How has COVID-19, lockdown and social distancing changed alcohol drinking patterns? A cross-cultural perspective between britons and spaniards

The Impact of (COVID)-19 on Beverage Purchasing Behaviors in Korea

Objective: In this study, we examined changes in purchase behavior of alcoholic beverages (ie, soju, beer, wine, traditional Korean liquor, and liquor) and non-alcoholic beverages (ie, fruit and vegetable juices, coffee, tea, bottled water, milk, yogurt, and plant-based milk) before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Monthly beverage expenditure data, based on Korean household demographic information, was used for 3 years and 6 months. The 2-part model was used for analysis. To examine the effect of COVID-19, beverage expenditure was analyzed after dividing it into short-term and long-term effects. Results: Our results show that the probability of purchasing alcoholic beverages increased owing to the long-term effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The amounts of beer, wine, and traditional Korean liquor purchased increased in the long-term. The purchase of sweet drinks decreased (ie, fruit and vegetable juices and yogurt) in the long-term because of the effect of the pandemic. On the other hand, tea, water, and plant-based milk expenditures increased. Conclusion: This beverage consumption pattern reflects both unhealthy (ie, an increase in alcoholic beverage purchases) and healthy drinking behaviors (ie, a decrease in sweet beverage purchases and an increase in tea, water, and plant-based milk purchases).

Physical proximity as pleasure or pain? A critical review of employee–customer proximity in sales and services settings

This paper presents a critical review of published findings pertaining to the physical proximity between employees and customers in various sales and service settings. Following an overview of this stream of research, reflections are then offered on how the concepts of personal space and physical proximity may have changed in terms of their financial and well-being-related effects as a function of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the risk of infection in interpersonal interactions, and despite the affiliative aspects associated with physical proximity, recent recipes for success—as advocated by academics—may eventually have a negative impact on multiple crucial metrics in a post-pandemic world, such that employees’ physical proximity to customers may soon come with a wide array of costly consequences. The article concludes with a set of future research directions.

Daily Habits of Brazilians at Different Moments of the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND

The COVID 19 pandemic impacted the health and well-being of different populations around the world. The aim of this study is to investigate the changes in the daily habits of Brazilians before and during two moments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A longitudinal study in which an online questionnaire (sleeping time, alcohol consumption, smoking, use of screen devices, physical activity, and dietary patterns) was applied at three moments.

RESULTS

The frequency of alcohol consumption, smoking, and sleep hours did not change significantly at different times. For the number of alcoholic beverages, there was a reduction in consumption from T0 to T1 and an increase from T1 to T2. There was a significant increase in hours of screen device use from T0 to T1, remaining high at T2. Finally, the level of physical activity in minutes reduced from T0 to T1, returning to base levels at T2. As for eating habits, there was an increase in the frequency of consumption of instant meals, fast food, and sweets at the first moment, with a significant reduction at the second moment. The consumption of legumes, milk and dairy products, bakery products, and meats was higher at T2.

CONCLUSIONS

Some habits returned to or approached T0 levels. However, other habits remained unchanged, such as screen time and frequency of consumption of some food groups, throughout the last evaluation.

An easy numeric data augmentation method for early-stage COVID-19 tweets exploration of participatory dynamics of public attention and news coverage

With the onset of COVID-19, the pandemic has aroused huge discussions on social media like Twitter, followed by many social media analyses concerning it. Despite such an abundance of studies, however, little work has been done on reactions from the public and officials on social networks and their associations, especially during the early outbreak stage. In this paper, a total of 9,259,861 COVID-19-related English tweets published from 31 December 2019 to 11 March 2020 are accumulated for exploring the participatory dynamics of public attention and news coverage during the early stage of the pandemic. An easy numeric data augmentation (ENDA) technique is proposed for generating new samples while preserving label validity. It attains superior performance on text classification tasks with deep models (BERT) than an easier data augmentation method. To demonstrate the efficacy of ENDA further, experiments and ablation studies have also been implemented on other benchmark datasets. The classification results of COVID-19 tweets show tweets peaks trigged by momentous events and a strong positive correlation between the daily number of personal narratives and news reports. We argue that there were three periods divided by the turning points on January 20 and February 23 and the low level of news coverage suggests the missed windows for government response in early January and February. Our study not only contributes to a deeper understanding of the dynamic patterns and relationships of public attention and news coverage on social media during the pandemic but also sheds light on early emergency management and government response on social media during global health crises.

TLR3 activation with poly I:C exacerbates escalated alcohol consumption in dependent male C57BL/6J mice

Background: Activation of TLR3 receptors, which are sensitive to viral infection, has emerged as a possible mechanism that increases alcohol intake in rodents.Objectives: These studies examined whether a history of ethanol dependence exacerbated the increase in drinking driven by the TLR3 agonist poly I:C.Methods: Male C57BL/6J mice (>10 per group) were given access to ethanol (20% v/v) 2 hours a day following a history of home cage drinking or after having been rendered ethanol-dependent using a chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) vapor model. After testing multiple doses, a 5 mg/kg repeated poly I:C challenge was used to probe the effects of repeated immune challenge, alone or in conjunction with repeated cycles of CIE, on voluntary drinking. An ethanol (12% v/v) operant self-administration model was used to test the effects of poly I:C on stress-induced reinstatement of ethanol seeking and consumption.Results: Poly I:C in naive animals resulted in transient, modest increases in ethanol intake in the home cage and in self-administration (p < 0.05). However, poly I:C challenge resulted in sensitized stress-induced ethanol consumption and evoked a strong and persistent escalation of drinking in mice with a history of dependence (p < 0.05 for both).Conclusion: Activation of viral immune defense may affect ethanol consumption in dependence and sensitivity to future stressors. As patients who suffer from alcohol use disorder are at a heightened risk for viral infection, this interaction could generate risk factors for exacerbating behaviors associated with Alcohol Use Disorders via an immune mechanism.

Touch, threats, and transactions: Pandemic influences on consumer responses and the mediating role of touch likelihood when shopping for fruits and vegetables

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced consumer behavior in numerous ways. Most of the public health measures have centered around minimizing social contact and physical touch. In the present study, we investigate the impact of such touch restrictions, introduced during the pandemic, on consumers' shopping responses and payment preferences in the context of a perishable food category amenable to tactile evaluation (fresh fruits and vegetables). The study used a single-factor between-subjects design (during vs. before the COVID-19 pandemic), with the data collected in a scenario-based online experiment from a sample of 729 participants. The results revealed significantly less favorable shopping responses during (vs. before) the pandemic in terms of purchase likelihood, satisfaction levels, and purchase confidence. Touch likelihood mediated the link between pandemic condition and shopping responses, such that participants in the pandemic condition reported a significantly lower touch likelihood of fresh fruits and vegetables than their counterparts in the pre-pandemic condition, which ultimately resulted in less favorable shopping responses. Participants in the pandemic condition also reported a decreased preference for tangible payment options (cash), with a corresponding increase in preferences for contactless payment methods (credit card or mobile payment). These findings contribute to our understanding of whether and how tactile aspects may influence consumers' shopping responses, offering important implications for retailers and people working in the food industry.

Alcohol Use and Misuse Among Chinese Psychiatrists During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic

AIM

Survey alcohol use and misuse among Chinese psychiatrists during the Coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

METHODS

We conducted a large-scale, nationwide online survey of psychiatrists regarding their alcohol use during the pandemic. The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Concise (AUDIT-C) was used to assess alcohol use and misuse.

RESULTS

Of 3,815 psychiatrists who completed the survey, alcohol use and misus were 47.5% and 8.2%, respectively, and both were significantly higher in males. The majority (59%) reported no change in alcohol use during the pandemic, one-third (34.5%) reported a decrease, and 6.5% reported an increase. Alcohol misuse was associated with middle-age (OR = 1.418), male sex (OR = 5.089), Northeast China (OR = 1.507), cigarette-smoking (OR = 2.335), insomnia (OR = 1.660), and regular exercise (OR = 1.488). A master's degree (OR = 0.714) and confidence in clinical work (OR = 0.610) were associated with less alcohol misuse. Those who reported a decrease in alcohol use during the pandemic were more likely to be male (OR = 2.011), located in Northeast China (OR = 1.994), and feel confident in their clinical work (OR = 1.624). Increased alcohol use was significantly associated with insomnia (OR = 3.139).

CONCLUSIONS

During the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol use and misuse among Chinese psychiatrists declined. While males were more likely to misuse alcohol, they were also more likely to have reduced their intake. Age, location, and lifestyle factors also predicted alcohol use and misuse. Further examination of specific factors that reduced alcohol use and misuse may help guide public health efforts to sustain the lower rates beyond the pandemic.

The alcohol consumption of wine drinkers with the onset of Covid-19

The onset of Covid-19 has been the most evident global crisis of the current decade so far. This study explores the difference between professionals in the drinks industry and non-professional wine lovers and the impact on their consumption behaviour of wine and other alcoholic beverages in the early stages of the pandemic, particularly in the context of anxiety. A survey by questionnaire was administered worldwide from the end of March to the end of June 2020 to test four research hypotheses. Results are relevant for the alcoholic beverage industry and public policy. They highlight a higher incidence of unchanged alcohol consumption among non-professionals. They also reveal similarities and differences in changes in consumption behaviour and trends among the two cohorts. Anxiety has an impact on the wine consumption of professionals, and on beer consumption of non-professionals, where the gender and age of respondents are also relevant. The findings of a short qualitative data-collection process enrich our understanding of the results.