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Background: An outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Saskatchewan from September 12 to October 20, 2020. The index event, attendance at a local gym, seeded six additional clusters/outbreaks in multiple settings. These included a high school, a hospital, three workplaces (A, B and C) and several households. The overall cluster comprised 63 cases, 27 gym members and an additional 36 second, third and fourth generation cases. Methods: All outbreak-related, laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 were included in the analysis. Local public health authorities interviewed all cases and contacts and conducted environmental investigations of the fitness facility. We used descriptive epidemiological methods to understand transmission dynamics of the gym-associated cluster using case investigation, contact investigation and laboratory data, including whole genome sequencing. Results: Sequencing data confirmed the unique lineage of cluster-related cases (n=32 sequenced; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2] lineage B.1.1.72). In addition to gym attendance, infectious cases attended high school and were involved in other activities. Despite ongoing transmission in the fitness facility, no secondary cases were identified in the high school where four student belonging to the cluster attended class during their infectious period. Conclusion: We describe an outbreak of COVID-19 where the index case(s) attended a fitness facility, and further spread occurred for 38 days despite active-case finding and isolation of positive cases over this period. Due to gym attendance over time, short-term closing and cleaning may not interrupt chains of transmission. Targeted, preventive public health action in fitness facilities may be warranted. Control measures worked to limit in-school acquisition.

In March 2020, more than 100 governments around the world imposed partial or full lockdown policies prohibiting people to leave their homes except for activities deemed essential (e.g. procuring food, going to work) to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmissions. Furthermore, authorities, media and peers encouraged people to adopt physical distancing behaviors, requesting not to touch each other and even keep a distance of at least one to two meters from one another. Cultural and literary productions—so-called Corona Fictions—represent and process the multitude of ways the population perceived and coped with the lockdown situation during the pandemic and its diverse effects. While literary texts written during confinement and published in anthologies focus on emotional states enhanced by the psychological impact of the lockdown, the narratives in films such as Norberto Ramos del Val’s ¡Ni te me acerques! (2020) focus on negotiating the process of physical distancing itself. This contribution will, thus, look at the representations of physical distancing in written and audiovisual productions from the first lockdown and analyze the similarities therein. From a cultural studies point of view, we are particularly interested in the ways these Corona Fictions negotiate physical distancing, isolation and self-reflection in their narratives of the respective medium.

Background: The first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case was reported in Canada on January 25, 2020. In response to the imminent outbreak, many provincial and territorial health authorities implemented nonpharmaceutical public health measures to curb the spread of disease. “Social distancing” measures included restrictions on group gatherings; cancellation of sports, cultural and religious events and gatherings; recommended physical distancing between people; school and daycare closures; reductions in non-essential services; and closures of businesses. Objectives: To evaluate the impact of the combined nonpharmaceutical interventions imposed in March 2020 on influenza A and B epidemiology by comparing national laboratory surveillance data from the intervention period with 9-year historical influenza season control data. Methods: We obtained epidemiologic data on laboratory influenza A and B detections and test volumes from the Canadian national influenza surveillance system for the epidemiologic period December 29, 2019 (epidemiologic week 1) through May 2, 2020 (epidemiologic week 18). COVID-19-related social distancing measures were implemented in Canada from epidemiologic week 10 of this period. We compared influenza A and B laboratory detections and test volumes and trends in detection during the 2019–20 influenza season with those of the previous nine influenza seasons for evidence of changes in epidemiologic trends. Results: While influenza detections the week prior to the implementation of social distancing measures did not differ statistically from the previous nine seasons, a steep decline in positivity occurred between epidemiologic weeks 10 and 14 (March 8–April 4, 2020). Both the percent positive on week 14 (p≤0.001) and rate of decline between weeks 10 and 14 (p=0.003) were significantly different from mean historical data. Conclusion: The data show a dramatic decrease in influenza A and B laboratory detections concurrent with social distancing measures and nonpharmaceutical interventions in Canada. The impact of these measures on influenza transmission may be generalizable to other respiratory viral illnesses during the study period, including COVID-19.

The “social distancing” of the Covid-19 crisis has brought to the forefront a phenomenon that has been at work since the rise of the Web: people exchange goods and services, express themselves and meet each other more and more without being physically present. The question of digital identity then emerges. What place do we occupy on the networks? What control do people have over their image? What place do writings occupy in the definition of this digital «image» of oneself? What is the understanding of the plurality of identities that the same person can have online? This article proposes a reflection on these different questions by distinguishing digital identities with and without physical persons.

The COVID 19 has produced a renewal of the working conditions likely to affect mental health, a professional risk that psychosocial risks (RPS) helps to prevent. The article links stress, one of the components of this legal regime in training, and teleworking, the solution chosen to protect workers. To characterize an RPS, stress must be pathogenic. An essential question arises: how to avoid it?As an extension, on the one hand, of the various sources of RPS law applicable to telework, it is, on the other hand, to assess the instruments available to the actors required to optimize risk prevention. Although RPS law continues to increase security for mental health, some tracks are proposed for the benefit of teleworkers.

The health crisis, by transforming the physical contact with the patient, has radically changed the way care is delivered in palliative care units. Healthcare workers have had to be able to adapt and address ethical issues to continue to give meaning to patient support while respecting the health measures imposed to limit the spread of the pandemic., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: This study observes the results of outbreak and mortality in three comparable countries that have been widely affected: Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden. These countries carried out “non-pharmaceutical interventions” at three different levels, from lockdown (Belgium) to social distancing (Sweden)., Objective: This study examines the effectiveness of general and undifferentiated interventions (lockdown) and their side effects. It implements models as a decision-making and crisis management tool. It examines relevant statistical predictive use (hospitalization and mortality projections) in the case of a versatile coronavirus outbreak., Results: General non-pharmaceutical interventions (lockdown, shut down, social distancing) did not “delay” the peak or “flatten” the curves., Conclusion: Non-targeted “Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions” (NPIs) do not have any direct effect on the R indicator (basic reproductive number). On the other hand, overly intense NPIs keep R above the imagined level.

The resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic in the fall of 2020 in France and in many countries around the world raises many questions. The situation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in France after the first epidemic wave in spring 2020 approximatively indicates more than 30,000 deaths, 3 to 4 millions people infected, 50% asymptomatic infections. These data encourage us to modify the initial perception of this infection, which was imagined to be benign, with massive, homogeneous and rapid distribution ("tsunamic"), and comprising a large majority of asymptomatic forms. This invites us to reassess the hypothesis of a major role of superspreaders in the spread of the infection, which would be more limited and discontinuous ("saltatory") than expected, as for SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV. The role of viral load in the transmission and clinical expression of infection also needs to be assessed. To fight against the spread of the epidemic, generalized confinement a posteriori appears to have a disproportionate cost compared to its effectiveness, whereas the application of barrier gestures (breathing mask, hand hygiene, social distancing) should be promoted without any restriction, along with the diagnosis and temporary isolation of infected persons. While the Covid-19 epidemic is a medical challenge for human societies, it is also a moral challenge that they may not ignore.

The development of the coronavirus epidemic is disrupting the organization of medical units and increasing the burden of care for nursing staff. Care facilities for the elderly are particularly exposed. Staff express legitimate fears about this, especially since they are particularly at risk of contracting the virus. Their elderly residents develop severe forms of the disease. To the anxiety generated by the risk of being contaminated, is added the one linked to the physical distancing of visitors made necessary to protect them., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

This worldwide health crisis forced hospitals to adapt their activities to this new confinement environment. Innovation was required to maintain a social bound between cohorting service's patients and their families, to guarantee a dedicated listening time and prevent as much as possible from the isolation due to this COVID-19 unusual situation. With that aim, the army training hospital Legouest created an information and support listening cell dedicated to COVID-19 hospitalized patients' families. It also provided several tablets for creating a patient and family digital gate., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)