Symptoms and Glycemic Control in Young People with Type 1 Diabetes following SARS-CoV-2 Infection: an Observational Study

Objective: To describe clinical manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, adolescents, and young adults with established type 1 diabetes and explore the effects of COVID-19 on glycemic control and disease course. Method(s): Observational study conducted at three pediatric diabetes clinics in Israel between mid-March-2020 and mid- March-2021. Included were young people with established type 1 diabetes, <30years, who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (qRTPCR). Data was collected from medical files, diabetes devices, and COVID-19 questionnaire. Outcome measures were analyzed by presence/absence of clinical symptoms (symptomatic/asymptomatic) and by age group (pediatric, <19years/young adults, 19-30years). Result(s): Of 132 patients, mean age 16.9+/-5.3years, with COVID- 19 confirmed infection, 103 (78%) had related symptoms;the most common were headaches, fatigue, fever and loss of sense of smell. All had mild disease course, but four required hospitalization and two cases were directly related to COVID-19 infection (pleuropneumonia in a patient with immunodeficiency syndrome, one case of diabetic-ketoacidosis). Logistic regression analysis showed that age (OR=1.11, 95%CI, 1.01, 1.23;P=0.033), elevated glucose levels (OR=5.23, 95%CI, 1.12, 24.41;P=0.035) and comorbidities (OR=8.21, 95%CI, 1.00, 67.51;P=0.050) were positively associated with symptomatic infection. Persistent symptoms occurred in 16.5% of the cohort over a median of 6.7 months;age (OR=1.14, 95%CI, 1.01, 1.29;P=0.030) and elevated glucose levels (OR=3.42, 95%CI, 1.12, 10.40;P=0.031) were positively associated with persistent symptoms. Usually, no change was reported in glucose levels (64%) except for a temporary deterioration in glycemic control during the short infection period. Conclusion(s): Young people with established type 1 diabetes experience mild COVID-19 infection. Elevated glucose levels during COVID-19 infection and older age were associated with prolonged disease course.

Parks, participation and the Parkrun ‘move-ment’ in South Africa

The Parkrun, a community-based, shared leisure-time activity, allows people to come together to run, jog or walk, and interact socially, in park-like surroundings. Although the Parkrun started with only 13 participants in 2004, at Bushy Park, London, United Kingdom, it is now staged in 23 countries across the world, making it is a global ‘social movement’. Growth has been driven by its inclusive policy, notably its focus on attracting people with traditionally low levels of physical activity. Other factors contributing to sustained interest are accessibility, the supportive social environment, the natural setting and the volunteer system. Parkrun offers opportunities beyond fitness: for socializing, creating a vibrant community life and supporting community involvement. All of which instil a sense of place in the participant and make for its popularity. Despite this, the Parkrun movement suffers from academic neglect with most sport literature focussing on mega events. This study seeks to partly address that gap by scrutinizing the four largest Parkrun events in South Africa, with a specific focus on data from 2019 and 2020, incorporating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and allowing the voices of Parkrun participants, as recorded in the relevant blogs, to be heard. © 2022 The Society of South African Geographers.

‘Event-tualising’ Physical Leisure Activity: How Gauteng Parkrunners Brought the Parkrun Home during COVID-19

On the 27th of March 2020, South Africa entered hard lockdown (alert level 5) following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the banning of all physical activity outside a place of residence. As a result, official parkrun events were immediately suspended. In June 2020, the country moved to alert level 3, no longer curbing the use of public spaces for leisure, entertainment, and physical activity, albeit with restrictions. However, group sports leisure, such as parkruns remained prohibited. Thus, parkrun, a highly successful global movement where individuals gather on Saturday mornings for a timed 2 or 5km run, jog, or walk, with family and friends, was severely affected by COVID-19 prevention measures. In mitigation, parkrun officials launched, in June 2020, the (not)parkrun to enable individuals to log (on the parkrun website) their own 5km activity, irrespective of time, day or route. In this regard, parkrun enabled parkrunners to bring the event ‘home’, that is, to informally claim public space and time for their physical leisure. By analysing participation figures and feedback posted on the national parkrun blog and social media pages, this research shows how the (not)parkrun enabled Gauteng parkrunners to ‘event-tualise’ their runs to counter act the de-eventualisation of the parkrun by lockdown regulations © 2021. AJHTL /Author(s)

[COVID-19 during pregnancy and lactation: what do we already know?]

SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly spread worldwide since December 2019. Obviously, pregnant and lactating women will also be infected with SARS-CoV-2. Pregnant women, however, are a risk population for developing severe respiratory infections. Currently, the knowledge on potential risks and consequences of COVID-19 during pregnancy and lactation is limited. Available data show that pregnant women suffer from similar symptoms compared to non-pregnant patients. There is no evidence as yet that COVID-19 has a more serious course during pregnancy. Although pregnant women might suffer from a wide variety of symptoms, most of them are asymptomatic. Maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection might lead to adverse neonatal outcomes, such as prematurity or respiratory symptoms. There is currently no conclusive evidence of absence of intrauterine transmission of the virus;the virus has not been detected in breastmilk in most studies, although passage into breastmilk cannot be completely excluded.