ABSTRACT
The global COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 has claimed >3.5 million lives and resulted in detrimental social-economic impact. If reliable and rapid test systems were available at home or community level such as drive-by stations, the scope and impact of this tragedy could be largely reduced. Although the vaccine roll out has helped control the pandemic, it is important to develop rapid and accurate testing methods for detection of the SARS-CoV-2 which can be tuned to respond to its variants or similar corona viruses in response to potential outbreaks. In this work, we present a novel method for detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus based on an antibody functionalized microwave sensor integrated with a microfluidic platform. © 2021 MicroTAS 2021 - 25th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
In order to understand the travel frequency and transportation modes of the Chinese population during the COVID-19 epidemic, the travel information of 8330 residents in 31 provinces from February 25th to March 14th, 2020 was collected, and the factors influencing the travel frequency and transportation mode were analyzed. According to the severity of the epidemic, 31 provinces were classified, and the difference in residents' transportation modes under different grades were analyzed and compared with those in non-epidemic periods. The results show that: (1) During the COVID-19 epidemic, 75.1% of people had travel activities, among which 5.5% took several trips per day and 17.6% took fewer than one trip per week. Public transportation and taxi with higher risk of infection were chosen by 6.3% and 4.0% of the population, respectively. (2) The travel frequency and transportation modes of Chinese residents during the COVID-19 outbreak may be affected by demographic variables, such as gender, age, urban and rural areas, regions, local or nearby suspected/confirmed cases, and the severity of the epidemic in the provinces. The travel frequency and transportation modes of people in some provinces such as Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province were less affected by the epidemic, while the travel frequency and transportation modes of residents in Hubei Province changed the most compared with the non-epidemic period. (3) During the COVID-19 epidemic, the proportion of Chinese residents who chose to walk and travel by car (taxi and private car) was much higher than during the non-epidemic period, while the proportion of people who chose public transportation and bicycles or electric bicycle was lower than during the non-epidemic period. This study found that the travel frequency and transportation modes of the Chinese population changed dramatically due to the COVID-19 epidemic. © 2020, Editorial Board, Research of Environmental Sciences. All right reserved.
ABSTRACT
Confined spaces increase the chance of aerosol infection, and window ventilation plays an important role in reducing the risk of infection and maintaining the fresh air required for human health. In order to analyze the window opening patterns of people in different regions during the COVID-19 outbreak, information on the frequency and duration of window ventilation and the demographic information were obtained through an electronic questionnaire survey, which surveyed 7784 subjects in 31 provinces in China. The ventilation behavior of different population and the main influencing factors were then analyzed. The results shows that: (1) During the COVID-19 epidemic, 99.7% of the subjects opened windows for ventilation;Among them, 69.2% of the subjects had more than two times of daily ventilation, and 38.2% had more than three times of daily ventilation, indicating a significant difference in ventilation frequency between different groups. (2) The daily ventilation duration of residents in each region was in the range of 93-126 min, and the ventilation duration for residents in the affected areas was longer. Compared with the non-epidemic period, the ventilation time of residents in all regions decreased significantly during the epidemic period. (3) The influencing factors of ventilation behavior of Chinese population during the epidemic mainly included the epidemic related factors and non-epidemic related factors. Among them, the epidemic related factors included control measures in the community and the distribution of hospitals around the community. The ventilation frequency was higher for the population, who resided in communities with epidemic control measures and nearby designated hospitals. The non-epidemic related factors included the type of dwelling, floor and ambient temperature. Compared with the units or apartments, the ventilation frequency of people living in bungalows was higher than those living in units or apartments. (4) Residents living in the middle floor of a flat or apartment building had the longest ventilation time, while those living on the lower floor had the shortest ventilation time. The window ventilation frequency and duration were positively correlated with the ambient temperature, that is, the ventilation frequency and duration of residents in areas with higher ambient temperature were higher than those in areas with lower ambient temperature. This study indicates that 99.7% of the residents had window ventilation behavior, and the daily ventilation time in various regions was in the range of 93-126 min during the COVID-19 epidemic, which was shorter than that during the non-epidemic period. © 2020, Editorial Board, Research of Environmental Sciences. All right reserved.
ABSTRACT
As a physical means to block virus infection, masks can stop the spread of pathogens through droplets, and have a two-way protection. Wearing masks is of great significant for the public to prevent the risk of novel coronavirus infection and maintain basic human health. In order to find out the mask wearing behavior of Chinese residents during the COVID-19 epidemic, this study analyzed the behavioral characteristics of residents wearing masks in China's 31 provinces, and discussed the differences of the behavior of wearing masks of the groups in various potential infection risk on the basis of the survey on environmental exposure behavior patterns of Chinese population during COVID-19 epidemic. The results show that: (1) During the COVID-19 epidemic, more than 99% of Chinese people wore masks outside their homes, which was significantly higher than that of non-epidemic period (16.05%);the highest proportion (100%) was the medical staff and the group who had extensive contact with people. (2) Residents mainly had three main patterns to wear masks, i.e., only surgical masks, only disposable surgical masks, and only surgical masks and disposable surgical masks, accounting for more than 60% of a total 31 mask wearing patterns. (3) During the COVID-19 epidemic, there were significant differences in the proportion of wearing masks among different occupational groups, people belonging to different groups and people in different epidemical areas. (4) During the COVID-19 epidemic, the replacement frequency of masks worn by Chinese residents was usually 4 and 24 hours, respectively. (5) The proportion of people wearing masks outside was positively correlated with the severity of the COVID-19 epidemic. Although there were differences of the epidemic distribution characteristics and control measures in different places, the proportion of residents wearing masks is high. Specifically, the proportion of people wearing masks in their living areas with no suspected cases was higher than that with suspected cases, indicating that there may be a certain interaction between the behavior of wearing masks and changes in epidemics. This study indicates that during the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, the mask wearing behavior of Chinese people was generally good. © 2020, Editorial Board, Research of Environmental Sciences. All right reserved.