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CEOs' personal experiences can influence their perceptions of climate change and their firms' pro-environmental behavior; a concept termed the experience-perception link. Thus, the experience of the recent COVID-19 pandemic may have caused a change in CEOs' perceptions of another global threat-climate change. We test this hypothesis by comparing survey measures of climate risk perceptions, self-efficacy, and pro-environmental behaviors among 605 randomly selected CEOs in Wuhan across three phases-(1) before, (2) after the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, and (3) after the COVID-19 had been primarily controlled in Wuhan but was declared a pandemic by the WHO. Harnessing between- and within-subjects variation in COVID-19 exposure, we find a substantial increase in climate change beliefs and actions after the COVID-19 evolved from an epidemic to a pandemic, regardless of subjects' exposure to the pandemic. We also demonstrate that this change is due to the salience of the global crisis and the feeling of hope elicited by observing effective responses to the crisis, rather than personal experiences solely made from a local health crisis. Our results reveal unexpectedly positive side effects of the abrupt shifts in CEOs' beliefs and their firms' pro-environmental behaviors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The study aims to illustrate the clinical characteristics and development of septic shock in intensive care unit (ICU) patients confirmed with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and to perform a comprehensive analysis of the association between septic shock and clinical outcomes in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). METHODS: Patients confirmed with SARS-CoV-2 infection, who were admitted to the ICU of the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen from January 1 to February 7, 2020, were enrolled. Clinical characteristics and outcomes were compared between patients with and without septic shock. RESULTS: In this study, 35 critically ill patients with COVID-19 were included. Among them, the median age was 64 years (interquartile range [IQR] 59-67 years), and 10 (28.4%) patients were female. The median ICU length of stay was 16 days (IQR 8-23 days). Three (8.6%) patients died during hospitalization. Nine (25.7%) patients developed septic shock in the ICU, and these patients had a significantly higher incidence of organ dysfunction and a worse prognosis than patients without septic shock. CONCLUSIONS: Septic shock is associated with a poor outcome in critically ill COVID-19 patients and is one of the hallmarks of the severity of patients receiving ICU care. A dysregulated immune response, uncontrolled inflammation, and coagulation disorders are strongly associated with the development and progression of COVID-19-related septic shock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early stages of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, many cross-infections occurred due to the limited number of wards and insufficient medical staff, which could not cope with the large number of patients visiting the hospital. A series of new infection control measures were implemented in our institution and a Wuhan hospital supported by our medical team, mainly including temporarily transforming the general ward into a passage for the staff to enter the infectious ward and standardizing the procedure for the wearing and removal of personal protection equipment (PPE). These measures significantly improved the situation, and no member of our medical staff was infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during the middle and late stages of the disease epidemic. We hope that these experiences can provide references for medical institutions that may face an outbreak of COVID-19, especially those in underdeveloped countries and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]