. The key results obtained from our COVID-19 model are: (1) individuals do not internalize the external cost of infection risks they impose on others and health care system when making their own travel (social-activity) decisions; In order to induce individual travel decision makers to internalize this external cost, the government actions are necessary; The travel restrictions via lockdown or monetary penalty is one form of such actions; (2) the existence of external cost implies that the socially optimal length of lockdown is always longer than the privately optimal length of the lockdown period; (3) the strictness of the travel restriction and the amount of violation penalty should be higher in the areas with high population density and in larger cities because the external cost of spreading virus by a traveler would be higher. The monetary penalty in this model resembles the classical Pigouvian tax, which should increase with the city's population, people density, and economic prosperity; (4) when a government subsidizes or fully covers medical expenses of COVID-19 patients, stricter travel restrictions with heavier penalties are required. This is to avoid crowding out of the health care system. • Individuals do not internalize the external cost of infection risks they impose on others and health care system. • To induce individual travel decision makers to internalize this external cost, the government actions are necessary. • The existence of external cost implies that the socially optimal length of lockdown is always longer than the privately optimal length. • The strictness of travel restriction and the violation penalty should be higher with high population density. • Monetary penalty resembles the classical Pigouvian tax, which should increase with the city's population and economic prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SARS-CoV-2 is a type of coronavirus that has caused the pandemic known as the Coronavirus Disease of 2019, or COVID-19. In traditional epidemiological models such as SEIR (Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, Removed), the exposed group E does not infect the susceptible group S. A distinguishing feature of COVID-19 is that, unlike with previous viral diseases, there is a distinct "asymptomatic" group A , which does not show any symptoms, but can nevertheless infect others, at the same rate as infected symptomatic patients. This situation is captured in a model known as SAIR (Susceptible, Asymptomatic, Infected, Removed), introduced in Robinson and Stillianakis (2013). The dynamical behavior of the SAIR model is quite different from that of the SEIR model. In this paper, we use Lyapunov theory to establish the global asymptotic stabililty of the SAIR model, both without and with vital dynamics. Then we develop compartmental SAIR models to cater to the migration of population across geographic regions, and once again establish global asymptotic stability. Next, we go beyond long-term asymptotic analysis and present methods for estimating the parameters in the SAIR model. We apply these estimation methods to data from several countries including India, and demonstrate that the predicted trajectories of the disease closely match actual data. We show that "herd immunity" (defined as the time when the number of infected persons is maximum) can be achieved when the total of infected, symptomatic and asymptomatic persons is as low as 25% of the population. Previous estimates are typically 50% or higher. We also conclude that "lockdown" as a way of greatly reducing inter-personal contact has been very effective in checking the progress of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration determinants of graduates are of particular importance for the analysis of regional activities and thus influence city resilience in areas after the COVID-19 pandemic. By constructing a unique dataset from an online recruiting platform , we introduce a new measure of mobility intentions. We also apply the stacked difference-in-differences model to tackle the limitation of staggered treatments with a non-absorbing state brought about by lockdown policies. By comparing intention changes in cities with lockdown regulations to those without such regulations, we conclude that lockdown does influences the decisions of graduates and alter the attractiveness of cities mainly through panic job searching and recruiting digitalization. In a big picture, lockdown causally reduces graduates' mobility intentions by 0.7 %, but this intention increases by 1.2 % after lockdown is lifted. Lockdown policies also affect non-lockdown cities, particularly in cities that are less competitive and those that are in close geographical proximity. We further estimate the effects of lockdown duration and intensity on graduates' mobility intentions and find that full-scale lockdown increases intentions by 2.5 %, whereas partial lockdown increases intentions by only 0.9 %. This study fills the gap between the mobility literature and the COVID-19 literature by establishing the clean lockdown effects on graduate mobility intentions. • Lockdowns change the attractiveness of no locked-down cities to graduate migrants • New graduates cope with the anxiety from lockdowns by engaging in panic job searching • Graduates boost online job searches to offset lost offline recruitment during lockdowns • A data-driven analytical paper uses the large-scale human behavior data to quantify migration intention [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public experiences of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown differed dramatically between countries and socio-economic groups. Low-income countries raise unique empirical and ethical concerns about (1) the balance between benefits and social harms and (2) how explanatory disease models and everyday life realities influenced the experience and interpretation of lockdown itself. In this paper, we present qualitative data on community perceptions and experiences of the pandemic from a remote area of Haiti, with a focus on the 2020 lockdown. We conducted in-depth interviews with 30 community leaders in Grand'Anse Department, southwest Haiti, at two time periods: May 2020 and October–December 2021. We divide our results into five sections. First, our analysis showed that lockdown was widely considered ineffective at controlling COVID-19. Despite the lack of testing, community leaders believed most of the local population had caught COVID-19 in the first half of 2020, with limited reported mortality. Public concern about the pandemic largely ended at this time, overtaken by other socio-economic and political crises. Second, we found that popular explanations for the low fatality rate were related to various coping strategies: the strength of people's immune systems, use of natural prophylactic folk teas, beliefs about the virus, spiritual protections and the tropical weather. Third, we found that lockdown was widely seen to have not been appropriate for the Haitian context due to various challenges with compliance in the face of socio-economic vulnerability. Fourth, we found strong negative feelings about the social consequences of lockdown measures, which lasted from March–August 2020, including adverse effects on: food security, household income, education, health, and psychosocial well-being. Finally, these perceptions and experiences reinforced popular ideas that lockdown had been imposed by elites for financial and/or political gain, something that was also reflected in the discourse about the low vaccine acceptance rate. Our study showed that pandemic respiratory virus response in Haiti should better balance restrictive non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) with existing socio-economic vulnerability. Local socio-behavioral dynamics and risk perceptions decrease the overall effectiveness of NPIs in fragile states and alternatives to lockdown, such as shielding the most vulnerable, are likely to be a more appropriate strategy. • A qualitative study with community leaders in rural Haiti (2020–21). • Explored perspectives & experiences of COVID-19 and lockdown. • Lockdowns in Haiti were seen as ineffective and not appropriate. • They were also socially harmful and contributed to growing public distrust. • Alternatives, such as shielding the vulnerable, likely more appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in cities implementing lockdown measures, causing unprecedented disruption (e.g. school/shop/office closures) to urban life often extending over months. With the spread of COVID-19 now being relatively contained, many cities have started to ease their lockdown restrictions by phases. Following the phased recovery strategy proposed by the UK government following the first national lockdown, this paper utilises Greater London as its case study, selecting three main reopening measures (i.e., schools, shops and hospitality reopening). This paper applies sentiment analysis and topic modelling to explore public opinions expressed via Twitter. Our findings reveal that public attention towards the reopening measures reached a peak before the date of policy implementation. The attitudes expressed in discussing reopening measures changed from negative to positive. Regarding the discussed topics related to reopening measures, we find that citizens are more sensitive to early-stage reopening than later ones. This study provides a time-sensitive approach for local authorities and city managers to rapidly sense public opinion using real-time social media data. Governments and policymakers can make use of the framework of sensing public opinion presented herein and utilise it in leading their post-lockdown cities into an adaptive, inclusive and smart recovery. • Twitter data timely capture the public opinion regarding reopening policies. • Sentiment analysis reveals public attitudes to reopening measures. • Topic modelling was utilised for exploring topics about reopening. • Urban citizens are more sensitive to the earlier lockdown lifting measures • Public attention to announcements provides early feedback to implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the mental health impacts of poor quality private-rented housing in the north of England during the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown. The paper draws on data collected from semi-structured telephone interviews with 40 renters in the private-rented sector. We use the Power Threat Meaning Framework to highlight how substandard housing was a social and material vulnerability which, underpinned by powerlessness, resulted in threats that created and exacerbated the mental-ill health of precarious private renters. The paper suggests the pandemic and increased time spent in unhealthy places of residence can create stresses at a time of broader structural fragility, and calls for the greater engagement and integration of health practitioners in the future development of housing policy at all levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper builds on ethnographic research conducted during lockdown in Denmark. • No major disruption of illicit drug markets was seen in Denmark during lockdown. • Global concerns about lockdown effects on drug markets were mirrored at local level. • The anticipation of a drug shortage impacted on local drug market dynamics. • The social position of PWUD impacted on their ability to adapt to market changes. As with other areas of life, drug markets have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions. This article examines how structurally vulnerable people who use drugs (PWUD) experienced and adapted to changes in street drug markets caused by lockdown measures. The article builds on ethnographic fieldwork in two Danish cities in 2020, including in-depth interviews with 22 PWUD, and interviews with 20 service providers, including low-threshold service providers and outreach workers. The most consistently reported effect of lockdown measures on local drug markets related to increases in cannabis prices. Accounts of changes in drug availability varied greatly, with some participants reporting changing availability while others described the situation as similar to pre-lockdown conditions. Rather than a long-term drug shortage, changes reported by participants related to the anticipated disruption of local markets and drug scarcity, restrictions in access to cash and sellers seeking to capitalize on the crisis. Although no long-term drug scarcity was seen, the anticipation of a shortage was sufficient to impact on local drug market dynamics. Heterogeneity in PWUDs' experiences of access to drug markets during lockdown can to some degree be explained in terms of their varied embeddedness in social networks. While local markets proved resilient to lockdown measures, PWUD less embedded in social networks were more vulnerable to shifts in drug availability and to sellers' over-pricing of drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the positive connotation to "strength", the Strong Black Woman ideology leaves Black women vulnerable to physical and mental health concerns that stem from the accumulating effects of social and self-induced pressures to consistently present as indestructible. This paper, framed by the Superwoman Schema, aims to examine how the Strong Black woman is conveyed in emerging adulthood and how the events of 2020 impacted young Black women's ideals around gender. Results come from focus group data collected prior to and during the lock downs resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. The respondents reported: Feminine/Beauty, Mental Health, Caregiving, Overcoming Transition, Doing Strength, and Body Positivity, were the overarching traits and expectations of them as strong Black emerging adults. Interestingly, social isolation appears to have given Black women time to reflect on the negative implications of Strength as they no longer felt obligated to convey constant resilience. • Strength is attributed to beauty, mental health, caregiving, overcoming transitions, doing strength, and body positivity. • The pandemic of 2020 brought social psychological delays, freedom from the strength mandate, and heightened gendered racism. • It is vital for clinicians to support Black women as they navigate a new, more vulnerable gender identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The governance of COVID-19 has involved the proliferation of territorial practices, through border controls designed to regulate movements not only across national and state borders, but also within cities and city regions. We argue that these urban territorial practices have been significant to the biopolitics of COVID-19 and warrant close scrutiny. Focusing on the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne, this paper offers critical analysis of the urban territorial practices of COVID-19 suppression, which we categorise as practices of closure, confinement and capacity control. We observe these practices in measures including 'stay at home' orders, residential building and housing estate lockdowns, closure of and capacity limits on non-residential premises, postcode- and municipality-level restrictions on movement, and hotel quarantine. These measures, we argue, have reinforced and at times exacerbated pre-existing social and spatial inequalities. However, we also recognise COVID-19's real and highly uneven threats to life and health, and therefore ask what a more egalitarian form of pandemic governance might look like. We draw on scholarly writing on 'positive' or 'democratic' biopolitics and 'territory from below', in order to outline some more egalitarian and democratic interventions that have been pursued to suppress viral transmission and to reduce vulnerability to COVID-19 and other viruses. This, we argue, is an imperative of critical scholarship as much as the critique of state interventions. Such alternatives do not necessarily reject state territorial interventions per se, but instead point towards a way of addressing the pandemic by recognising the capacity and legitimacy of biopolitics and territory from below. They point towards ways in which we might see a pandemic 'like a city' in a way that prioritises egalitarian care through a politics premised on democratic negotiations among diverse urban authorities and sovereignties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced dramatic adversities for public health around the world, especially in low and middle-income countries. While research has shown the pandemic to have direct effects on a variety of major economic and health crises, its impact on health-related behaviors is not clear. In this paper, I examine how exposure to the pandemic affects alcohol use and smoking in Peru, which experienced one of the highest COVID-related death rates albeit implementing one of the strictest lockdown policies in the world. I find that post pandemic consumption of alcohol and smoking in the last 30 days decreases by 41.3% and 44.1% respectively when compared to pre-pandemic rates. I also conclude that the intensity of engaging in these behaviors change such that the frequency of consuming alcohol in the last 30 days, binge drinking and the probability of smoking daily falls. While drinking behavior returns to pre-pandemic levels, the negative effect on smoking weakens but remains for almost two years preceding the pandemic. • Estimates changes in alcohol consumption and smoking due to the pandemic in Peru. • Alcohol use and smoking decreases at both the extensive and intensive margins. • The largest fall in drinking and smoking was immediately after the lockdown. • Alcohol consumption returns to the pre-pandemic level by the end of 2021. • The reduction in smoking weakens but perdures by the end of 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• COVID-19 travel-restriction policies can affect road traffic accident patterns. • NYC data shows a decrease in number of accidents but an increase in severity. • There has been a sharp increase in severe accidents involving cyclists. • Bike sharing trips can help predict safety risks for cyclists across space and time. • Hot zones for severe cyclist accidents are spatially and temporally concentrated. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, travel-restriction policies widely adopted by cities across the world played a profound role in reshaping urban travel patterns. At the same time, there has been an increase in both cycling trips and traffic accidents involving cyclists. This paper aims to provide new insights and policy guidance regarding the effect of COVID-19 related travel-restriction policies on the road traffic accident patterns, with an emphasis on cyclists' safety. Specifically, by analysing the accidents data in the New York City and estimating three fixed effects logit models on the occurrence of different types of accidents in a given zip code area and time interval, we derived the following findings. First, while the overall number of road traffic accidents plummeted in the NYC after the stay-at-home policy was implemented, the average severity increased. The average number of cyclists killed or injured per accidents more than tripled relative to levels in similar times in previous years. Second, the declaration of the New York State stay-at-home order was significantly associated with a higher risk of accidents resulting in casualties. The number of Citi Bike trips in the area at the time overwhelmingly predicted severe risk for cyclists. Last, we applied the models to detect hot zones for cyclists' severe accidents. We found that these hot zones tend to be spatially and temporally concentrated, making it possible to devise targeted safety measures. This paper contributes to the understanding of the impact of COVID-19 travel-restriction policies on accidents involving cyclists, reveals higher risks for cyclists as an unintended consequence of travel-restriction policies, and provides an analytical tool for road safety impact evaluation should future travel restrictions be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• COVID-19 travel-restriction policies can affect road traffic accident patterns. • NYC data shows a decrease in number of accidents but an increase in severity. • There has been a sharp increase in severe accidents involving cyclists. • Bike sharing trips can help predict safety risks for cyclists across space and time. • Hot zones for severe cyclist accidents are spatially and temporally concentrated. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, travel-restriction policies widely adopted by cities across the world played a profound role in reshaping urban travel patterns. At the same time, there has been an increase in both cycling trips and traffic accidents involving cyclists. This paper aims to provide new insights and policy guidance regarding the effect of COVID-19 related travel-restriction policies on the road traffic accident patterns, with an emphasis on cyclists' safety. Specifically, by analysing the accidents data in the New York City and estimating three fixed effects logit models on the occurrence of different types of accidents in a given zip code area and time interval, we derived the following findings. First, while the overall number of road traffic accidents plummeted in the NYC after the stay-at-home policy was implemented, the average severity increased. The average number of cyclists killed or injured per accidents more than tripled relative to levels in similar times in previous years. Second, the declaration of the New York State stay-at-home order was significantly associated with a higher risk of accidents resulting in casualties. The number of Citi Bike trips in the area at the time overwhelmingly predicted severe risk for cyclists. Last, we applied the models to detect hot zones for cyclists' severe accidents. We found that these hot zones tend to be spatially and temporally concentrated, making it possible to devise targeted safety measures. This paper contributes to the understanding of the impact of COVID-19 travel-restriction policies on accidents involving cyclists, reveals higher risks for cyclists as an unintended consequence of travel-restriction policies, and provides an analytical tool for road safety impact evaluation should future travel restrictions be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Covid-19 pandemic spurred an ad hoc digital turn in the live performing arts sector. • The pandemic digital turn has accentuated the value of the analogue. • Digital concerts and performances represent a temporary digital disruption. • The pandemic has highlighted the structural divide between the institutional and non-institutional part of the cultural sector. This paper 1 1 I thank my colleagues Mari Torvik Heian, Heidi Stavrum and Bård Kleppe for valuable comments to different drafts of this text. The two reviewers also contributed with insightful and helpful comments. describes and analyses how the live performing arts sector in Norway adapted to the abrupt change that affected most European countries in mid-March 2020. Based on a mid-pandemic empirical analysis, it argues that the sudden lockdown due to Covid-19 created a real-time laboratory for digital adaptation within the culture sector. In light of this digital adaptation, I ask whether this rapid digital turn represented a disruption in the cultural sector, and whether the sudden digitalization challenged the structures of cultural production. The paper argues that the digital adaptations to Covid-19 in central parts of the cultural sector have represented a temporary disruption. Rather than fast-forwarding a digital development, the pandemic digital turn has even more than illuminated the innovative and transformative potential of the digital, accentuated the value of the analogue. Still, it will be a continuing task for research in the years to come to assess the potential lasting implications of Covid-related digitalizations in the cultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SARS-CoV2 pandemic led to drastic social restrictions globally. Early data suggest that women in science have been more adversely affected by these lockdowns than men, with relatively fewer scientific articles authored by women. However, these observations test broad populations with many potential causes of disparity. Australia presents a natural experimental condition where several states of similar demographics and disease impact had differing approaches in their social isolation strategies. The state of Victoria experienced 280 days of lockdowns from 2020 to 2021, whereas the comparable state of New South Wales experienced 107 days, most of these in 2021, and other states even fewer restrictions. To assess how the gender balance changed in Australian biomedical publishing with the lockdowns, we created a custom workflow to analyse PubMed data from more than 120,000 published articles submitted in 2019–2021 from Australian authors. Broadly, Australian women have been incredibly resilient to the challenges faced by the lockdowns. There was an increase in the number of published articles submitted in 2020 that was equally due to women as men, including from Victoria. On the other hand, articles specifically addressing COVID-19 were significantly less likely to be authored by women than those on other topics, a finding not likely due to particular gender imbalance in virology or viral epidemiology, since publications on HIV followed similar patterns to previous years. By 2021, this imbalance had reversed, with more COVID-19-related papers authored by women than men. These data suggest women from Victoria were less able to rapidly transition to new research early in the pandemic but had accommodated to the new conditions by 2021. This work indicates we need strategies to support women in science as the pandemic continues and to continue to monitor the situation for its impact on vulnerable groups. • We analyzed PubMed data from >120,000 articles from Australian authors. • COVID-19 pandemic lockdown severity had no gender-specific effect. • Women authored fewer COVID-19 articles than expected in 2020. • Women's publishing of COVID-19 work normalized in 2021. • Women were less able to rapidly transition to new research in the COVID pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Mothers have experienced a significant amount of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders in the US, which can have major implications for children's health and development; attention should be paid to developmental timing and unfolding of developmental trajectories following this pandemic. • Mothers have used a variety of strategies to cope; as more parents navigate social disruptions, they may benefit from additional resources and supports, such as innovations in childcare modalities, paid leave policies, and strengthening whole family processes using adaptive coping mechanisms. • Mothers with low income and/or children with special needs may experience more vulnerability to the sequalae of the pandemic; it is important to provide financial security, mental health, and educational and social support to relieve stress during the pandemic. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study of mothers' lived experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown in the United States. An analysis of open-ended interviews with 44 mothers who had children ages zero-to-five identified two main themes: (1) increased stress among mothers; and (2) resilience through the use of coping mechanisms. The findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to higher stress among mothers due to issues of work-family life balance, family and children's needs, decision-making about getting sick, concerns for children's development, and lack of clarity from government officials. Mothers described using a variety of problem-focused and emotion-focused methods to cope with this stress. The lived experiences of mothers during the pandemic highlights the need for innovations in childcare modalities, paid leave policies to relieve stress, and strengthening whole family processes and resilience through the use of coping mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key characteristic of electricity prices is their sensitivity to changes in supply and demand. In this sense, the Covid-19 lockdown policies modified electricity consumption patterns at both business and household levels, affecting the shape and position of the electricity demand curve and, thus, leading to a direct effect on electricity prices. However, could this demand-side effect be greater than other supply-induced effects? Is it persistent over time? This paper uses a synthetic bidding approach and concludes that the strict lockdown phase had a strong, immediate – but not persistent – effect on the Spanish electricity price. Furthermore, a high share of renewable energy and a reduction in fossil fuel and emission prices have also proven crucial in driving prices down, though lockdown policies had more impact on prices. • The cubic fit is the best approach for Spanish supply and demand curves in 2019 and 2020. • The strict Covid-19 lockdown worsened the fit and made the electricity demand steeper. • During the strict lockdown the horizontal part of the demand curve decreased by 7.1%. • The Covid-19 effect dominated over other supply-induced effects in 2020 in Spain. • When electricity demand recovered its elasticity, supply-induced effects increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the operation of choirs around the world due to the high-risk nature of group singing for disease transmission. These risks are even greater for people living with health conditions. This paper presents the results of an international, cross-sectional survey that asked health-focused choir facilitators if and how they adapted their choir to due to COVID-19 restrictions and the high-risk of transmission during group singing. Participants were recruited through searches of choir and music therapy networks, social media, and snowballing sampling methods. The anonymous online survey consisted of 17 multiple choice and 7 short answer questions. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Sixty-five surveys were commenced (50 completed). Many respondents (63 %) took their choirs online, and neurological conditions were the most common populations served. Format and methods of online choirs are described, as are benefits and challenges of online choirs. Several respondents indicated they would continue online post-COVID-19 restrictions. Online choirs were seen as feasible and beneficial, despite challenges. Recommendations regarding facilitator skills, technology set up, accessibility and session structure for online facilitation of health-focused choirs are provided. • Moving health-focused choirs online was a common approach during COVID-19 lockdowns. • Online delivery of health-focused choir sessions is feasible, with benefits as well as challenges. • Zoom is the preferred platform for online delivery of health-focused choirs. • Recommendations for online facilitation of health-focused choirs are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]