Six lessons from first year COVID-19 restrictions: what can we do better in the future?

COVID-19 Government restriction policy, COVID-19 vaccination and stock markets: Evidence from a global perspective

We use the COVID-19 stringency index to investigate the relationship among COVID-19 government restriction policy, COVID-19 vaccination and stock markets. We find that the impact of the change rate of COVID-19 stringency index on stock returns turns from significant in the pre-vaccination period to insignificant in the post-vaccination period. Bad news from COVID-19 restriction policy cause more stock volatilities than good news. The advent of COVID-19 vaccination weakens the linkage of COVID-19 stringency index and stock market, while COVID-19 stringency index only plays a partially mediate role in the correlation between COVID-19 cumulative vaccination rate and stock market performance.

Evaluating the quality of the public transport service during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perception of two user groups

The current paper focuses on a comparative analysis of both public transport (PT) and private vehicle (PV) users' perceptions on the quality of the service. To detect the key components of PT attributes a new hybrid methodology is applied, combining the importance-performance analysis and the importance-performance map analysis. The proposed hybrid approach is simpler and more integrated than the existing methods in the literature. The sample comprises an online panel and a total of 1028 questionnaires for PV and PT users surveyed during the pandemic period in Budapest. The results of the applied methods show that among the different groups, the service hour, the proximity, and the frequency attributes are important and performed well in the years of COVID-19. On the other hand, the temperature and the cleanliness factors are not significant predictors of the PV and PT users' general satisfaction. The obtained results can be used by local governments and authorities, who seek to identify areas to enhance the service quality of PT during movement restrictions in a pandemic wave.

COVID-19 outbreak and rural household food security in the Western Democratic Republic of the Congo

Although global assessments of the initial impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have focused on income, jobs, and health conditions, this study constitutes one of the first studies that assessed the impact of COVID-19 on food security in DRC and established the short-term implications of the COVID-19 outbreak on rural households' food security in DRC. In addition, the study recommendations contributed to shaping government interventions toward the pandemic in the Country. The study used data from four western provinces of the country on 1339 households. Our results show that 80 % of households experienced an increase in food prices, 61 % a noticeable decrease in the availability of food, and 54 % a decrease in their dietary diversity. Due to changes in food availability, dietary diversity, and food accessibility imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, >70 % of households experienced either a decrease in the consumption of meat, milk, fish, and cereals or an increase in their consumption of traditional vegetables. In addition, COVID-19 significantly affected food security dimensions in larger households, households with a greater number of members aged 35 years and above, households headed by women, households where members participate in associations or cooperatives, households that depend on crop sales as the major source of income, and in poorer households. These findings highlight the significant implications of the COVID-19 outbreak on household food security in western DRC and underscore the need for emergency interventions to strengthen the resilience of rural people and accelerate their recovery and other long-term measures toward sustainable and inclusive development.

The Impacts of a COVID-19 Related Lockdown (and Reopening Phases) on Time Use and Mobility for Activities in Austria—Results from a Multi-Wave Combined Survey

When activity locations were shut down in the first lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Austria, people reduced their trips accordingly. Based on a dataset obtained through a weeklong mobility and activity survey we analyse mobility and time use changes, as well as changes in activity locations and secondary activities. Regression analysis is used to analyse differences in time use changes between socio-demographic groups. We show that trip rates and distances as well as public transport use dropped significantly during the lockdown and did not recover fully in the subsequent opening phase. Former travel time was used for additional leisure, sleep, domestic tasks, and eating in the lockdown, but only the latter two retained their increases in the opening phase. The lockdown resulted in a convergence of time use of socio-demographic groups with formerly different patterns, but the differences reappeared in the opening phase. Our findings are consistent with results from the literature but offer an integrated perspective on mobility and time use not found in either mobility- or time use-focussed studies. We conclude that there is a potential for trip reduction through a shift to virtual performance of activities, but the extent of this shift in post-pandemic times remains unclear.