COVID-19 Apps as a Digital Intervention Policy: A Longitudinal Panel Data Analysis in South Korea

Cyber violence caused by the disclosure of route information during the COVID-19 pandemic

Disclosure of patients' travel route information by government departments has been an effective and indispensable pandemic prevention and control measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this measure may make patients susceptible to cyber violence (CV). We selected 13 real cases that occurred in China during the COVID-19 pandemic for analysis. We identified several characteristics that commonly appeared due to route information, such as rumors about and moral condemnation of patients, and determined that patients who are the first locally confirmed cases of a particular wave of the pandemic are more likely to be the victims of CV. We then analyzed and compared six real cases using data mining and network analysis approaches. We found that disclosing travel route information increases the risk of exposing patients to CV, especially those who violate infection prevention regulations. In terms of disseminating information, we found that mainstream media and influential we-media play an essential role. Based on the findings, we summarized the formation mechanism of route information disclosure-caused CV and proposed three practical suggestions-namely, promote the publicity of the media field with the help of mainstream media and influential we-media, optimize the route information collection and disclosure system, and ease public anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic. To our knowledge, this study is one of the first to focus on CV on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that our findings can help governments better carry out pandemic prevention and control measures on a global scale.

Assessing personal exposure to COVID-19 transmission in public indoor spaces based on fine-grained trajectory data: A simulation study

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed substantial challenges to worldwide health systems in quick response to epidemics. The assessment of personal exposure to COVID-19 in enclosed spaces is critical to identifying potential infectees and preventing outbreaks. However, traditional contact tracing methods rely heavily on a manual interview, which is costly and time consuming given the large population involved. With advanced indoor localisation techniques, it is possible to collect people's footprints accurately by locating their smartphones. This study presents a new framework for the assessment of personal exposure to COVID-19 carriers using their fine-grained trajectory data. An integral model was established to quantify the exposure risk, in which the spatial and temporal decay effects are simultaneously considered when modelling the airborne transmission of COVID-19. Regarding the obstacle effect of the indoor layout on airborne transmission, a weight graph based on the space syntax technique was further introduced to constrain the transmission strength between subspaces that are less inter-visible. The proposed framework was demonstrated by a simulation study, in which external comparison and internal analysis were conducted to justify its validity and robustness in different scenarios. Our method is expected to promote the efficient identification of potential infectees and provide an extensible spatial-temporal model to simulate different control measures and examine their effectiveness in a built environment.

Investigation of Statistical Machine Learning Models for COVID-19 Epidemic Process Simulation: Random Forest, K-Nearest Neighbors, Gradient Boosting

COVID-19 has become the largest pandemic in recent history to sweep the world. This study is devoted to developing and investigating three models of the COVID-19 epidemic process based on statistical machine learning and the evaluation of the results of their forecasting. The models developed are based on Random Forest, K-Nearest Neighbors, and Gradient Boosting methods. The models were studied for the adequacy and accuracy of predictive incidence for 3, 7, 10, 14, 21, and 30 days. The study used data on new cases of COVID-19 in Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Ukraine. These countries are selected because they have different dynamics of the COVID-19 epidemic process, and their governments have applied various control measures to contain the pandemic. The simulation results showed sufficient accuracy for practical use in the K-Nearest Neighbors and Gradient Boosting models. Public health agencies can use the models and their predictions to address various pandemic containment challenges. Such challenges are investigated depending on the duration of the constructed forecast.

A comparative analysis of COVID-19 vaccination certificates in 12 countries/regions around the world: Rationalising health policies for international travel and domestic social activities during the pandemic

As the unprecedented pandemic of COVID-19 became a major barrier during the past two years, many countries were using the “COVID pass” or COVID-19 vaccination certificates in attempts to facilitate effective international travel and domestic social activities. The difficulty remained in how the “COVID pass” from different countries and regions could be mutually recognised. This study surveys the current practice of COVID-19 vaccination certificates in 12 representative countries/regions around the world and provides a comprehensive mapping of the vaccination certificates in these countries/regions. The study compares and contrasts the vaccination certificates in both format and content, including their primary purposes, international accreditation, naming conventions, recipients’ personal information, and the details on vaccines and vaccination. The findings are interpreted in light of implementation practices in each country/region and discussed in relation to their various functions, as well as legal, technical, and ethical considerations. Based on the analysis and discussion recommendations are made on the practice of vaccination certificates in attempts to facilitate effective international travel and domestic social activities.