As one of the most vulnerable sectors exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic, transport sectors have been severely affected. However, the shocks and impact mechanisms of infectious diseases on transport ...sectors are not fully understood. This paper employs a multi-sectoral computable general equilibrium model of China, CHINAGEM, with highly disaggregated transport sectors to examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on China's transport sectors and reveal the impact mechanisms of the pandemic shocks with the decomposition analysis approach. This study suggests that, first, multiple shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic to transport sectors are specified, including the supply-side shocks that raised the protective cost and reduced the production efficiency of transport sectors, and the demand-side shocks that reduced the demand of households and production sectors for transportation. Second, the outputs of all transport sectors in China have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and passenger transport sectors have larger output decreases than freight transport sectors. While the outputs of freight transport sectors are expected to decline by 1.03–2.85%, the outputs of passenger transport sectors would decline by 3.08–11.44%. Third, with the decomposition analysis, the impacts of various exogenous shocks are quite different, while the changes in the output of different transport sectors are dominated by different exogenous shocks. Lastly, while the supply-side shocks of the pandemic would drive output decline in railway, waterway, and aviation transport sectors, the demand-side shocks would drive so in the road, pipeline, and other transport sectors. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has negative impacts on the output of most non-transport sectors and the macro-economy in China. Three policy implications are recommended to mitigate the damages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to the transport sectors.
•The study analyzes COVID-19 pandemic shocks to transport sectors in China.•The pandemic impacts on transport sectors are assessed with the CGE model.•The heterogeneity on the impacts of the pandemic on transport sectors is revealed.•The impact mechanisms are examined with the decomposition analysis approach.
The purpose of this research is to contribute to an understanding of the trends and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer buying behaviour. The results document changes in consumer behaviour ...patterns that came to dominate at the start of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of the Czech Republic. The questionnaire survey using an online panel in a selected country was conducted to identify how consumers from the Baby Boomers, X and Y generations changed their shopping behaviour and which needs they gave preference to during the pandemic crisis in relation to their fears. Using a multiple regression analysis, we demonstrated that fear appeal (fears for health and economic fears) are associated with the changes in customer behaviour and influence traditional and online shopping related to COVID-19. The findings demonstrate significant differences as well as similarities in consumer behaviour between generations. Through empirical investigation, this research supports and expands generation cohort theory in relation to changes in consumer behaviour during the Covid-19 pandemic from a Central European perspective, and provides useful information for researchers and practitioners, particularly for retailers and marketers, to implement appropriate strategies.
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•Consumer shopping behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic generally depends on fear.•Fear for health was identified as the main reason in choosing new shopping items.•The top three consumers' purchase reasons were the quality, availability and convenience.•The research also found generational differences in eight customer needs.
We evaluated the hypothesis of an association between excess mortality and political partisanship in Brazil using municipal death certificates registered in the Brazilian Ministry of Health database ...and first-round electoral results of Presidential elections in 2018 and 2022. Considering the former Brazilian President’s stance of discrediting and neglecting the severity of the pandemic, we expect a possible relationship between excessive mortality rates during the COVID-19 health crisis and the number of municipal votes for Bolsonaro. Our results showed that, in both elections, the first-round percentage of municipal votes for Bolsonaro was positively associated with the peaks of excess deaths across Brazilian municipalities in 2020 and 2021. Despite the excess mortality during the pandemic, the political loyalty to Bolsonaro remained the same during the electoral period of 2022. A possible explanation for this is linked to the Brazilian political scenario, which presents an environment of tribal politics and affective polarization.
Resumo: Usando dados municipais em declarações de óbito registrados no Ministério da Saúde e resultados eleitorais do primeiro turno das eleições presidenciais de 2018 e 2022, avaliamos a hipótese de que há associação entre excesso de mortalidade e partidarismo político no Brasil. Dada a postura do ex-presidente brasileiro de desacreditar e negligenciar a gravidade da pandemia, esperamos que haja possivelmente uma relação entre as taxas excessivas de mortalidade durante a crise sanitária da COVID-19 e o número de votos municipais para Bolsonaro. Nossos resultados mostraram que, em ambas as eleições, o percentual de votos municipais no primeiro turno para Bolsonaro foi positivamente associado aos picos de excesso de mortes nos municípios brasileiros em 2020 e 2021. Mesmo com o excesso de mortalidade durante a pandemia, a lealdade política de Bolsonaro não diminuiu durante o segundo período eleitoral em 2022. Uma possível explicação para isso está ligada ao cenário político brasileiro, que vive um ambiente de política tribal e polarização afetiva.
Resumen: A partir de datos municipales sobre certificados de defunción registrados en el Ministerio de Salud de Brasil y de los resultados electorales de la primera vuelta de las elecciones presidenciales de 2018 y 2022, se evaluó si existe una asociación entre el exceso de mortalidad y el partidismo político en Brasil. Ante la postura del ex presidente brasileño de desacreditar y desatender la gravedad de la pandemia, probablemente exista una relación entre las altas tasas de mortalidad durante la crisis de salud del COVID-19 y el número de votos municipales para Bolsonaro. Los resultados demostraron que, en ambas elecciones, el porcentaje de votos municipales en la primera vuelta para Bolsonaro estuvo asociado positivamente con los picos de alta de muertes en los municipios brasileños para el período 2020-2021. Incluso con la alta mortalidad durante la pandemia, la lealtad política de Bolsonaro no disminuyó durante el segundo período electoral en 2022. Una de las posibles explicaciones es que esto se vincula al escenario político brasileño, que vive una política tribal y polarización afectiva.
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•The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the healthcare capacity of many countries.•Strict, horizontal lockdowns have adverse social, economic and health effects that have not been fully ...considered.•Primary and community care have multiple roles in COVID-19 pandemic mitigation.•Greece is a case example of a country which neglected primary and community care, and in November 2020 implemented a second horizontal lockdown.•Primary and community care, represents the only realistic strategy for successful COVID-19 pandemic mitigation in the long-term.
COVID-19 pandemic mitigation strategies are mainly based on social distancing measures and healthcare system reinforcement. However, many countries in Europe and elsewhere implemented strict, horizontal lockdowns because of extensive viral spread in the community which challenges the capacity of the healthcare systems. However, strict lockdowns have various untintended adverse social, economic and health effects, which have yet to be fully elucidated, and have not been considered in models examining the effects of various mitigation measures. Unlike commonly suggested, the dilemma is not about health vs wealth because the economic devastation of long-lasting lockdowns will definitely have adverse health effects in the population. Furthermore, they cannot provide a lasting solution in pandemic containment, potentially resulting in a vicious cycle of consecutive lockdowns with in-between breaks. Hospital preparedness has been the main strategy used by governments. However, a major characteristic of the COVID-19 pandemic is the rapid viral transmission in populations with no immunity. Thus, even the best hospital system could not cope with the demand. Primary, community and home care are the only viable strategies that could achieve the goal of pandemic mitigation. We present the case example of Greece, a country which followed a strategy focused on hospital preparedness but failed to reinforce primary and community care. This, along with strategic mistakes in epidemiological surveillance, resulted in Greece implementing a second strict, horizontal lockdown and having one of the highest COVID-19 death rates in Europe during the second wave. We provide recommendations for measures that will reinstate primary and community care at the forefront in managing the current public health crisis by protecting hospitals from unnecessary admissions, providing primary and secondary prevention services in relation to COVID-19 and maintaining population health through treatment of non−COVID-19 conditions. This, together with more selective social distancing measures (instead of horizontal lockdowns), represents the only viable and realistic long-term strategy for COVID-19 pandemic mitigation.
Pregnant and postpartum women infected by COVID-19 are at increased risk of adverse outcomes, including negative effects on their mental health. Brazilian maternal mortality rate due to COVID-19 is ...2.5 times higher than overall mortality rates. This study aimed to understand how pregnant/postpartum women experienced the COVID-19 suspicion/investigation or confirmed infection in different Brazilian cities, the pandemic's consequences to women and their families, and their needs to improve maternal health services during public health emergencies.
We conducted a qualitative study with 27 women with COVID-19 and 6 of their family members, as part of a multicenter study among 15 maternity hospitals in Brazil. We applied in-depth interviews through telephone calls when women received the diagnostic or had a suspect infection and after 60 days. Another semi-structured interview was applied to their close family members. The interviews were considered through thematic analysis.
From the thematic content analysis three major themes emerged from the first and second interviews: (Cucinotta and Vanelli, 2020) assistance received by the woman and newborn in the medical services; (World Health Organization (WHO) 2021) stigma/fear of contamination from health workers and from family and friends reported by the women; (Allotey et al., 2020) the COVID-19 pandemic impact.
Before the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine, pregnant women experienced fear of death, hospitalization, quarantine, loss of family members, and financial repercussions, resulting in physical, psychological, and socioeconomic impacts on these women's lives.
Purpose This paper aims to review and summarize the findings of research dedicated to studying the process of building sustainable business models (BM) triggered by development of COVID-19 pandemic. ...Design/methodology/approach Bibliometric analysis is performed to identify the papers most relevant to the topic. The authors review the findings of more than 50 papers from Scopus database published between 2020 and 2022 dedicated to studying BM during COVID-19 pandemic, as well as papers dedicated to sustainability phenomenon and most cited BM research. Findings The paper identifies the gap in defining BM sustainability and contributes to better understanding of this phenomenon by demarcating it from traditional environment-based United Nations agenda. It also describes why network-based approach to BM helps to better address sustainability aspects. The paper demonstrates how representation of a networked BM by three levels of analysis (namely, structure of a BM, interaction mechanism between BM actors and results of their interaction) is organically connected to the key milestones of the value creation process (value definition, value creation, value distribution and value capture) and shows how these three levels can be used to analyze and structure the practical changes proposed in COVID-19-oriented BM. Finally, the paper summarizes key findings of the studies dedicated to BM during the pandemic and structures key insights in relation to building sustainable BM. Research limitations/implications The results of the paper contribute to developing theory around BM sustainability as well as provide insights for business practitioners on how to adjust BM during the crisis. At the same time, many insights shown in the paper are industry specific, which limits their generalizability, as well as consequences of the pandemic are still not fully clear. Therefore, the authors argue that future research should be primarily focused on developing generalizable measurement frameworks to evaluate the antecedents, process and results of BM adaptation. Originality/value The paper strengthens theoretical foundations for the research focused on BM sustainability and helps businesses to better manage the adaptation in the fast-changing environment.
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