Assessing the spread risk of COVID-19 associated with multi-mode transportation networks in China

The spatial spread of COVID-19 during early 2020 in China was primarily driven by outbound travelers leaving the epicenter, Wuhan, Hubei province. Existing studies focus on the influence of aggregated out-bound popula-tion flows originating from Wuhan;however, the impacts of different modes of transportation and the network structure of transportation systems on the early spread of COVID-19 in China are not well understood. Here, we assess the roles of the road, railway, and air transportation networks in driving the spatial spread of COVID-19 in China. We find that the short-range spread within Hubei province was dominated by ground traffic, notably, the railway transportation. In contrast, long-range spread to cities in other provinces was mediated by multiple factors, including a higher risk of case importation associated with air transportation and a larger outbreak size in hub cities located at the center of transportation networks. We further show that, although the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 across countries and continents is determined by the worldwide air transportation network, the early geographic dispersal of COVID-19 within China is better predicted by the railway traffic. Given the recent emergence of multiple more transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2, our findings can support a better assessment of the spread risk of those variants and improve future pandemic preparedness and responses.

Optimal strategy for a dose-escalation vaccination against COVID-19 in refugee camps

An immunogenic and safe vaccine against COVID-19 for use in the healthy population will become available in the near future. In this paper, we aim to determine the optimal vaccine administration strategy in refugee camps considering maximum daily administration and limited total vaccine supply. For this purpose, extended SEAIRD compartmental models are established to describe the epidemic dynamics with both single-dose and double-dose vaccine administration. Taking the vaccination rates in different susceptible compartments as control variables, the optimal vaccine administration problems are then solved under the framework of nonlinear constrained optimal control problems. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that addresses an optimal vaccine administration strategy considering practical constraints on limited medical care resources. Numerical simulations show that both the single-dose and double-dose strategies can successfully control COVID-19. By comparison, the double-dose vaccination strategy can achieve a better reduction in infection and death, while the single-dose vaccination strategy can postpone the infection peak more efficiently. Further studies of the influence of parameters indicate that increasing the number of medical care personnel and total vaccine supply can greatly contribute to the fight against COVID-19. The results of this study are instructive for potential forthcoming vaccine administration. Moreover, the work in this paper provides a general framework for developing epidemic control strategies in the presence of limited medical resources.

[Evaluation of safety of two inactivated COVID-19 vaccines in a large-scale emergency use].

Objective: To evaluate the safety of two inactivated COVID-19 vaccines in a large-scale emergency use. Methods: Based on the "Vaccination Information Collection System", the incidence data of adverse reactions in the population vaccinated with the inactivated COVID-19 vaccines developed by Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd and Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd, respectively, in emergency use were collected, and the relevant information were analyzed with descriptive epidemiological and statistical methods. Results: By December 1, 2020, the vaccination information of 519 543 individuals had been collected. The overall incidence rate of adverse reactions was 1.06%, the incidence rate of systemic adverse reactions was 0.69% and the incidence rate of local adverse reactions was 0.37%. The main systemic adverse reactions included fatigue, headache, fever, cough and loss of appetite with the incidence rates of 0.21%, 0.14%, 0.06%, 0.05% and 0.05%, respectively; the main local adverse reactions were injection site pain and injection site swelling with the incidence rates of 0.24% and 0.05%, respectively. Conclusion: The two inactivated COVID-19 vaccines by Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd and Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd showed that in the large-scale emergency use, the incidence rate of general reactions was low and no serious adverse reactions were observed after the vaccinations, demonstrating that the vaccines have good safety.

An empirical investigation of precursors influencing social media health information behaviors and personal healthcare habits during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Purpose Drawing upon the communicative ecology theory (CET), this study aims to identify the potential precursors of social media health information seeking intentions (ISI) and examine their effects on health information re-sharing behaviors and PHH during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The data is collected through an online survey conducted in two different universities situated in highly COVID-19-affected cities - Wuhan and Zhengzhou, China. The valid data consists of 230 useful responses from WeChat users and to analyze the final data set structural equation modeling (SEM) is used. Findings The results indicate that perceived health information credibility (PIC), trust on the medium (TRM) and peer influence (PI) significantly affect health ISI which further affects health information re-sharing behaviors (IRB) and personal health-care habits (PHH). Besides, the results also identify that PI has a direct, positive and significant effect on health IRB via social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research limitations/implications This study investigates the health information intentional behavior precursors and their consequences via WeChat (taken as social media platform) during COVID-19 pandemic. Future studies may conduct research by examining online information behaviors on other social media platforms - Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc. - in health emergency situations. Practical implications The health information producers and providers have to deal with communicative ecology sentiments elegantly in emergency situations such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. They need to do collective efforts by introducing new tools or social apps which deal with valuable, reliable and accurate health content and information generated by the pandemic experts and health professionals. In such a way, the social apps and tools (Information providers) will act as mediators between the health professionals (Information producers) and general social media users (information seekers). Such initiatives will ultimately bring forth positive effect on individuals' PHH as a whole within a network, community, environment or nations during a health emergency - COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value This research is one of the first studies to examine the potential precursors of social media health ISIs and their resultant effects on individual's health IRB and PHH during the COVID-19 pandemic. As currently it is noticed, an incredible upsurge of health information via social media has intense impacts on personal health-care research and practice, particularly during health emergency situations such as COVID-19 pandemic conditions.

Risk factors for COVID-19-related liver injury

BACKGROUND Abnormal liver function is frequently present in patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), and the reasons for abnormal liver function are still largely unknown. In the present study, we performed a retrospective analysis of COVID-19 cases to identify the risk factors for liver injury. AIM To identify the risk factors for COVID-19-related liver injury. METHODS One-hundred patients with confirmed COVID-19 who were hospitalized at Huoshenshan Hospital between February 4 and February 29, 2020 were included. Basic information and laboratory parameters (liver function tests) were collected and analyzed. RESULTS Of the 100 COVID-19 patients included, 54% were male and 46% were female. The average age was 59.89 ± 13.07 years. The patients had clinical manifestations of fever (81%), cough (64%), and limb fatigue (52%) at preadmission. Abnormal liver function was observed in 38 patients, including elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT;28 patients), aspartate aminotransferase (AST;10 patients), and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT;20 patients). Patients who had elevated ALT, AST, or GGT were significantly more often present in male patients (P < 0.001, P = 0.006 and P < 0.001, respectively). There was no statistical difference in liver function parameters between patients who received and did not receive prehospital treatment. CONCLUSION Abnormal liver function is more likely to be observed in male patients with COVID-19.