Hate Speech in a Telegram Conspiracy Channel During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Research has explored how the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a wave of conspiratorial thinking and online hate speech, but little is empirically known about how different phases of the pandemic are associated with hate speech against adversaries identified by online conspiracy communities. This study addresses this gap by combining observational methods with exploratory automated text analysis of content from an Italian-themed conspiracy channel on Telegram during the first year of the pandemic. We found that, before the first lockdown in early 2020, the primary target of hate was China, which was blamed for a new bioweapon. Yet over the course of 2020 and particularly after the beginning of the second lockdown, the primary targets became journalists and healthcare workers, who were blamed for exaggerating the threat of COVID-19. This study advances our understanding of the association between hate speech and a complex and protracted event like the COVID-19 pandemic, and it suggests that country-specific responses to the virus (e.g., lockdowns and re-openings) are associated with online hate speech against different adversaries depending on the social and political context.

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Glycemic Control in Adults with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.

AIM: To examine the impact of the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on both the glycemic control and the daily habits of a group of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) using flash continuous glucose monitoring devices (flash CGMs). METHODS: Retrospective analysis based on all the information gathered in virtual consultations from a cohort of 50 adult patients with T1DM with follow-up at our site. We compared their CGM metrics during lockdown with their own previous data before the pandemic occurred, as well as the potential psychological and therapeutic changes. RESULTS: We observed a reduction of average glucose values: 160.26 ± 22.55 mg/dL vs 150 ± 20.96 mg/dL, P = .0009; estimated glycosylated hemoglobin: 7.21 ± 0.78% vs 6.83 ± 0.71%, P = .0005; glucose management indicator 7.15 ± 0.57% vs 6.88 ± 0.49%; P = .0003, and glycemic variability: 40.74 ± 6.66 vs 36.43 ± 6.09 P < .0001. Time in range showed an improvement: 57.46 ± 11.85% vs a 65.76 ± 12.09%, P < .0001, without an increase in percentage of time in hypoglycemia. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 lockdown was associated with an improvement in glycemic control in patients with T1DM using CGMs.