Attitudes, behaviours and barriers to public health measures for COVID-19: a survey to inform public health messaging.

BACKGROUND: Public support of public health measures including physical distancing, masking, staying home while sick, avoiding crowded indoor spaces and contact tracing/exposure notification applications remains critical for reducing spread of COVID-19. The aim of our work was to understand current behaviours and attitudes towards public health measures as well as barriers individuals face in following public health measures. We also sought to identify attitudes persons have regarding a COVID-19 vaccine and reasons why they may not accept a vaccine. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in August 2020, in Alberta, Canada in persons 18 years and older. This survey evaluated current behaviours, barriers and attitudes towards public health measures and a COVID-19 vaccine. Cluster analysis was used to identify key patterns that summarize data variations among observations. RESULTS: Of the 60 total respondents, the majority of persons were always or often physically distancing (73%), masking (65%) and staying home while sick (67%). Bars/pubs/lounges or nightclubs were visited rarely or never by 63% of respondents. Persons identified staying home while sick to provide the highest benefit (83%) in reducing spread of COVID-19. There were a large proportion of persons who had not downloaded or used a contact tracing/exposure notification app (77%) and who would not receive a COVID-19 vaccine when available (20%) or were unsure (12%). Reporting health authorities as most trusted sources of health information was associated with greater percentage of potential uptake of vaccine but not related to contact tracing app download and use. Individuals with lower concern of getting and spreading COVID-19 showed the least uptake of public health measures except for avoiding public places such as bars. Lower concern regarding COVID-19 was also associated with more negative responses to taking a potential COVID-19 vaccine. CONCLUSION: These results suggest informational frames and themes focusing on individual risks, highlighting concern for COVID-19 and targeting improving trust for health authorities may be most effective in increasing public health measures. With the ultimate goal of preventing spread of COVID-19, understanding persons' attitudes towards both public health measures and a COVID-19 vaccine remains critical to addressing barriers and implementing targeted interventions and messaging to improve uptake.

Canadian Electricity Markets during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Initial Assessment.

This article examines the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on electricity markets across select Canadian provinces, using available data. Using high-frequency electricity data, we find electricity demand declined by roughly 10 percent in Ontario and by about 5 percent in Alberta, British Columbia, and New Brunswick. On the supply side, in Alberta we find reductions from some natural gas plants and an increase in net generation from the oil sands region, whereas Ontario sees an increase in net electricity exports. Policy implications include potential rate impacts as a result of fixed charges spread over a smaller rate base, the potential use of electricity data as a real-time economic indicator during the pandemic, and a call to arms to make electricity data across all Canadian provinces more readily available.

Les auteurs examinent l'effet de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur les marchés de l'électricité dans certaines provinces canadiennes en s'appuyant sur les données disponibles. Leur analyse des données relatives à l'électricité à haute fréquence révèle que la demande d'électricité a diminué d'environ 10 % en Ontario, moins dans les autres provinces étudiées. Du côté de l'offre, en Alberta, ils observent que la production de certaines centrales au gaz naturel a diminué, mais que la production nette à partir des installations des sables bitumineux a augmenté, tandis que l'Ontario a enregistré une augmentation des exportations nettes. Les répercussions de ces constats sur les politiques sont notamment leur incidence potentielle sur les tarifs en raison de frais fixes répartis sur une base tarifaire plus restreinte, l'utilisation potentielle des données sur l'électricité comme indicateur économique en temps réel pendant la pandémie et un cri du cœur pour que soit facilité l'accès aux données sur l'électricité dans toutes les provinces canadiennes.

A Comparison of the Histopathologic Growth Patterns Between Non-Merkel Cell Small Round Blue Cell Tumors and Merkel Cell Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare neuroendocrine cutaneous malignancy that shares cytologic, histopathologic, and immunohistochemical features with other small round blue cell (SRBC) tumors. Although the trabecular pattern is anecdotally associated with MCC, objective data are lacking. METHODS: This was a retrospective institutional review board-approved observational study conducted on microscopic images of 79 MCCs and 74 other SRBC tumors (desmoplastic small round cell tumor, primitive neuroectodermal tumor, neuroblastoma, embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, synovial sarcoma, carcinoid, metastatic small cell lung cancer, non-Hodgkin small cell lymphoma, retinoblastoma, medulloblastoma, nephroblastoma, small cell osteosarcoma, and round cell liposarcoma). An expert dermatopathologist evaluated blinded and randomized microscopic specimens and recorded histologic patterns (diffuse, infiltrative, large anastomosing nests, small islands, any trabecular, focal trabecular, mixed trabecular, and predominately trabecular). RESULTS: Trabecular features were identified in over 72% of MCCs but only rarely in non-MCC SRBC tumors. The presence of any amount of a trabecular pattern favored a diagnosis of MCC over SRBC tumors with a sensitivity of 72.2% and a specificity of 87.8%. If "any" and "focal" trabecular patterns were discounted, specificity rose to 93.2%. CONCLUSION: The presence of a trabecular pattern helps to differentiate MCC from other SRBC tumors, and specificity approaches that achieved with immunostaining.

Changing sensitivity to cold weather in Texas power demand.

We estimate the effect of heightened temperature sensitivity on electricity demand in Texas during the February 2021 blackout event. Using 20 years of hourly data, we estimate the relationship between temperature and electricity demand; finding demand has become more responsive to cold temperatures over time. This is consistent with the fact electric heating has similarly increased over the past 20 years in Texas. We find during the February 2021 event, average electricity demand was 8% higher, and approximately 10,000 MW higher during the peak hour, than it would have been had temperature sensitivity remained unchanged at early 2000s levels. Our results highlight that Texas's increased sensitivity to cold weather extremes is not limited to the supply side, but the demand side as well. These findings have implications to other regions that are seeking to reduce carbon emissions through the electrification of heating.

COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Attitudes and Beliefs in Canada: National Cross-sectional Survey and Cluster Analysis.

BACKGROUND: There are concerns that vaccine hesitancy may impede COVID-19 vaccine rollout and prevent the achievement of herd immunity. Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite their availability. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to identify which people are more and less likely to take a COVID-19 vaccine and factors associated with vaccine hesitancy to inform public health messaging. METHODS: A Canadian cross-sectional survey was conducted in Canada in October and November 2020, prior to the regulatory approval of the COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine hesitancy was measured by respondents answering the question "what would you do if a COVID-19 vaccine were available to you?" Negative binomial regression was used to identify the factors associated with vaccine hesitancy. Cluster analysis was performed to identify distinct clusters based on intention to take a COVID-19 vaccine, beliefs about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines, and adherence to nonpharmaceutical interventions. RESULTS: Of 4498 participants, 2876 (63.9%) reported COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with (1) younger age (18-39 years), (2) lower education, and (3) non-Liberal political leaning. Participants that reported vaccine hesitancy were less likely to believe that a COVID-19 vaccine would end the pandemic or that the benefits of a COVID-19 vaccine outweighed the risks. Individuals with vaccine hesitancy had higher prevalence of being concerned about vaccine side effects, lower prevalence of being influenced by peers or health care professionals, and lower prevalence of trust in government institutions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings can be used to inform targeted public health messaging to combat vaccine hesitancy as COVID-19 vaccine administration continues. Messaging related to preventing COVID among friends and family, highlighting the benefits, emphasizing safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination, and ensuring that health care workers are knowledgeable and supported in their vaccination counselling may be effective for vaccine-hesitant populations.

Characterization of non-adopters of COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions through a national cross-sectional survey to assess attitudes and behaviours.

Adoption of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) remains critical to curtail the spread of COVID-19. Using self-reported adherence to NPIs in Canada, assessed through a national cross-sectional survey of 4498 respondents, we aimed to identify and characterize non-adopters of NPIs, evaluating their attitudes and behaviours to understand barriers and facilitators of adoption. A cluster analysis was used to group adopters separately from non-adopters of NPIs. Associations with sociodemographic factors, attitudes towards COVID-19 and the public health response were assessed using logistic regression models comparing non-adopters to adopters. Of the 4498 respondents, 994 (22%) were clustered as non-adopters. Sociodemographic factors significantly associated with the non-adoption cluster were: (1) being male, (2) age 18-34 years, (3) Albertans, (4) lower education level and (5) higher conservative political leaning. Participants who expressed low concern for COVID-19 and distrust towards several institutions had greater odds of being non-adopters. This information characterizes individuals at greatest odds for non-adoption of NPIs to inform targeted marketing interventions.