Public Compliance Matters in Evidence-Based Public Health Policy: Evidence from Evaluating Social Distancing in the First Wave of COVID-19

Context Matters: Patterns in Physical Distancing Behavior Across Situations and Over Time During the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Netherlands

BACKGROUND

Physical distancing is an effective preventative measure during respiratory infectious disease outbreaks. Prior studies on distancing behaviors have largely ignored context characteristics (physical, social) and time.

PURPOSE

We investigated patterns in physical distancing over time and across situations, as well as sociodemographic variation herein.

METHODS

We employed data from five rounds of a cohort study conducted throughout the pandemic by the Dutch public health institute (RIVM; N ≈ 50.000 per round). We conducted Latent Class Analyses to investigate patterns of physical distancing in a range of situations, followed by regression models to investigate associations between distancing behavior and sociodemographic and context characteristics.

RESULTS

Participants differed in their general tendency to adhere to distancing guidelines across situations, but there were also substantial differences in distancing behavior between situations, particularly at work, with friends and family and outdoors. Distancing at work was strongly associated with work environment characteristics. Younger age groups reported less distancing behavior, particularly with close relations (friends or family) and at work. In periods when the pandemic situation was most severe, people adhered more strongly to distancing guidelines and age differences were most pronounced during these periods.

CONCLUSIONS

Physical and social context matters for physical distancing, highlighting the importance of developing strategies for pandemic preparedness that improve opportunities for physical distancing (e.g., reducing crowding, one-way traffic) and accommodate young people to safely meet even in times of high pandemic severity and lockdowns. Future studies should account for the physical and social context in which distancing behavior is observed.

Beyond the Books: COVID-19's Influence on Future Life Behaviors of Aspiring Medical and Health Professionals

BACKGROUND

The lifestyle of most people was forced to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps after the pandemic, we will find that these subtle changes in life and from the depths of our hearts are thorough and profound. They may form our conceptual consensus and behavioral habits, becoming part of our long-term personal consciousness. This study explored the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the future life behavior intentions of medical and health-related students studying at universities in China.

METHODS

Electronic questionnaires were distributed to students studying at 3 universities in China. A total of 251 valid questionnaires were obtained, and the chi-squared test was used to compare the corresponding groups.

RESULTS

In the future, students plan to pay more attention to wearing masks and maintaining social distance in public places, do more online shopping, have more meals at home or in the canteen, engage in less international travel, and have fewer gatherings with friends. However, compared with Chinese students, more non-Chinese students plan to increase domestic and international travel and reduce online learning. Furthermore, only among non-Chinese students did gender, urban or rural origin, and family economic conditions influence how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their future life behaviors.

CONCLUSION

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the future life behavior intentions of medical and health-related students. The future behaviors of these students will impact the entire society. This study will help the government and policymakers predict and prepare for general lifestyle changes in our society.

Variation in Global Policy Responses to COVID-19: A Bidirectional Analysis

Against the unprecedented outbreaks of the COVID-19 variants, countries have introduced restrictive measures with discretion, ranging from lifting the closure thoroughly to implementing stringent policies, but all together guarding the global public health. Under the changing circumstances, we firstly apply the panel data vector autoregression (PVAR) model, using a sample of 176 countries/territories from 15 June 2021 to 15 April 2022, to estimate the potential associations among the policy responses, the progression of COVID-19 in deaths and vaccination, and medical resources possessed. Furthermore, we use the random effect method and the fixed effect speculation, to examine the determinants of policy variances across regions and over time. Our work has four main findings. Firstly, it showed the existence of a bidirectional relationship between the policy stringency and variables of interest including new daily deaths, the fully vaccinated percentage and health capacity. Secondly, conditional on the availability of vaccines, the sensitivity of policy responses to the death numbers tends to decline. Thirdly, the role of health capacity matters in coexisting with the virus mutation. Fourthly, regarding the variance in policy responses over time, the impact of new deaths tends to be seasonal. As to geographical differences in policy responses, we present the analysis for Asia, Europe, and Africa, and they show different levels of dependencies on the determinants. These findings suggest that bidirectional correlations exist in the complex context of wrestling with the COVID-19, as government interventions exert influence on the virus spread, the policy responses also progress alongside multiple factors evolving in the pandemic. This study will help policymakers, practitioners, and academia to formulate a comprehensive understanding of the interactions between policy responses and the contextualized implementation factors.

COVID-19 Pandemic and International Students' Mental Health in China: Age, Gender, Chronic Health Condition and Having Infected Relative as Risk Factors

International students in China were among the first group of individuals to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic's impact on their mental health is underexplored. This study-utilizing web-based survey data (N = 381), presents preliminary reports using ANOVA and MIMIC analytic approaches. Following the clinical demarcation of the 21-item version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), we found 24.6%, 38.3%, and 43.6% of the students to suffer mild to extreme stress, anxiety, and depression, respectively. Female students reported significantly higher levels of stress and depression than males. Older students' reports of stress were more substantial than younger students. Students who reported having a relative infected with the virus (vs. those without) experienced significantly higher anxiety and stress. Those who reported having pre-existing chronic health condition(s) (vs. those without) also reported significantly higher stress, anxiety, and depression levels. Moreover, students with an exercise routine (vs. those without) experienced significantly lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Last, our MIMIC model results indicate that foreign students' age, gender, chronic health status, and having a relative infected with the virus constitute significant risk factors explaining variations in foreign students' experience of psychological distress. Implications for international students' management have been thoroughly discussed.