Teaching civics/history and english to adult lawful permanent residents with limited english proficiency at local libraries: Challenges and practices during the COVID-19 pandemic

This chapter introduces a citizenship instruction program offered by the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program at Oklahoma City University (OCU) in collaboration with two local libraries in the Oklahoma City metro area with a grant funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. It specifically discusses the challenges that teachers and learners have encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic and the approaches utilized to address these challenges. Implications of this experience for instruction of civics/history and civics-based English, as well as the professionalization of ESL teachers, post-COVID-19 are discussed. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021. All rights reserved.

Population-Based Model of the Fraction of Incidental COVID-19 Hospitalizations during the Omicron BA.1 Wave in the United States

1. Background: Some reports have suggested that as many as one-half of all hospital inpatients identified as COVID-19-positive during the Omicron BA.1 variant-driven wave were incidental cases admitted primarily for reasons other than their viral infections. To date, however, there are no prospective longitudinal studies of a representative panel of hospitals based on pre-established criteria for determining whether a patient was, in fact, admitted as a result of the disease. 2. Materials and Methods: To fill this gap, we developed a formula to estimate the fraction of incidental COVID-19 hospitalizations that relies on measurable, population-based parameters. We applied our approach to a longitudinal panel of 164 counties throughout the United States, covering a 4-week interval ending in the first week of January 2022. 3. Results: Within this panel, we estimated that COVID-19 incidence was rising exponentially at a rate of 9.34% per day (95% CI, 8.93–9.87). Assuming that only one-quarter of all Omicron BA.1 infections had been reported by public authorities, we further estimated the aggregate prevalence of active SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first week of January to be 3.45%. During the same week, among 250 high-COVID-volume hospitals within our 164-county panel, an estimated one in four inpatients was COVID-positive. Based upon these estimates, we computed that 10.6% of such COVID-19-positive hospitalized patients were incidental infections. Across individual counties, the median fraction of incidental COVID-19 hospitalizations was 9.5%, with an interquartile range of 6.7 to 12.7%. 4. Conclusion: Incidental COVID-19 infections appear to have been a nontrivial fraction of all COVID-19-positive hospitalized patients during the Omicron BA.1 wave. In the aggregate, however, the burden of patients admitted for complications of their viral infections was far greater. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of COVID is the property of MDPI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Border securocracy: Global expansion of the U.S. Department of homeland security bureaucratic apparatus before, during and beyond covid-19

The U.S. border security apparatus is moving around the globe as climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and corporatization create political and economic chaos. Global north governments seek to keep out migrants and refugees from the global south while corporations in the global north want protection to maintain their wealth. U.S. government bureaucratic agencies such as Custom and Border Protection's Border Patrol Tactical Unit are sent abroad to expand U.S. influence in an empire of borders to train receptive government security and border forces and to regulate, detain and prevent migrants and refugees well beyond the U.S. border. Governments are waging war against the people, creating a "securocracy" comprised of profit seeking military arms corporations and allied government agents to quell resistance and border crossers. Examined are the effects and impacts of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on global border securocracy beginning with an analysis of the Mexico-U.S. border, moving to international borders in Latin America and beyond. The theoretical concept of border securocracy is expanded from the securocracy literature in the context of the north versus south globalization conflict. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Administrative Theory & Praxis (Taylor & Francis Ltd) is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Safe at Last? Late Effects of a Mass Immunization Campaign on Households' Economic Insecurity

We study the effects of receiving immunization from COVID-19 on households' economic insecurity. To provide causal estimates we use a fuzzy regression discontinuity design which takes advantage of the UK's immunization plan. The plan was primarily based on age, granting differential eligibility to proximate cohorts. Our estimated local average treatment effect indicates that the share of households who declared being economically insecure dropped by 41 percentage points among those who received the vaccine due to the eligibility criteria. Using a difference-in-discontinuity design we next document that immunization was more salient for women as well as for large households and those with children. Our results suggest that the mass immunization campaign against COVID-19 had relevant short-run economic effects, well beyond its expected impact on people's health.

Should population density be used to rank social vulnerability in disaster preparedness planning?

The CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) was developed to help public health officials and policymakers to identify geospatial variations in social vulnerability for each community to better respond to hazardous events, including disease outbreaks. However, the SVI does not include information on population density, which is a significant omission when considering the usefulness of the index in allocating scarce resources such as medical supplies and personnel, bedding, food, and water to locations they are most needed. Using county-level data from the initial U.S. COVID-19 outbreak, we provide empirical evidence that the existing SVI underestimates (overestimates) county-level infection rates in densely (sparsely) populated counties if population density is not accounted for. Population density remains significant even after allowing for spatial spillover effects. Going forward, the inclusion of population density to construct SVI can improve its usefulness in aiding policymakers in allocating scarce resources for future disasters, especially those with spatial dependence. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

(Re)framing the emerging mobility regime at the U.S.-Mexico borderlands: Covid-19, temporality, and racial capitalism

In this paper, we examine transborder commuters' experiences (i.e. individuals who commute between U.S. and Mexican border cities frequently) during the Covid-19 pandemic, with keen attention to the links between racial capitalism and temporality. We address two interrelated issues: first, we unpack how the United States framed the pandemic through the metaphor of war and the production of the categories of 'essential work(er)' and 'essential travel' to ensure racial capitalism's surplus labor and continuation. These categories function like a double-edged sword, tying racialized populations to racial capitalism's temporality to exploit them while excluding privileged others. We argue that Covid-19's temporality conflicts with racial capitalism's temporality. While the former relies on the deceleration of everyday life, the latter depends on constant acceleration driven by profit-seeking. Using queer and feminist theoretical lenses, we then demonstrate how U.S. Covid-19 border restrictions at land ports of entry exacerbated transborder commuters' cross-border travels and privileged some based on legal status. As a result, they used public Facebook groups to navigate and comprehend new commuting conditions, disidentifying with the United States' official pandemic framing and producing their own. This shared experience catalyzed 'digital transborder kinships' or temporally-bound socialities rooted in relational care, advocacy, and knowledge production. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Mobilities is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Food insufficiency and Twitter emotions during a pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic initially caused worldwide concerns about food insecurity. Tweets analyzed in real-time may help food assistance providers target food supplies to where they are most urgently needed. In this exploratory study, we use natural language processing to extract sentiments and emotions expressed in food security-related tweets early in the pandemic in U.S. states. The emotion joy dominated in these tweets nationally, but only anger, disgust, and fear were also statistically correlated with contemporaneous food insufficiency rates reported in the Household Pulse Survey; more nuanced and statistically stronger correlations are detected within states, including a negative correlation with joy.

Assessing the Effect of the U.S. Vaccination Program on the Coronavirus Positivity Rate With a Multivariate Framework.

The factors influencing the incidence of COVID-19, including the impact of the vaccination programs, have been studied in the literature. Most studies focus on one or two factors, without considering their interactions, which is not enough to assess a vaccination program in a statistically robust manner. We examine the impact of the U.S. vaccination program on the SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate while simultaneously considering a large number of factors involved in the spread of the virus and the feedbacks among them. We consider the effects of the following sets of factors: socioeconomic factors, public policy factors, environmental factors, and non-observable factors. A time series Error Correction Model (ECM) was used to estimate the impact of the vaccination program at the national level on the positivity rate. Additionally, state-level ECMs with panel data were combined with machine learning techniques to assess the impact of the program and identify relevant factors to build the best-fitting models. We find that the vaccination program reduced the virus positivity rate. However, the program was partially undermined by a feedback loop in which increased vaccination led to increased mobility. Although some external factors reduced the positivity rate, the emergence of new variants increased the positivity rate. The positivity rate was associated with several forces acting simultaneously in opposite directions such as the number of vaccine doses administered and mobility. The existence of complex interactions, between the factors studied, implies that there is a need to combine different public policies to strengthen the impact of the vaccination program.

The Use of Qualitative Methods to Guide the Development of the Border Resilience Scale in a Participatory Research Study.

U.S.-Mexico border residents experience pervasive social and ecological stressors that contribute to a high burden of chronic disease. However, the border region is primarily composed of high-density Mexican-origin neighborhoods, a characteristic that is most commonly health-promoting. Understanding factors that contribute to border stress and resilience is essential to informing the effective design of community-level health promotion strategies. La Vida en La Frontera is a mixed-methods, participatory study designed to understand factors that may contribute to border resilience in San Luis, Arizona. The study's initial qualitative phase included interviews with 30 Mexican-origin adults exploring community perceptions of the border environment, cross-border ties, and health-related concepts. Border residents described the border as a Mexican enclave characterized by individuals with a common language and shared cultural values and perspectives. Positive characteristics related to living in proximity to Mexico included close extended family relationships, access to Mexican food and products, and access to more affordable health care and other services. Based on these findings, we co-designed the 9-item Border Resilience Scale that measures agreement with the psychosocial benefits of these border attributes. Pilot data with 60 residents suggest there are positive sociocultural attributes associated with living in border communities. Further research should test if they mitigate environmental stressors and contribute to a health-promoting environment for residents.

COVID-19 and housing prices: evidence from U.S. county-level data.

This paper investigates the effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on housing prices at the U.S. county level. The effects of COVID-19 cases on housing prices are formally investigated by using a two-way fixed effects panel regression, where county-specific factors, time-specific factors, and mobility measures of individuals are controlled for. The benchmark results show evidence for negative and significant effects of COVID-19 cases on housing prices, robust to the consideration of several permutation tests, where the negative effects are more evident in counties with higher poverty rates. Exclusion tests further suggest that U.S. counties in the state of California or the month of May 2020 are more responsible for the empirical results, although the results based on other counties and months are still in line with the benchmark results.

The decision to homeschool: potential factors influencing reactive homeschooling practice

While a controversial practice internationally, homeschooling is not uncommon in the United States' educational system. Although myriad reasons exist for choosing to homeschool one's children, a framework highlighting reactive versus proactive motivations has emerged to explain why some families choose to homeschool. Using prospective, longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten: 2010–2011 (ECLS-K:11), reports were gathered from 187 homeschooled children, their parents, and their teachers. Aspects of the ECLS-K:11 homeschoolers appear consistent with a reactive model of homeschooling. All ECLS-K:11 children initially began kindergarten in the traditional school system, but subsequently left that system prior to fifth grade to be homeschooled. When assessed shortly before leaving, these children were more likely to be absent and to have parents who did not endorse being very satisfied with their child's school compared to those who remained in the school system. Moreover, these issues appeared uniquely exacerbated just prior to departure from the school system. Additionally, although children who would go on to homeschool within the next year did not score differently on academic achievement tests than their traditionally schooled peers, they were more likely to experience bullying in the year before they began to homeschool. The ECSL-K:11's homeschooling sample is described, and conclusions drawn between it and literature descriptions of homeschoolers. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed, particularly given recent changes in the educational landscape. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Educational Review is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Revisiting the policy implications of COVID-19, asylum seekers, and migrants on the Mexico–U.S. border: Creating (and maintaining) states of exception in the Trump and Biden administrations

Public policy choices continue to bring dramatic changes to migration practices in the era of the coronavirus in the United States. In this article, we argue that the COVID-19 pandemic facilitated the creation and maintenance of states of exception while continuing to destabilize practices at the Mexico–U.S. border through the politics of fear. Specifically, the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), Zero Tolerance Policy (ZTP), COVID-19 CAPIO, Asylum Cooperative Agreements (ACA), and Title 42 used an arcane section of U.S. law to immediately expel asylum seekers and refugees. We show that these policies highlight the formation and maintenance of states of exception consistent with the work of Agamben. We further discuss how the politics of fear can reinforce hegemonic narratives targeting asylum seekers while shaping political agendas that lean toward a specific brand of nationalism using public health as a context. The U.S. government under the Trump administration—and the Biden administration to a lesser, yet continuous, extent—constructed these policies aimed primarily at refugees and asylum seekers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico thereby violating laws and international treaty obligations. Related Articles: Duman, Yoav H. 2014. "Reducing the Fog? Immigrant Regularization and the State.” Politics & Policy 42(2): 187–220. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12065. Garrett, Terence Michael. 2020. "The Security Apparatus, Federal Magistrate Courts, and Detention Centers as Simulacra: The Effects of Trump's Zero Tolerance Policy on Migrants and Refugees in the Rio Grande Valley.” Politics & Policy 48(2): 372–95. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12348. Maggio, James. 2007. "The Presidential Rhetoric of Terror: The (Re)Creation of Reality Immediately after 9/11.” Politics & Policy 35(4): 819–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2007.00085.x. © 2023 Policy Studies Organization.

COVID-19 and the Indoor Environment - observations from a joint National Academies of Engineering seminar series

The SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants and COVID-19 disease have affected every aspect of society. The US National Academy of Sciences has been providing scientific insights and advice to aid policymakers and researchers in their quest to respond to the pandemic. Since 2020, it has produced numerous reports and workshop proceedings intended to integrate science into national preparedness and response decision-making, to explore lessons learned and best practices from previous preparedness and response efforts, and to consider strategies for addressing misinformation (NASEM, 2021). Among these was a 2021 symposium series that analyzed engineering's role in catalyzing COVID-19 response, recovery, and resilience, examining topics including the mitigation of exposure in public transit systems, engineering solutions to managing pathogens indoors, and the factors influence the transmission of infectious diseases in cities. Speaker presentations addressing these indoor environment topics are summarized here. © 2022 17th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, INDOOR AIR 2022. All rights reserved.

Mapping Silenced Spaces During Increased Overdose and COVID-19: Opportunities for Danger and Harm Reduction in Southern Appalachia

There has long been a lack of reliable and current public health data on overdose deaths, houselessness, and additional morbidities associated with the criminalization of substance use in Southern Appalachia. We use public health and harm reduction program data, maps, images, first-hand accounts, and local media to explore how this lack of data has extended to COVID-19, where, in the context of substance use and harm reduction, it remains unclear to outsiders as well as to service providers on-the-ground where, to what extent, and to whom harms are occurring. Those within populations who have been placed at risk, including people who are unsheltered or use drugs, perceive danger, but their knowledge goes uncommunicated to or may be deemed unimportant by those in power. Public and private entities have made efforts to map health effects related to substance use and COVID-19, many times in order to provide appropriate services. Yet making once illegible spaces legible can produce further harm by placing certain populations at greater risk of negative state actions. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

NIH restarts halted bat virus grant

In January, a federal audit found that EcoHealth had misreported nearly $90,000 in expenses for several grants dating to 2014 and that NIH had erred by not justifying its termination (later changed to a suspension) of the 2019 grant. Three years after then-President Donald Trump pressured the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to shut down a research grant to a group studying how bat coronaviruses jump to people, the agency has restarted the award. [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Science is the property of American Association for the Advancement of Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Multizone Modelling of SARS-CoV-2 Airborne Transmission in Mechanically Ventilated Buildings

This study contributes to a better understanding of the airborne transmission risks in multizone, mechanically ventilated buildings and how to reduce infection risk. A novel modeling approach combining the Wells-Riley and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) CONTAM models was applied to a multizone whole building to simulate exposure and assess the effectiveness of different mitigation measures. A case study for the US Department of Energy large office prototype building was conducted to illustrate the approach. © 2022 17th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, INDOOR AIR 2022. All rights reserved.

American Singles' Attitudes Toward Future Romantic/Sexual Partners' COVID-19 Vaccination Status: Evidence for both Vigilance and Indifference in a National Sample.

Around 142 million American adults are currently single; at least half of these singles want to pursue a romantic partner. Romantic dating can involve exposure to numerous people. Thus, dating can significantly impact pathogen exposure risk. In a demographically-representative cross-sectional survey conducted in 2021 (N = 5,000), we examined U.S. American singles' COVID-19 vaccination status, assessed their preferences around a potential partner's COVID-19 vaccination status, and identified demographic subgroups of singles particularly opposed to or indifferent to a partner being vaccinated against COVID-19. Our results showed 65% of participants were fully vaccinated, 10% were partially vaccinated, and 26% were unvaccinated against COVID-19. With regards to partner preferences, half wanted a vaccinated partner; 18.9% wanted a vaccinated partner but would make exceptions; 6.1% wanted an unvaccinated partner; and 25% reported that they did not care about their dating partner's vaccination status. Partner preferences were largely aligned with participants' own vaccination status, such that vaccinated participants preferred vaccinated partners. However, those preferring unvaccinated partners-or those willing to make exceptions for a partner-were most likely to identify as men, younger in age, a political affiliation outside of the two-party political system, a gender or sexual minority, or as a racial minority (i.e., Black/African-American or South Asian). Additionally, participants who were employed (vs. unemployed) were more likely to make exceptions for or prefer an unvaccinated partner. These results suggest that singles prefer homophily in COVID-19 vaccine status, and that minoritized subgroups of singles are more likely to maintain a social network including unvaccinated close others. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12119-023-10097-9.

A Systematic Review On The Assessment Of Infection In The Elderly With Covid-19 And Fractures In ICU Based On Analgesia Point

This study has examined the principles of care of the medical staff for the elderly with fracture problems and corona virus in the special care unit. While the Chinese health authorities had previously reported the average age of the disease to be 75 years. Elderly people, especially people with lung problems, have a mortality rate of about 15%. The coronavirus acts like a seasonal flu. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 70 and 85 percent of all flu-related deaths and 50 to 70 percent of flu-related hospitalizations are among people over the age of 65. The most at-risk group is the elderly who live in day care centers. Among recovered patients with coronavirus in China, there is evidence that some of these patients have longterm lung damage. The researchers announced that among the 70 recovered patients, lung damage was observed in 66 of them in the CT scan. These injuries are caused by a build-up of hardened tissue that blocks blood vessels in tiny air sacs called alveoli, said Yuhei Wang, a radiologist at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China. Alveoli absorb oxygen to form tissue debris around them. Tissue lesions can be a chronic symptom of lung diseases, including SARS and MERS, similar injuries were observed in recovered patients. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Pharmaceutical Negative Results is the property of ResearchTrentz and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Challenges and opportunities in rapid disaster research: lessons from the field in New Mexico and Vanuatu.

Rapid research is essential to assess impacts in communities affected by disasters, particularly those communities made "hard-to-reach" due to their active marginalization across history and in contemporary practices. In this article, we describe two rapid research projects developed to assess needs for and experiences of communities hard-hit by disasters. The first is a project on the COVID-19 pandemic in southern New Mexico (USA) that was developed to provide information to local agencies that are deploying programs to rebuild and revitalize marginalized communities. The second is a project on population displacement due to a volcanic eruption in Vanuatu, a lower-middle income country in the South Pacific, with mental and physical health outcomes data shared with the Vanuatu Ministry of Health. We describe the similar and unique challenges that arose doing rapid research in these two different contexts, the potential broader impacts of the research, and a synthesis of lessons learned. We discuss the challenges of rapidly changing rules and regulations, lack of baseline data, lack of survey instruments validated for specific populations and in local languages, limited availability of community partners, finding funding for rapid deployment of projects, rapidly training and working with research assistants, health and safety concerns of researchers and participants, and communicating with local and international partners. We also specifically discuss how we addressed our own personal challenges while also conducting time-intensive rapid research. In both studies, researchers shared results with governmental and non-governmental partners who may use the data to inform the design of their own relief programs. While different in context, type of disaster, and research strategy, our discussion of these projects provides insights into common lessons learned for working with communities at elevated risk for the worst outcomes during disasters, such as the need for flexibility, compromise, and good working relationships with community partners.

The next phases of the Migrante Project: Study protocol to expand an observatory of migrant health on the Mexico-U.S. border.

Background: Mexican migrants traveling across the Mexico-United States (U.S.) border region represent a large, highly mobile, and socially vulnerable subset of Mexican nationals. Population-level health data for this group is hard to obtain given their geographic dispersion, mobility, and largely unauthorized status in the U.S. Over the last 14 years, the Migrante Project has implemented a unique migration framework and novel methodological approach to generate population-level estimates of disease burden and healthcare access for migrants traversing the Mexico-U.S. border. This paper describes the rationale and history of the Migrante Project and the protocol for the next phases of the project. Methods/design: In the next phases, two probability, face-to-face surveys of Mexican migrant flows will be conducted at key crossing points in Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, and Matamoros (N = 1,200 each). Both survey waves will obtain data on demographics, migration history, health status, health care access, COVID-19 history, and from biometric tests. In addition, the first survey will focus on non-communicable disease (NCD), while the second will dive deeper into mental health and substance use. The project will also pilot test the feasibility of a longitudinal dimension with 90 survey respondents that will be re-interviewed by phone 6 months after completing the face-to-face baseline survey. Discussion: Interview and biometric data from the Migrante project will help to characterize health care access and health status and identify variations in NCD-related outcomes, mental health, and substance use across migration phases. The results will also set the basis for a future longitudinal extension of this migrant health observatory. Analyses of previous Migrante data, paired with data from these upcoming phases, can shed light on the impact of health care and immigration policies on migrants' health and inform policy and programmatic responses to improve migrant health in sending, transit, and receiving communities.