Assessment of a SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring program in El Paso, Texas, from November 2020 to June 2022.

The border city of El Paso, Texas, and its water utility, El Paso Water, initiated a SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring program to assess virus trends and the appropriateness of a wastewater monitoring program for the community. Nearly weekly sample collection at four wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs), serving distinct regions of the city, was analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 genes using the CDC 2019-Novel coronavirus Real-Time RT-PCR diagnostic panel. Virus concentrations ranged from 86.7 to 268,000 gc/L, varying across time and at each WWTF. The lag time between virus concentrations in wastewater and reported COVID-19 case rates (per 100,00 population) ranged from 4-24 days for the four WWTFs, with the strongest trend occurring from November 2021 - June 2022. This study is an assessment of the utility of a geographically refined SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring program to supplement public health efforts that will manage the virus as it becomes endemic in El Paso.

Public Health Policy, Political Ideology, and Public Emotion Related to COVID-19 in the U.S.

Social networks, particularly Twitter 9.0 (known as X as of 23 July 2023), have provided an avenue for prompt interactions and sharing public health-related concerns and emotions, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when in-person communication became less feasible due to stay-at-home policies in the United States (U.S.). The study of public emotions extracted from social network data has garnered increasing attention among scholars due to its significant predictive value for public behaviors and opinions. However, few studies have explored the associations between public health policies, local political ideology, and the spatial-temporal trends of emotions extracted from social networks. This study aims to investigate (1) the spatial-temporal clustering trends (or spillover effects) of negative emotions related to COVID-19; and (2) the association relationships between public health policies such as stay-at-home policies, political ideology, and the negative emotions related to COVID-19. This study employs multiple statistical methods (zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression, random-effects model, and spatial autoregression (SAR) model) to examine relationships at the county level by using the data merged from multiple sources, mainly including Twitter 9.0, Johns Hopkins, and the U.S. Census Bureau. We find that negative emotions related to COVID-19 extracted from Twitter 9.0 exhibit spillover effects, with counties implementing stay-at-home policies or leaning predominantly Democratic showing higher levels of observed negative emotions related to COVID-19. These findings highlight the impact of public health policies and political polarization on spatial-temporal public emotions exhibited in social media. Scholars and policymakers can benefit from understanding how public policies and political ideology impact public emotions to inform and enhance their communication strategies and intervention design during public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nutrition and Health Programming and Outreach in Grocery Retail Settings: A Community Coalition in Action.

Grocery stores can provide a conducive environment for interventions targeting healthy eating and access to health services, particularly in low-income communities. A wide array of organizations deliver nutrition and related programs in community settings, but rarely in a coordinated fashion. Collaboration of local health promotion organizations with grocery stores could increase consumers' access to and selection of healthy foods and related services. This evaluation of the In-Store Programming and Outreach Coalition (IPOC) uses thematic analysis of first-person accounts from coalition members. To our knowledge, this is the first study of such a coalition. We present perspectives from six stakeholders about the IPOC strengths, challenges, and recommendations for strengthening the delivery of in-store interventions. Themes identified include partnership, increased client reach and cross-referrals, conflicting work schedules, leadership, and recommendations to identify coalition leaders and expand services to other grocery stores. We conclude that grocery stores can offer a suitable setting for programming and community outreach through coalitions.