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Background: Racial and ethnic minority groups experience a disproportionate burden of SARS-CoV-2 illness and studies suggest that cancer patients are at a particular risk for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection., Aims: The objective of this study was examine the association between neighborhood characteristics and SARS-CoV-2 infection among patients with cancer., Methods and Results: We performed a cross-sectional study of New York City residents receiving treatment for cancer at a tertiary cancer center. Patients were linked by their address to data from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey and to real estate tax data from New York's Department of City Planning. Models were used to both to estimate odds ratios (ORs) per unit increase and to predict probabilities (and 95% CI) of SARS-CoV2 infection. We identified 2350 New York City residents with cancer receiving treatment. Overall, 214 (9.1%) were infected with SARS-CoV-2. In adjusted models, the percentage of Hispanic/Latino population (aOR = 1.01; 95% CI, 1.005-1.02), unemployment rate (aOR = 1.10; 95% CI, 1.05-1.16), poverty rates (aOR = 1.02; 95% CI, 1.0002-1.03), rate of >1 person per room (aOR = 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01-1.07), average household size (aOR = 1.79; 95% CI, 1.23-2.59) and population density (aOR = 1.86; 95% CI, 1.27-2.72) were associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection., Conclusion: Among cancer patients in New York City receiving anti-cancer therapy, SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with neighborhood- and building-level markers of larger household membership, household crowding, and low socioeconomic status., Novelty and Impact: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of residents of New York City receiving treatment for cancer in which we linked subjects to census and real estate date. This linkage is a novel way to examine the neighborhood characteristics that influence SARS-COV-2 infection. We found that among patients receiving anti-cancer therapy, SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with building and neighborhood-level markers of household crowding, larger household membership, and low socioeconomic status. With ongoing surges of SARS-CoV-2 infections, these data may help in the development of interventions to decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with SARS-CoV-2 among cancer patients., (© 2022 The Authors. Cancer Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVD-19) continues to disrupt cancer care delivery efforts and exacerbate existing health inequities. Here we describe the impact of COVID-19 on community outreach organizations partnering with a National Cancer Institute-designated Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) office in New York City (NYC) and lessons learned from these experiences. Between July and September of 2020, we conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with community key-informants to validate and inform efforts to support community organizations in response to COVID-19. Key-informants represented organizations performing a broad range of health and cancer care activities serving historically underserved, low-income, marginalized communities of color in NYC. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using rapid qualitative approaches. We summarize our response to challenges raised by partnering organizations. Themes included the impact of COVID-19 on communities served, challenges faced by organizations, and solutions to address COVID-19 related challenges. The COE and community organizations had to shift priorities and adapt engagement efforts to address the more urgent needs of the community (e.g., emotional distress, food insecurity). COVID-19 disrupted traditional community engagement activities for cancer outreach-calling for creativity and innovation in the community engagement process and shift in priorities. The COE responded by maintaining ongoing dialogue with community partners, by being flexible in scope/priorities beyond cancer prevention and control, and by providing education, outreach, fundraising and other resources, and developing new partnerships to meet needs of community organizations and the populations they serve., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Shortly after the first case reports in 2019, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Early messages from trusted experts, which later proved to be inadequate or incorrect, highlight the need for continual adjustment of messages to the public as scientific knowledge evolves. During this time, social media exploded with greatly sought-after information, some of which was misinformation based on incomplete or incorrect facts or disinformation purposefully spread to advance a specific agenda. Because of the nature of social media, information, whether accurate or not at the time posted, lives on and remains accessible to the public even when its usefulness has been discredited. While the impact of mis/disinformation on COVID-19 risk-reducing behaviors is debatable, it is clear that social media has played a significant role in both extending the reach of COVID-19-related falsehoods and promoting evidence-based content. Over the last decade, social media has become a dominant source of information that consumers turn to for health information. A great deal of misinformation and disinformation has reached large numbers of social media users, which points to a need for the agencies of the US Public Health Service to create communications to convey accurate and current information and appeals that will actually be viewed. This viewpoint highlights the challenges, risks, and potential benefits that social media present in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic., (©Corey H Basch, Charles E Basch, Grace C Hillyer, Zoe C Meleo-Erwin. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 12.04.2022.)

Mitigating transmission of SARS-Co-2 virus is critical to stopping the COVID-19 pandemic. Messages about the pandemic on YouTube reach millions of people and should be a part of a more comprehensive strategy for educating the public to reduce transmission. We examined successive samples of the 100 most widely viewed YouTube videos regarding COVID-19 at three time points between January and June 2020 and examined characteristics of videos that specifically mentioned COVID-19 transmission. We described the cumulative and mean number of views, video length, and video source and assessed differences across the samples. Historical events and confirmed worldwide cases are compared with cumulative views of videos mentioning disease transmission over time. Across the three successive samples, views for all videos increased from ~ 125 million to over 560 million views, and from ~ 63 million to more than 273 million for those videos specifically mentioning disease transmission, respectively. This increase coincided with the increase in the worldwide number of cases and the occurrence of COVID-19 transmission informational milestones. Despite its importance for community mitigation, the majority of the widely viewed videos we sampled did not specifically mention disease transmission. Because of its very widespread reach, YouTube can be an effective way to communicate with the public, especially to those who have lower levels of reading literacy and who may be inclined to search for information on YouTube. Greater efforts are needed to more fully realize the potential of YouTube for educating the public about COVID-19 transmission., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: COVID-19 has altered healthcare delivery. Previous work has focused on patients with cancer and COVID-19, but little has been reported on healthcare system changes among patients without COVID-19., Methods: We performed a retrospective study of patients with breast cancer (BC) in New York City between February 1, 2020, and April 30, 2020. New patients were included as were patients scheduled to receive intravenous or injectable therapy. Patients with COVID-19 were excluded. Demographic and treatment information were obtained by chart review. Delays and/or changes in systemic therapy, surgery, radiation, and radiology related to the pandemic were tracked, along with the reasons for delay and/or change. Univariate and multivariable analysis were used to identify factors associated with delay and/or change., Results: We identified 350 eligible patients, of whom 149 (42.6%) experienced a delay and/or change, and practice reduction (51.0%) was the most common reason. The patients who identified as Black or African American, Asian, or Other races were more likely to experience a delay and/or change compared with White patients (Black, 44.4%; Asian, 47.1%; Other, 55.6%; White, 31.4%; P = .001). In multivariable analysis, Medicaid compared with commercial insurance (odds ratio [OR], 3.04; 95% CI, 1.32 to 7.27) was associated with increased odds of a delay and/or change, whereas stage II or III BC compared with stage I (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.15 to 0.95; and OR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.092, respectively) was associated with decreased odds of a delay and/or change., Conclusion: Almost half of the patients with BC without COVID-19 had a delay and/or change. We found racial and socioeconomic disparities in the likelihood of a delay and/or change. Further studies are needed to determine the impact these care alterations have on BC outcomes., Competing Interests: Jason D. WrightConsulting or Advisory Role: Clovis OncologyResearch Funding: MerckPatents, Royalties, Other Intellectual Property: UpToDate Grace A. HillyerResearch Funding: Genentech Kevin KalinskyStock and Other Ownership Interests: Array BioPharma, Pfizer, GRAILConsulting or Advisory Role: bioTheranostics, Lilly, pfizer, Novartis, Eisai, AstraZeneca, Genentech/Roche, Immunomedics, Ipsen, Merck, Seattle GeneticsSpeakers' Bureau: LillyResearch Funding: Incyte, Novartis, Genentech/Roche, Lilly, Pfizer, Calithera Biosciences, Immunomedics, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals, Seattle Genetics, Amgen, Zeno Pharmaceuticals, CytomX TherapeuticsTravel, Accommodations, Expenses: Lilly, AstraZeneca, PfizerOther Relationship: Immunomedics, Genentech Dawn L. HershmanConsulting or Advisory Role: AIM Specialty Health Melissa K. AccordinoHonoraria: Sermo, M3, Charter Oak Research, ExpertConnect, MDoutlook, Medscape, Medscape, M3, Medsurvey, Deerfield Management, OCN, Enterprise Analysis Corporation, Medpanel, Incrowd, Massive BioResearch Funding: TrioOther Relationship: OncliveNo other potential conflicts of interest were reported.

The uncertain and unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic is anxiety-provoking and some people are seeking information about this anxiety online. The purpose of this study was to assess the readability levels of online articles related to anxiety and COVID-19. The first 50 English language URLs to appear in a Google search in July 2020 were assessed for readability using Readable.io. A five-measure panel consisting of the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), Gunning Fog Index, Coleman-Liau Index (CLI), the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) Grade Level, and Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease (FRE) was used, and grade level scores were recoded as easy, average, and difficult readability. Websites were grouped as commercial vs. noncommercial sources bases on the URL. Of the 50 articles evaluated, the majority were found to be written at a difficult (>10th grade) reading level with four of the five measures employed which is well above the 7-8th grade reading level abilities of most Americans. Given the importance of access to mental health information during the pandemic, it is crucial that the resources available to the general public are written at a reading level that is comprehensible to ensure they are understood.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the readability of information on the Internet posted about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to determine how closely these materials are written to the recommended reading levels., Methods: Using the search term "coronavirus," information posted on the first 100 English language websites was identified. Using an online readability calculator, multiple readability tests were conducted to ensure a comprehensive representation would result., Results: The mean readability scores ranged between grade levels 6.2 and 17.8 (graduate school level). Four of the 5 measures (GFI, CLI, SMOG, FRE) found that readability exceeded the 10th grade reading level indicating that the text of these websites would be difficult for the average American to read. The mean reading level for nearly all noncommercial and commercial websites was at or above the 10th grade reading level., Conclusions: Messages about COVID-19 must be readable at an "easy" level, and must contain clear guidelines for behavior. The degree to which individuals seek information in response to risk messages is positively related to the expectation that the information will resolve uncertainty. However, if the information is too complex to interpret and it fails to lead to disambiguation, this can contribute to feelings of panic.

TikTok is a popular social media platform, especially among those who are 13–24 years of age. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to describe the content of COVID-19 material on TikTok. A total of 100 videos posted under the hashtag #Coronavirus were included in this study along with all (n=17) posts uploaded by the World Health Organization (WHO). Overall, these videos were viewed 1,194,081,700 times. The most commonly cited topics included anxiety (14.5%) with more than 190.6 million views and quarantine (10.3%) with 106.6 million views. Fewer than 10% of videos mentioned how the virus is transmitted, symptoms, and prevention. WHO videos more often focused on viral transmission and symptoms but covered these topics in fewer than 10% of the videos. Although research suggests that cases of COVID-19 may be less severe in those under 18 years of age, social distancing remains paramount due to the possibility of transmission even in those with minimal or no symptoms. For young adults in particular, the WHO suggests staying connected through social media and making every attempt to stay positive. TikTok has the potential, not only to convey important health information, but to address these aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]