Comparisons Between COVID-19 Stigma and Other Stigmas: Distinct in Explicit Attitudes and Similar in Implicit Process

Tuberculosis related barriers and facilitators among immigrants in Atlantic Canada: A qualitative study

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis and affects approximately one-quarter of the world's population. Immigrant populations in Canada are disproportionately affected by TB. Canada's immigration medical examinations include screening for active TB but not latent TB infection (LTBI). In LTBI, the bacterium remains dormant within the host but can reactivate and cause disease. Once active, TB can be transmitted to close contacts sharing confined spaces leading to the possibility of outbreaks in the broader community. This study aimed to 1) assess the current TB knowledge, perceived risk, and risk behaviors of immigrants in Atlantic Canada as well as 2) identify barriers and facilitators to testing and treatment of TB among this population. Three focus group discussions were conducted with a total of 14 non-Canadian born residents of New Brunswick aged 19 years and older. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Four themes were identified from the data relating to barriers to testing and treatment of LTBI: 1) Need for education, 2) stigma, 3) fear of testing, treatment, and healthcare system, and 4) complacency. Results included reasons individuals would not receive TB testing, treatment, or seek help, as well as facilitators to testing and treatment. These findings may inform the implemention of an LTBI screening program in Atlantic Canada and more broadly across the country.

SARS-CoV-2 case detection using community event-based surveillance system-February-September 2020: lessons learned from Senegal

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the rapid development and implementation of effective surveillance systems to detect and respond to the outbreak in Senegal. In this documentation, we describe the design and implementation of the Community Event-Based Surveillance (CEBS) system in Senegal to strengthen the existing Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system. The CEBS system used a hotline and toll-free number to collect and triage COVID-19-related calls from the community. Data from the CEBS system were integrated with the national system for further investigation and laboratory testing. From February to September 2020, a total of 10 760 calls were received by the CEBS system, with 10 751 calls related to COVID-19. The majority of calls came from the Dakar region, which was the epicentre of the outbreak in Senegal. Of the COVID-19 calls, 50.2% were validated and referred to health districts for further investigation, and 25% of validated calls were laboratory-confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2. The implementation of the CEBS system allowed for timely detection and response to potential COVID-19 cases, contributing to the overall surveillance efforts in the country. Lessons learned from this experience include the importance of decentralised CEBS, population sensitisation on hotlines and toll-free usage, and the potential role of Community Health Workers in triaging alerts that needs further analysis. This experience highlights the contribution of a CEBS system in Senegal and provides insights into the design and operation of such a system. The findings can inform other countries in strengthening their surveillance systems and response strategies.

Stigma, Post-traumatic Stress, and COVID-19 Vaccination Intent in Mongolia, India, and the United States

Background: Stigma and discrimination during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have increased precipitously worldwide. This multinational study examines how stigma, blaming groups for virus spread, concern regarding contracting the virus, resource loss, life satisfaction, and protective behaviors that help control the spread of COVID-19 are associated with post-traumatic stress and vaccine intent in Mongolia, India, and the United States. Method: 1429 people in Mongolia, India, and the United States completed measures assessing stigma during the COVID-19 pandemic, post-traumatic stress, blame, protective behaviors, and vaccine intent. Results: Mean post-traumatic stress scores in all three countries exceeded the cut-off that is commonly used to determine probable post-traumatic stress. Post-traumatic stress was associated with COVID-19 stigma experience, personal behavior change due to COVID-19 stigma, blaming groups for the spread of COVID-19, fear of COVID-19, and resource loss. In India and the United States, personal behavior change due to COVID-19 stigma, anger at individuals spreading COVID-19, and perceived susceptibility to illness were positively associated with vaccine intent. Conclusions: Stigma is a collateral stressor during the pandemic. The findings underscore the importance of prompt action to address stigma as a deleterious consequence of the pandemic. The findings illuminate potential barriers to receiving the vaccine and provide direction for future research to address barriers.

Trait Empathy Modulates Patterns of Personal and Social Emotions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound consequences on people's personal and social feelings worldwide. However, little is known about whether individual differences in empathy, a prosocial trait, may affect the emotional feelings under such threat. To address this, we measured 345 Chinese participants' personal emotions (e.g., active, nervous), social emotions (i.e., fearful and empathetic feelings about various social groups), and their empathy traits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the representational similarity analysis (RSA), we calculated the pattern similarity of personal emotions and found the similarity between the positive and negative emotions was less in the high vs. low empathy groups. In addition, people with high (vs. low) empathy traits were more likely to have fearful and sympathetic feelings about the disease-related people (i.e., depression patients, suspected COVID-19 patients, COVID-19 patients, flu patients, SARS patients, AIDS patients, schizophrenic patients) and showed more pattern dissimilarity in the two social feelings toward the disease-related people. These findings suggest a prominent role of trait empathy in modulating emotions across different domains, strengthening the polarization of personal emotions as well as enlarging social feelings toward a set of stigmatized groups when facing a pandemic threat.