China
Africa
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SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19
Published in Patricia G. Melloy, Viruses and Society, 2023
When looking at the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 of becoming an endemic virus, scientists have used other coronaviruses like OC43 as an example, which causes minor upper respiratory tract illness, although it most likely caused more severe illness when it was first seen in the human population over 100 years ago (Cyranoski 2020; Krammer 2020). All four coronaviruses causing mild illness are endemic, so many scientists surveyed by the journal Nature think SARS-CoV-2 will go down that same road and will never be fully eradicated (Phillips 2021). We are not there yet, and there are many possible reasons for this outcome. We will discuss the idea of pandemic prevention and what we learned in the next section.
Prevention and Control Strategies for the COVID-19 Pandemic
Published in Debmalya Barh, Kenneth Lundstrom, COVID-19, 2022
Isfendiyar Darbaz, Gizem Morris, Şükrü Tüzmen
In comparison to the rest of the world, Africa has a higher proportion of people with health problems. Consequently, higher rates of malnutrition, anemia, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis in many African countries could be linked to, and exacerbated by, ongoing COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control efforts [3].
Innovation diffusion, social capital, and mask mobilization
Published in J. Michael Ryan, COVID-19, 2020
On the other hand, such mobilization was insufficient to create an atmosphere of overwhelmingly positive trust in government, apart from its ability to handle the pandemic, due to rapidly and radically changing messaging, differing information channels, and systems of influence. At the time of this chapter’s final writing, masks and mask wearing have proliferated but have only just reached around 55% health expert guided compliance (Kane 2020). In order to bend the infection rate curve, required compliance rates as high as 95% have been suggested. I argue that the mixed messaging by health experts early on has been a major source of confusion and skepticism of mask science. While some influences have successfully persuaded the implementation and continuation of adoption of masks for pandemic prevention as a country-wide, social support mobilization over time, other influences – mass media and influential members of society communicating on various platforms – continue to question the efficacy and constitutionality of the mask as innovation, frustrating compliance.
How health organizations communicate about COVID-19 on social media: a comparative content analysis
Published in Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 2023
Lingyan Ma, Yuan Wang, Jiyoun Kim
Health organizations mainly communicated the COVID-19 pandemic in the frame of pandemic prevention and pandemic risk. Overall, the prevention frame was dominant in all these health organizations’ social media messages. Regarding communication purposes, the Korean CDC, the United States CDC, and WHO mainly used social media to spread outbreak information and keep the public aware of the developing situation. However, the Chinese CDC’s main purpose of social media communication was to provide direct instructions or guidance to help the public take specific protective actions, while the information update purpose was much less common. In terms of communication strategies, these organizations tended to use multiple strategies in their social-mediated communication, such as visuals, hyperlinks, and quotations. This phenomenon showed the interplay between the traditional communication strategies (i.e. quotation and testimony) and the social media functional strategies (i.e. visual, hyperlink).
Associations between Volunteering and Mental Health during COVID-19 among Chinese Older Adults
Published in Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 2021
Wai Chan, Cheryl Hiu Kwan Chui, Johnson Chun Sing Cheung, Terry Yat Sang Lum, Shiyu Lu
Participants were asked whether they had been engaged in the following volunteering activities related to COVID-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic, including (1) helping neighbors or friends to buy daily necessities, (2) helping neighbors or friends to buy facemasks, (3) helping neighbors or friends to buy pandemic prevention materials, (4) giving out facemasks, (5) giving out pandemic prevention materials, (6) taking care of neighbors’ or friends’ children, and (7) providing emotional support to neighbors or friends. We also asked participants whether they donated to a charity during the pandemic. Each item yielded an answer of “yes” (1) or “no” (0). Multiple response options were allowed. This measurement of participation in volunteering activities related to COVID-19 was created by the research team with extensive experience in productive aging research. The face validity was confirmed by clinical social workers and clinical psychologists.
Change in mortality rates of respiratory disease during the COVID-19 pandemic
Published in Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine, 2021
Chunyan Huang, Yan Lu, Linchi Wang, Yujie Hua, Jianrong Xu, Xiaolin Wei, Zhengji Zhang, Jun Zhang
This study examined the change in the mortality rates of residents during the pandemic prevention and control phase. For a more accurate assessment, we analyzed the season with ahigh incidence of respiratory disease and compared it from different perspectives. Before the mandatory control measures enforced because of pandemic, the CMR and SMR of Suzhou residents, including respiratory disease, were not much different from previous years. However, during the control period, the CMR and SMR of Suzhou residents decreased by 9.1% and 14.6%, respectively, compared with the same period in the previous 5 years; the values for respiratory disease decreased by 41.4% and 44.9%, respectively. The overall mortality rate and rate due to respiratory disease, were both higher in males than in females, while the overall mortality rate reduction was slightly higher in males than in females, the reduction in mortality rate due to respiratory disease was higher in females.