Articles: pandemics.
-
The use of face masks in public was one of several COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions adopted to mitigate the pandemic in Portugal. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of lifting the mask mandate on the April 22, 2022 on COVID-19 incidence and mortality in mainland Portugal and in the Azores. As a secondary objective, we aimed to evaluate the evolution of COVID-19 cases in a setting without a mask mandate (Azores islands) and in a setting with a mask mandate (Madeira islands). ⋯ Lifting the mask mandate in Portugal was associated with an increase in COVID-19 incidence and deaths, thus highlighting the positive effect of face mask policies in preventing respiratory virus transmission and saving lives.
-
Food insecurity affects one in ten Americans in a typical year; recent U.S. Department of Agriculture data show that this food insecurity rate was stable from 2019 to 2021. However, data from Los Angeles County and other U.S. regions show that food insecurity spiked during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. One reason for this discrepancy may be that food insecurity measures assess experiences over different time frames. This study investigated the discrepancies in food insecurity rates by comparing past-week and past-year food insecurity measures and explored the role of recall bias. ⋯ These results suggest substantial under-reporting of past-year food insecurity, related to recall bias and social factors. Measuring food insecurity at multiple points throughout the year may help to improve the accuracy of reporting and public health surveillance of this issue.
-
To mitigate the harms of arrest and incarceration on health and racial equity, jurisdictions are increasingly enacting reforms to decriminalize drug possession through prosecutorial discretion (de facto). Impacts on health outcomes rely on whether this policy can reduce exposure to the carceral system among people who use drugs; however, data evaluating effects on arrest are lacking. This study explores the possible impacts of Baltimore City's enactment of de facto decriminalization on arrests by race. ⋯ De facto decriminalization may be a promising strategy to reduce exposure to the carceral system, an established risk factor for overdose and other drug-related sequelae and a driver of racial disparities in the U.S. Further research is needed to elucidate the drivers of persisting racial disparities and disentangle policy effects from pandemic-related closures.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2023
Post-Vaccine Era COVID-19 Pandemic-related Distress in Palliative Care Patients with Advanced Cancer.
The COVID-19 pandemic represents a source of distress in patients with advanced cancer; however, few studies have examined the extent of pandemic-related distress in the postvaccine era. ⋯ Patients with advanced cancer continued to experience pandemic-related distress in the postvaccine era. Our findings highlight potential opportunities to support patients.
-
A new indigenously developed technology, coronavirus disease (COVID) Kavach, an IgG immunoglobulin-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit, was developed in 2020 by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV), Pune, India. The primary objective of this study was to determine the total cost of development of COVID Kavach IgG ELISA and estimate the unit cost (UC) as well. ⋯ The estimates from this study can be useful for conducting economic evaluations, which will help in deciding upon the subsidy in government health facilities. The data may be useful to set up laboratory facilities analogous to the National Reference Laboratory located at the ICMR-NIV, Pune and for allotting sufficient budget to develop such assays in government-funded laboratories.