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This study investigated the impact of stay-at-home orders on depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older adults during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire was administered to older adults living in Ayase City, Kanagawa Prefecture, in July 2020, after the Japanese government declared its first COVID-19 state of emergency and stay-at-home order. In a sample of 1056 people, 69.1% were stay-at-home, and 30.9% were not. Those in the first group were more likely to be women, young-old, or non-workers. In addition, the patients tended to have more diseases. Of the participants, 39.3% had depressive symptoms and 60.7% did not. Multivariate analysis revealed that depressive symptoms were associated with increased frequency of being alone during the daytime (OR = 1.27; 95% CI = 1.07, 1.51), less face-to-face contact with friends or acquaintances (OR = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.65, 0.94), increased contact with friends or acquaintances through email/LINE app (OR = 1.29; 95% CI = 1.03, 1.60), and refraining from going out (OR = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.12, 2.09). These results suggest that quarantine measures related to soft lockdowns may aggravate the mental health of community-dwelling older adults. Therefore, it is necessary to consider macro-level policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Omicron, the current SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, is much more contagious than other previous variants. Whether strict lockdown could effectively curb the transmission of Omicron is largely unknown. In this retrospective study, we compared the strictness of government lockdown policies in Shanghai and other countries. Based on the daily Omicron case number from 1 March 2022 to 30 April 2022, the effective reproductive numbers in this Shanghai Omicron wave were calculated to confirm the impact of strict lockdown on Omicron transmission. Pearson correlation was conducted to illustrate the determining factor of strict lockdown outcomes in the 16 different districts of Shanghai. After a very strict citywide lockdown since April 1st, the average daily effective reproductive number reduced significantly, indicating that strict lockdown could slow down the spreading of Omicron. Omicron control is more challenging in districts with higher population mobility and lockdown is more likely to decrease the number of asymptomatic carriers than the symptomatic cases. All these findings indicate that the strict lockdown could curb the transmission of Omicron effectively, especially for the asymptomatic spread, and suggest that differentiated COVID-19 prevention and control measures should be adopted according to the population density and demographic composition of each community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state of emergency (SOE) period in Tokyo under the COVID-19 pandemic restricted people to staying in their homes and changed human mobility, which has impacted the major agricultural markets in Tokyo. In this research, we analyzed how the changes in people's staying-at-home behaviors during the four SOE periods (7 April 2020–28 October 2021) in Tokyo affected the daily market prices of cabbage, tomato, Japanese radish, carrot, and potato. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, the study reveals that all the investigated vegetables except potatoes have a long-term relationship with the staying-at-home index. The long-term influence of staying-at-home behaviors on cabbage, tomato, radish, and carrot markets during the early SOE periods had a negative impact on these vegetable prices, indicating that an increase in the hours of staying-at-home as related to SOE measures might have decreased the demand for these vegetables. The negative impact of the stay-at-home index on vegetable prices lessened in the fourth SOE period, likely because more people did not remain in their homes. Moreover, the study findings reveal that, compared to less perishable vegetables, the price of perishable vegetables is more likely to have been affected by human mobility constraints during the pandemic. Therefore, agricultural policymakers should consider providing subsidies to producers based on the negative influence on market prices of perishable and less perishable vegetables in pandemic situations, such as COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how changes in hours spent at home during the COVID-19 pandemic (February 2020–February 2022) affected the volume of municipal waste generated by households. Applying autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) to a time series model created to measure the volume of combustible waste, recyclable plastic, plastic bottles, glasses and cans, and used paper, this study finds that an increase in the number of hours spent at home elevated the amount of combustible waste, recyclable plastic bottles, and glass bottles and cans generated. The increase in the volume of waste during the pandemic tended to be related to increased demand for delivery and take-out containers, and the increase in combustible waste was likely caused by a surge in the use of unrecyclable plastic containers. Thus, the results of the study suggest the importance of enhancing the use of recyclable containers and the need for support to develop ways to spread the use of such containers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated governmental restrictions suddenly changed everyday life and potentially affected exercise behavior. The aim of this study was to explore whether individuals changed their preference for certain types of physical exercise during the pandemic and to identify risk factors for inactivity. An international online survey with 13,881 adult participants from 18 countries/regions was conducted during the initial COVID-19 related lockdown (between April and May 2020). Data on types of exercise performed during and before the initial COVID-19 lockdown were collected, translated, and categorized (free-text input). Sankey charts were used to investigate these changes, and a mixed-effects logistic regression model was used to analyze risks for inactivity. Many participants managed to continue exercising but switched from playing games (e.g., football, tennis) to running, for example. In our sample, the most popular exercise types during the initial COVID-19 lockdown included endurance, muscular strength, and multimodal exercise. Regarding risk factors, higher education, living in rural areas, and physical activity before the COVID-19 lockdown reduced the risk for inactivity during the lockdown. In this relatively active multinational sample of adults, most participants were able to continue their preferred type of exercise despite restrictions, or changed to endurance type activities. Very few became physically inactive. It seems people can adapt quickly and that the constraints imposed by social distancing may even turn into an opportunity to start exercising for some. These findings may be helpful to identify individuals at risk and optimize interventions following a major context change that can disrupt the exercise routine.

The lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic have been reported to reduce ambient air pollution in many cities globally. This study aims to examine whether air pollution dropped in Memphis, a typical U.S. metropolitan city and transportation hub, during the lockdown from 25 March to 4 May, 2020. Daily air pollution data measured at five representative monitoring stations in the Memphis Metropolitan Area were downloaded from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality System. The mean concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone during the lockdown were compared with the baseline concentrations measured during the same periods in 2017–2019 using linear regression models. The average vehicle miles traveled (VMT) reduced by 57% in this region during the lockdown compared to that during 1–24 March, 2020. The mean (± standard deviation) concentrations of PM2.5, NO2, and ozone were 7.5 ± 2.6 μg/m3, 16.5 ± 9.4 ppb, and 44.5 ± 8.4 ppb, respectively, during the lockdown. They did not statistically differ from the baseline concentrations, nor were they lower than the mean concentrations in the prior month (25 February–24 March, 2020), after accounting for meteorological conditions. The lack of effect could be explained by the small contribution of traffic emissions to air pollution. The results suggest that the "stay-at-home" order had an insignificant impact on reducing air pollution in Memphis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of public health measures for controlling the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic relies on population compliance. We analyzed compliance with social distancing and its associations with mental health. The Hong Kong COVID-19 Health Information Survey was conducted from 9-23 April 2020 on 1501 adults randomly sampled for landline telephone interviews ( n = 500) and online surveys ( n = 1001). Compliance with social distancing and staying-at-home, stress (Perceived Stress Scale-4), anxiety (General Anxiety Disorders-2), and depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-2) were collected. The associations between mental health symptoms and compliance were examined by multivariable regression models. Of the 1501 respondents (52.5% female, 72.3% aged 18-59 years), 74.2%, 72.7%, and 59.7% reported avoiding going out, going to crowded places, and attending social gatherings of more than four people, respectively. Most respondents had stayed-at-home for at least four of the past seven days (58.4%; mean 4.12, Standard Deviation 2.05). Adoption, perceived effectiveness, and perceived compliance with social distancing were associated with lower stress levels and less anxiety and depressive symptoms (all p < 0.01). However, more days stayed-at-home were associated with more depressive symptoms (adjusted Odds Ratio 1.09; 95%Confidence Interval 1.00, 1.18). The long-term psychological impact in relation to social distancing and staying-at-home requires further investigation.