The COVID-19 pandemic poses a major threat to mental health and is associated with an increased risk of suicide. An understanding of suicidal behaviours during the pandemic is necessary for establishing policies to prevent suicides in such social conditions.

We aimed to investigate vulnerable individuals and the characteristics of changes in suicidal behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with suicide attempts who visited the emergency department from February 2019 to January 2021. We analysed the demographic and clinical characteristics, risk factors and rescue factors of patients, and compared the findings between the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods.

In total, 519 patients were included. During the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, 303 and 270 patients visited the emergency department after a suicide attempt, respectively. The proportion of suicide attempts by women (60.1% v. 69.3%, P = 0.035) and patients with a previous psychiatric illness (63.4% v. 72.9%, P = 0.006) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, patients’ rescue scores during the pandemic were lower than those during the pre-pandemic period (12 (interquartile range: 11–13) v. 13 (interquartile range: 12–14), P < 0.001).

Women and people with previous psychiatric illnesses were more vulnerable to suicide attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Suicide prevention policies, such as continuous monitoring and staying in touch with vulnerable individuals, are necessary to cope with suicide risk.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic dramatically accelerated a growing trend toward online and asynchronous education and professional training, including in the disaster medicine and public health sector. This study analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the growth of the TRAIN Learning Network (TRAIN) for the year 2020 and evaluated pandemic-related changes in use patterns by disaster and public health professionals.

The TRAIN database was queried to determine the change in the number of registered users, total courses completed, and courses completed related to COVID-19 during 2020.

In 2020, a total of 755,222 new users joined the platform – nearly 3 times the average added annually over the preceding 5 y (2015-2019). TRAIN users completed 3,259,074 training courses in 2020, more than double the average number of training courses that were completed annually from 2015-2019. In addition, 17.8% of all newly added disaster and public health training courses in 2020 were specifically related to COVID-19.

Online education provided by TRAIN is a critical tool for just-in-time disaster health training following a disaster event or public health emergency, including in a global health crisis such as a pandemic.

Current guidance states that asymptomatic screening for severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) prior to admission to an acute-care setting is at the facility’s discretion. This study’s objective was to estimate the number of undetected cases of SARS-CoV-2 admitted as inpatients under 4 testing approaches and varying assumptions.

Individual-based microsimulation of 104 North Carolina acute-care hospitals

All simulated inpatient admissions to acute-care hospitals from December 15, 2021, to January 13, 2022 [ie, during the SARS-COV-2 ο (omicron) variant surge].

We simulated (1) only testing symptomatic patients, (2) 1-stage antigen testing with no confirmatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, (3) 1-stage antigen testing with a confirmatory PCR for negative results, and (4) serial antigen screening (ie, repeat antigen test 2 days after a negative result).

Over 1 month, there were 77,980 admissions: 13.7% for COVID-19, 4.3% with but not for COVID-19, and 82.0% for non–COVID-19 indications without current infection. Without asymptomatic screening, 1,089 (credible interval [CI], 946–1,253) total SARS-CoV-2 infections (7.72%) went undetected. With 1-stage antigen screening, 734 (CI, 638–845) asymptomatic infections (67.4%) were detected, with 1,277 false positives. With combined antigen and PCR screening, 1,007 (CI, 875–1,159) asymptomatic infections (92.5%) were detected, with 5,578 false positives. A serial antigen testing policy detected 973 (CI, 845–1,120) asymptomatic infections (89.4%), with 2,529 false positives.

Serial antigen testing identified >85% of asymptomatic infections and resulted in fewer false positives with less cost per identified infection compared to combined antigen plus PCR testing.

Mental health was only modestly affected in adults during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the group level, but interpersonal variation was large.

We aim to investigate potential predictors of the differences in changes in mental health.

Data were aggregated from three Dutch ongoing prospective cohorts with similar methodology for data collection. We included participants with pre-pandemic data gathered during 2006–2016, and who completed online questionnaires at least once during lockdown in The Netherlands between 1 April and 15 May 2020. Sociodemographic, clinical (number of mental health disorders and personality factors) and COVID-19-related variables were analysed as predictors of relative changes in four mental health outcomes (depressive symptoms, anxiety and worry symptoms, and loneliness), using multivariate linear regression analyses.

We included 1517 participants with (n = 1181) and without (n = 336) mental health disorders. Mean age was 56.1 years (s.d. 13.2), and 64.3% were women. Higher neuroticism predicted increases in all four mental health outcomes, especially for worry (β = 0.172, P = 0.003). Living alone and female gender predicted increases in depressive symptoms and loneliness (β = 0.05–0.08), whereas quarantine and strict adherence with COVID-19 restrictions predicted increases in anxiety and worry symptoms (β = 0.07–0.11).Teleworking predicted a decrease in anxiety symptoms (β = −0.07) and higher age predicted a decrease in anxiety (β = −0.08) and worry symptoms (β = −0.10).

Our study showed neuroticism as a robust predictor of adverse changes in mental health, and identified additional sociodemographic and COVID-19-related predictors that explain longitudinal variability in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The outbreak has had a devastating impact, and efforts are underway to speed up vaccination. The study’s objective was to describe the clinical characteristics of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination clinic in the Second People’s Hospital of Fujian Province, China. Meanwhile, we monitored all the vaccine recipients to evaluate adverse reactions.

A cross-sectional study was done at the COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic, the Second People’s Hospital of Fujian Province, China. We systematically collected Clinical data from the COVID-19 vaccination clinic between March 11 and November 11, 2021, including the type of vaccine, number of doses, gender, age, educational level, occupational category, adverse reactions, etc. Investigators will contact vaccine recipients by means of phone call or WeChat message to record the negative responses. Last, this report covers data through 8 mo, so it will be better to Evaluate the Safety of 2 inactivated COVID-19 vaccines from China (BBIBP-CorV [Beijing Institute of Biological Products, Beijing, China] and CoronaVac [Sinovac Life Sciences, Beijing, China]).

The results indicated that the Second People’s Hospital of Fujian Province received a total of 64,602 COVID-19 vaccines from March 11 to November 11, 2021, including 34,331 (53.14%) first doses, 29,245 (45.27%) second doses, and 1026 (1.59%) third doses. This study found the highest proportion in other personnel (38.69% at the first dose, 38.75% at the second dose, and 2.44% at the third dose), who were mainly retirees. People with higher levels of education are more likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 during the early stages of vaccine rollout. In terms of age stratification, the highest proportion was found among people aged 18-49 (BBIBP-CorV: first dose 61%, second dose 62.6%, and third dose 76.8%; CoronaVac: first dose 66.1%, double dose 63.6%, and third dose 75.5%), followed by those over 60. The common adverse reactions were mainly local and systemic, and there were some differences between the 2 inactivated vaccines (P < 0.05).

This is the first study to analyze the actual status of hospitals as COVID-19 vaccination clinics in China. The hospital has focused on vaccinating citizens and the initial rollout of vaccines to ensure any safety issues are identified. More citizens are willing to vaccinate in hospitals because of the uncertain safety of the available vaccines and adverse reactions. The good news is that vaccine-related severe adverse events have not been found in the hospital vaccination clinic. The Safety of BBIBP-CorV and CoronaVac is relatively high.

The qualitative fit testing procedure would be challenging due to severe shortages, high cost, and unavailability of commercial fit test kits in the marketplaces during pandemics of respiratory infectious diseases. Assessment of alternatives for commercial fit test kits to be prepared for emergencies is critically required. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of an alternative of the Accumed NF60 nebulizer for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-approved Allegro nebulizer.

Thirty-two participants were randomly allocated to 6 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs). They were qualitatively fit tested by both manual Allegro and automated Accumed NF60 nebulizers.

There was no statistically significant difference between the Allegro and Accumed NF60 nebulizers by passing rates. The odds for passing fit testing using the Accumed NF60 nebulizer was similar to that of the Allegro one (odds ratio=1.0, 95% confidence interval [0.58-1.74]).

The Accumed NF60 nebulizer could be used as a cost-benefit substitute for the standard fit test nebulizers in the pandemic situation where there is a shortage and difficulty of access. It is more convenient, decreases the time investment, and reduces the contact stress in the operators’ hands as it does not require squeezing the nebulizer bulb frequently. The test solutions’ preparation and fit testing procedures on many personnel are more straightforward, efficient, and hygienic than the Allegro one.

The article seeks to assess the Brazilian health system ability to respond to the challenges imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by measuring the capacity of Brazilian hospitals to care for COVID-19 cases in the 450 Health Regions of the country during the year 2020. Hospital capacity refers to the availability of hospital beds, equipment, and human resources.

We used longitudinal data from the National Register of Health Facilities (CNES) regarding the availability of resources necessary to care for patients with COVID-19 in inpatient facilities (public or private) from January to December 2020. Among the assessed resources are health professionals (certified nursing assistants, nurses, physical therapists, and doctors), hospital beds (clinical, intermediate care, and intensive care units), and medical equipment (computed tomography scanners, defibrillators, electrocardiograph monitors, ventilators, and resuscitators). In addition to conducting a descriptive analysis of absolute and relative data (per 10,000 users), a synthetic indicator named Installed Capacity Index (ICI) was calculated using the multivariate principal component analysis technique to assess hospital capacity. The indicator was further stratified into value ranges to understand its evolution.

There was an increase in all selected indicators between January and December 2020. It was possible to observe differences between the Northeast and North regions and the other regions of the country; most Health Regions presented low ICI. The ICI increased between the beginning and the end of 2020, but this evolution differed among Health Regions. The average increase in the ICI was more evident in the groups that already had considerably high baseline capacity in January 2020.

It was possible to identify inequalities in the hospital capacity to care for patients affected by COVID -19 in the Health Regions of Brazil, with a concentration of low index values in the Northeast and North of the country. As the indicator increased throughout the year 2020, inequalities were also observed. The information here provided may be used by health authorities, providers, and managers in planning and adjusting for future COVID-19 care and in dimensioning the adequate supply of hospital beds, health-care professionals, and devices in Health Regions to reduce associated morbidity and mortality. We recommend that the ICI continue to be calculated in the coming months of the pandemic to monitor the capacity in the country’s Health Regions.

This study aimed to investigate university students’ risk perception, protective measures, and general health during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Turkey.

The research sample consisted of 1920 university students. The data were collected through an online questionnaire.

A total of 56.6% of the students considered their risk of being infected with the COVID-19. The number of measures taken by students was lower than expected. Students’ increased anxiety perceived individual risk level, insufficient social support perceptions, and their perceptions of the current pandemic more serious than previous epidemics affect the number of measures they take. Students had sleep and study problems, and suicidal thoughts in the social isolation period. Sex, studying in medicine, anxiety related to COVID-19, feeling unconfident in coping with the pandemic, social support, were determined to be risk factors regarding general health, sleep and study problems, and suicidal thoughts.

The results of the study showed that the measures taken by university students were insufficient and the precautions were affected by many factors. It was determined that their health was adversely affected by the pandemic. University administrations and decision-makers should consider the risk factors to improve the students’ experiences in such pandemics and emergencies.

This study seeks to empirically investigate how the changing eating habits affect health habits within three countries with entirely different cultures and diets to understand to what extent the pandemic may be responsible for these changes.

Specifically, a questionnaire was conducted in China, Portugal and Turkey in early 2021. A series of statistical analyses were performed to identify how changes in individuals’ eating habits have influenced their diets, considering the pandemic context and the varying cultural contexts where this research was performed.

A structured questionnaire form was developed and uploaded to an online platform with unique links for automatic distribution to respondents in each country. Data for the main survey were gathered between 3 January and 1 February 2021.

Using snowball sampling, the authors leveraged their social networks by asking friends and colleagues to distribute the survey to potentially interested individuals. This distribution was stratified accordingly to the distribution of the population. The authors ultimately collected 319 useable surveys from China, 351 from Portugal and 449 from Turkey.

The pandemic inspired healthier food habits, mostly because people have additional time to cook, shop differently for food and spend more money on groceries.

The study suggests that aside from cultural values and dietary habits, the available time and the fear of the pandemic most explained the new eating habits. Several implications are provided for researchers and overall society in these three countries.

To examine the appropriateness of the decision to quarantine healthcare workers (HCWs) exposed to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Retrospective cohort study.

A tertiary-care medical center in Israel.

HCWs exposed to a coworker infected with severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Quarantined and nonquarantined HCWs were followed for up to 1 month following exposure and their COVID-19 status was determined. The validity of the decision to quarantine was assessed.

In total, 2,595 HCWs exposed to 419 confirmed index cases were studied. Of the contact cases, 752 HCWs were quarantined and 1,843 HCWs were not. Of those quarantined, 36 became SARS-CoV-2 positive (4.7%). Among those who were not quarantined, only 13 (0.7%) became SARS-CoV-2 positive, which translated to a sensitivity of 73.5% and a specificity of 71.9% for the decision to quarantine (positive and negative predictive values: 4.7% and 99.3%, respectively). Controlling for confounders, the decision to quarantine the HCW by the Israeli Ministry of Health guidelines was associated with a significant risk of becoming SARS-CoV-2 positive (RR, 3.83; 95% CI, 1.98–7.36; P = .001). If a nonselective policy was used, 11,700 working days would have been lost (902 working days lost per positive case).

An efficient and tight system of HCW contact investigations served its purpose in our hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was based on HCW reports and reported adherence to safety regulations, and these findings are relevant to the massive pandemic waves due to the SARS-CoV-2 α (alpha) variant. These Methods demonstrate an effective way of handling risk without causing damage due to arbitrary risk-control measures.

To estimate the prevalence of online grocery shopping in a nationally representative sample and describe demographic correlates with online grocery shopping.

The Nielsen COVID-19 Shopper Behavior Survey was administered to a subset of Nielsen National Consumer Panel participants in July 2020. We used survey weighted-multivariable logistic regression to examine demographic correlates of having ever online grocery shopped.

Online survey.

18 598 Nielsen National Consumer Panel participants in the USA.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents had purchased groceries online, and among prior purchasers, 89 % indicated that they would continue to online grocery shop in the next month. Canned/packaged foods were the most shopped for grocery category online, followed by beverages, fresh foods and lastly frozen foods. In adjusted analyses, younger respondents (39 years or less) were more likely (47 %) to have ever shopped for groceries online than older age groups (40–54 years, 55–64 years and 65+ years) (29 %, 22 % and 23 %, respectively, all P < 0·001). Those with greater than a college degree were more likely to have ever grocery shopped online (45 %) than respondents with some college education (39 %) and with a high school education or less (32 %) (both P < 0·001). Having children, having a higher income and experiencing food insecurity, particularly among higher income food-insecure households, were also associated with a higher probability of prior online grocery shopping.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transition to online grocery shopping. Future research should explore the nutrition implications of online grocery shopping.

The survival cox analysis is becoming more popular in time-to-event data analysis. When there are unobserved /unmeasured individual factors, then the results of this model may not be dependable. Hence, this study aimed to determine the factors associated with Covid-19 patients’ survival time with considering frailty factor.

This study was conducted at 1 of the hospitals in Iran, so that hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were included. Epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, and outcome data on admission were extracted from electronic medical records. Gamma-frailty Cox model was used to identify the effects of the risk factors.

A total of 360 patients with COVID-19 enrolled in the study. The median age was 74 years (IQR 61 – 83), 903 (57·7%) were men, and 661 (42·3%) were women; the mortality rate was 17%. The Cox frailty model showed that there is at least a latent factor in the model (P = 0.005). Age and platelet count were negatively associated with the length of stay, while red blood cell count was positively associated with the length of stay of patients.

The Cox frailty model indicates that in addition to age, the frailty factor is a useful predictor of survival in Covid-19 patients.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic challenged health care systems in an unprecedented way. Due to the enormous amount of hospital ward and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, regular care came to a standstill, thereby overcrowding ICUs and endangering (regular and COVID-19-related) critical care. Acute care coordination centers were set up to safely manage the influx of COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, treatments requiring ICU surveillance were postponed leading to increased waiting lists.

A coordination center organizing patient transfers and admissions could reduce overcrowding and optimize in-hospital capacity.

The acute lack of hospital capacity urged the region West-Netherlands to form a new regional system for patient triage and transfer: the Regional Capacity and Patient Transfer Service (RCPS). By combining hospital capacity data and a new method of triage and transfer, the RCPS was able to effectively select patients for transfer to other hospitals within the region or, in close collaboration with the National Capacity and Patient Transfer Service (LCPS), transfer patients to hospitals in other regions within the Netherlands.

From March 2020 through December 2021 (22 months), the RCPS West-Netherlands was requested to transfer 2,434 COVID-19 patients. After adequate triage, 1,720 patients with a mean age of 62 (SD = 13) years were transferred with the help of the RCPS West-Netherlands. This concerned 1,166 ward patients (68%) and 554 ICU patients (32%). Overcrowded hospitals were relieved by transferring these patients to hospitals with higher capacity.

The health care system in the region West-Netherlands benefitted from the RCPS for both ward and ICU occupation. Due to the coordination by the RCPS, regional ICU occupation never exceeded the maximal ICU capacity, and therefore patients in need for acute direct care could always be admitted at the ICU. The presented method can be useful in reducing the waiting lists caused by the delayed care and for coordination and transfer of patients with new variants or other infectious diseases in the future.

The COVID-19 second wave badly affected India. This study assessed public preparedness and attitude towards a new lockdown in the state of West Bengal (WB) along with perception about the COVID pandemic situation.

An anonymous questionnaire was administered to all willing adult attendees of a COVID vaccination centre in Kolkata, capital city of WB. Logistic regression was applied to find the relationship between attitude towards lockdown and other selected independent variables.

Of the 839 persons analyzed, 72.0% were non-health workers; and 55.4% thought that available vaccines reduce COVID-19 risk. Among them, 54.4% wanted stricter guidelines imposed. For preparedness, 42.6% and 28.8% said they would stock additional food and medicines respectively. On multiple logistic regression, being female, having elderly family members, perceiving the second wave as worse, and favouring stricter restrictions, all had odds of favourable attitude towards the new, proposed lockdown.

A new lockdown was favoured by the majority. However, a well-planned and phased approach for this is needed in the light of many concerns about the previous lockdown. Mental health issues, financial security, medical help at hand, and ease of travel to workplaces are important issues that need to be addressed in case of future lockdown(s).