A team of renowned scientific experts has joined forces from across the world to help fight the spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines, which hold the key to beating the deadly pandemic and releasing countries from debilitating lockdown restrictions.

Global experts urge everyone to talk about COVID-19 vaccines responsibly

How are misconceptions about vaccination—and the COVID-19 vaccines in particular—amplified and promulgated? What are effective strategies for combating misinformation to overcome vaccine hesitancy, especially in vulnerable populations? How can journalists and other science communicators more effectively articulate the benefits and risks of vaccination while maintaining their objectivity and integrity?

COVID-19 Vaccines: Combating Misinformation

Most of the time, this probably doesn't matter much if infection rates are low even in the placebo group. But I'm surprised I haven't seen people talk about it. I assume this is a well-known result? Any concern about comparing efficacy estimates across time and place?

Of course you can work this all out analytically for various models of exposure risk. Here's a little illustration that @evokerr put together for a vaccine that blocks 90% of infections.. You can think of N as measuring number of close contacts with people in the community.

With a good vaccine, the treatment group effectively "sees" a lower rate of exposure than the placebo group. As the disease gets more prevalent, the case count in the placebo group starts to saturate first, while that in the treatment group continue to increase nearly linearly.

So as exposure risk increases, the number of cases in a group increases sub-linearly. Suppose half the group is contracting the disease during the study, and then you double the exposure. Assuming homogeneity and independence etc you'd now expect about 3/4 of the group to get it.

My colleague @evokerr pointed out that estimates of vaccine efficacy also depend on prevalence. The logic is pretty simple. Efficacy is defined as one minus the risk ratio of treatment to placebo. The key observation is you can only get COVID once.

A somewhat technical thread about measuring vaccine efficacy. We're used to the notion that certain properties of tests for disease depend on prevalence: positive and negative predictive value do, for example, whereas sensitivity and specificity do not.

On average, one person in the U.S. died of Covid-19 every 43 seconds last week. On this morning’s @CNNnewsroom, @Christi_Paul and @MartinSavidge marked this sobering fact with 43 seconds of silence.

Provenance and @FuJoMedia are delighted to support Age of Misinformation by @CEST_Official & @ElsevierConnect Our countering disinformation panel will be chaired by @CullotyEileen with insights from @rsarmitage @vitalbacrivello @TGrandjouan @STWorg @TZerback & @GianfredaStella

Why did I hedge my original post with "I don't have a background in medical ethics but...."? Because people who can provide context like this. Thread:

More on this issue. https://nytimes.com/2020/12/02/health/covid-vaccine-placebo-group.html…

I don't have a background in medical ethics but this makes me uncomfortable unless it was very clearly explained to study participants at enrollment, and to some degree even then. h/t @RMCarpiano https://nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2033538…

10.1056/NEJMp2033538

Recent announcements that some Covid-19 vaccines are estimated to have high short-term efficacy provide new hope that vaccination will soon contribute to controlling the pandemic. The initial roll-out of limited quantities of vaccines that are still investigational will provide the opportunity to ethically obtain pivotal data to improve regulatory and public health decision making, thereby increasing public and professional confidence in these and other vaccines.

Placebo-Controlled Trials of Covid-19 Vaccines — Why We Still Need Them

9) ...and we just got a new confirmation of a mink #SARSCoV2 spike protein mutation... that has also made it into humans. Luckily this one our vaccines and antibodies still recognize. But we might not be so lucky if pandemic drags in a large mink reservoir from which to emerge.

8) MINK EPIDEMIC IN OREGON. “The mink is currently the only animal known to pass the coronavirus back to humans. There’s also concern that the virus can mutate inside mink populations and lead to new strains that might resist vaccines.”

7) Also, @michaelmina_lab has said vaccine escape is unlikely, but he admits there is currently one potential vulnerability—almost all current vaccines target immunity development against #SARSCoV2’s current spike protein. While best , we are putting eggs into one basket.

6) While “vaccine escape” is unlikely, we can’t be sure yet. And Dr Anderson points out #SARSCoV2, while has a low substitution rate, actually has a high recombination rate.

5) and why should we care most of all? Two words: “vaccine escape”. If we let the #SARSCoV2 establish itself in another species permanently, there is greater chance of it long term. We cannot let this coronavirus linger on this planet and evolved in “unexpected” pathways.

4) With sooooo many minks infected in Denmark and elsewhere, immunologist Dr Anderson is “concerned” about possible “unexpected evolutionary pathways”. This is why there is a movement to cull the minks and eliminate all mink farming. But this has stalled in Denmark.

3) As pointed out, in Denmark, minks outnumber total humans by over 2x. And attack rates of #SARSCoV2 in minks is sometimes 90% of all exposed minks. So yeah, that’s why Danish leaders are worried about mink #COVID19

2) More worrisome about minks: In Denmark, minks at a farm that got infected months ago later became **reinfected recently**—including with symptoms. Random sampling of 36 animals brought up 26 positives - all reinfected. This needs further study. https://tv2nord.dk/amp/119200?__twitter_impression=true

HUMANMINKSHUMAN transmission on mink farms in NL. 68% of the tested farm workers and/or contacts had evidence of #SARSCoV2 infection. The coronavirus mutated & even evolved within minks before transmitted back to humans—& keeps #COVID19 perpetuating. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/11/09/science.abe5901.full…

COVID meets Brexit in the UK

In some parts of the country, 31% of care home staff come from the EU. Some areas already have a 26% vacancy rate. And on January 1, EU recruitment will plummet because workers earn less than the £26,500 threshold. A very predictable recruitment crisis on top of the Covid crisis.

More on this kind of thing in my latest blogpost, just up: http://deevybee.blogspot.com/2020/12/faux-peer-reviewed-journals-threat-to.html… Reviewing such papers reveals journals that publish more 'letters' than articles, with minimal publication lags - but are listed on Web of Science

A researcher reads an online news article about a family suicide in another country and writes it up more or less verbatim as a "case report", with a spurious reference to homicide. WTF @wileyglobal? 10.1111/ppc.12686 News article (trans by Google in pic): https://bengali.news18.com/news/crime/old-man-with-his-wife-and-son-commits-suicide-in-their-residence-at-kolkata-ss-459859.html…

Despite all its imperfections, peer review is one marker of scientific quality – it indicates that an article has been evaluated prior to publication by at least one, and usually several, experts in the field. An academic journal that does not use peer review would not usually be regarded as a serious source and we would not expect to see it listed in a database such as Clarivate Analytic's Web of Science Core Collection which "includes only journals that demonstrate high levels of editorial rigor and best practice".

Faux peer-reviewed journals: a threat to research integrity

lol ok.

10.31235/osf.io/8jwhk

Computational reproducibility, or the ability to reproduce analytic results of a scientific study on the basis of publicly available code and data, is a shared goal of many researchers, journals, and scientific communities. Researchers in many disciplines including political science have made strides towards realizing that goal. A new challenge, however, has arisen. Code too often becomes obsolete within just a few years. We document this problem with a random sample of studies posted to the ISPS Data Archive; we encountered nontrivial errors in seven of 20 studies. In line with similar proposals for the long-term maintenance of data and commercial software, we propose that researchers dedicated to computational reproducibility should have a plan in place for "active maintenance" of their analysis code. We offer concrete suggestions for how data archives, journals, and research communities could encourage and reward the active maintenance of scientific code and data.

Active Maintenance: A Proposal for the Long-term Computational Reproducibility of Scientific Results

We need a #2020goodnews trend. Here's one: Science keeps getting more open. One indicator from @OSFramework: * OSF users posted 9,349 files of data or other research content PER DAY * OSF users made 5,633 files public PER DAY EVERY DAY in 2020 #openscience is accelerating

Divination by scatomancy works. Or: shit don’t lie.

Our 1st Covid-19 wastewater tests since Thanksgiving just came in - virus levels are up significantly citywide. I hope that all of #BTV will look at this graph and see what I see: a call to action, to stop gathering with other households, and to get tested ASAP if you have

Dramatic international gestures are unlikely to have much impact. It’s hands, masks and space we should be focusing on

All the times the down-players were plain wrong: https://time.graphics/line/455000

Watching high profile covid-deniers and down-players on here continue to spew their conspiracy theory crap even as cases & hospitalisations hit record levels & ICUs start to get overrun is one of the most depressing spectacles imaginable. What the f*ck is wrong with them?

There are also consistent public health experts since Feb. UK govt chose to listen to certain voices & not others, & to invite certain views onto SAGE & not others. Chancellor Sunak invited Heneghan, Gupta & Tegnell to advise on strategy. That says it all.Quote Tweet

The experts have now changed their minds on testing arrivals, masks, mass gatherings, mass testing, herd immunity...

This shows how tiny and irrelevant the libertarian/anti-mask/freedomloving/Coviddeniers are: media shld ignore them and those crazed MPs.Shameful PM waits for YouGov poll to tell him what to do, too many deaths later.

Would you support or oppose the UK going into another national lockdown? Support: 79% Oppose: 16% Via @YouGov Jan 4

Disinformation is on the rampage with manipulated stories spreading like wildfire on social media. While disinformation has always been with us, the power at which it spreads on social media platforms is new. Since the 2016 US election, the term’s appearance in news headlines has grown tenfold.

We need much more than media literacy to tackle Covid-19 disinformation

A significant number of Americans believe misinformation about the origins of the coronavirus and the recent presidential election, as well as conspiracy theories like QAnon, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll.

Even If It's 'Bonkers,' Poll Finds Many Believe QAnon And Other Conspiracy Theories

Our 4th dashboard launches today at http://torontoafterthefirstwave.com. It focuses on changes in work, revealing a range of employment impacts experienced in Toronto during COVID-19. This dashboard includes StatsCan data, a survey of office vacancy rates, and some novel LinkedIN data.

Replying to @BrianNosek @SLLancaster and 2 othersVery cool - and it already has a list of glossaries to build on

My team at the Genomics UK consortium sequenced the new Sars-CoV-2 variant, but we’ll need more evidence to understand how it might change the pandemic

Here's what we know about the new variant of coronavirus

Last night @SliderCuts & I discussed qq his 95k+ followers have about #COVID19 vaccines. Went on > 1.5 hrs in the end!! Pple have reasonable concerns that need to be heard and understood & happy to (hopefully) help address. Watch here https://instagram.com/tv/CLcu-UFB8Xy/?igshid=irvs1mlis0o9… @IndependentSage

10.31234/osf.io/76pgw

Background: In the unpredictable times of the ongoing global coronavirus disease (COVID-19), parents worldwide are affected by stressors and strains that follow in the wake of the government-initiated distancing protocols. Objective: In a two‐wave longitudinal survey, we examined levels of parental perceived stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression among a sample of parents at two time points; in the midst of the strictest government-initiated physical distancing protocols following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (T1, N = 2868) and three months after the protocols discontinued (T2, n = 1489). Further, we investigated the levels of parental stress, anxiety, and depression relative to perceived relationship quality and anger aimed at child(ren) at the two time points, including subgroups based on age, sex, cultural background, civil status, education level, number of children in household, employment status, and pre-existing psychiatric diagnosis. Methods and findings: Parents were asked to fill out a set of validated questionnaires on the two measurement occasions. As expected, the findings indicate that the high levels of parental stress significantly decreased from T1 to T2, indicating that the cumulative stressors that parent’s experiences during distancing protocols declined as a function of the phaseout of the protocols. The decrease of perceived parental stress at the two time points, was accompanied by a significant decrease in symptoms of both depression and anxiety among the participating parents. Symptoms meeting the clinical cut-off for depression (23.0%) and generalized anxiety disorder (23.3%) were reported among participating parents at T1, compared to 16.8% and 13.8% respectively at T2. Reduction in depression and angry at child(ren) from T1 to T2 were further associated with a reduction in perceived parental stress. In addition, relationship quality and angry at child(ren) at T1 predicted change in parental stress. Conclusions: The findings underline some of the negative psychological impact of physical distancing protocols on parent’s health and well-being. Parents who are facing physical distancing and remaining at home with their children may be particularly vulnerable to parental stress, anxiety and depression. Uncovering the nature of how these constructs are associated to parents and families facing social crisis, such as the ongoing pandemic, can contribute to design relevant interventions to reduce parental stress and strengthen parental coping and resilience.

Mechanisms of Parental Stress During and After the COVID-19 Lockdown: A two-wave longitudinal study

10.31234/osf.io/95n3p

n the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been mandated to keep enlarged distances from others. We interviewed 136 German subjects over five weeks from the end of March to the end of April 2020 during the first wave of infections about their preferred interpersonal distance (IPD) before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the pandemic, subjects adapted to distance requirements and preferred a larger IPD. This enlarged IPD was judged to persist after the crisis partially. People anticipated keeping more IPD to others even if there was no longer any risk of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. We also sampled two follow-up measurements, one in August, after the first wave had been flattened, and one in October 2020, at the beginning of the second wave. We discuss our findings in light of proxemic theory and an indicator for socio-cultural adaptation beyond the course of the pandemic.

10.31234/osf.io/265nq

We compare patterns of sexual violence against adults (n = 317) and children (n = 224) in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to inform sexual violence prevention and protection efforts. The data we analyse were coded from interviews conducted by human rights defenders who were assisting survivors in obtaining vital services. We found that children were more likely than adults to be attacked during the daytime, by a single perpetrator rather than multiple perpetrators, and in a private as opposed to a public location. Children were violated most often by neighbors and family members, whereas adults were equally likely to be attacked by strangers and persons known to them. On average, the children in the sample were four years younger compared to the average age reported in national samples pre-pandemic (age 12 versus 16). Survivors were more likely to be female than male. Policy recommendations are offered based on our findings.

Patterns of Violence Against Adults and Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya

10.31234/osf.io/bhj49

The COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest global crisis of our lifetimes and leadership has been critical to societies’ capacity to deal with it. Here effective leadership has brought people together, provided a clear perspective on what is happening and what response is needed, and mobilised the population to act in the most effective ways to bring the pandemic under control. Informed by a model of identity leadership (Haslam, Reicher & Platow, 2020), this review argues that leaders’ ability to do these things is grounded in their ability to represent and advance the shared interests of group members and to create and embed a sense of shared social identity among them (a sense of “us-ness”). For leaders, then, this sense of us-ness is the key resource that they need to marshal in order to harness the support and energy of citizens. The review discusses examples of the successes and failures of different leaders during the pandemic and organises these around five policy priorities related to the 5Rs of identity leadership: Readying, Reflecting, Representing, Realising and Reinforcing. These priorities and associated lessons are relevant not only to the management of COVID-19 but to crisis management and leadership more generally.

Identity leadership in a crisis: A 5R framework for learning from responses to COVID-19

10.31234/osf.io/x5k8u

Physical distancing is crucial for slowing the spread of COVID-19, but the associated reduction of social interaction can be detrimental to psychological wellbeing. Here, we sought to understand whether different ways in which people connect to others might mitigate this negative impact. We examined how amount and type of social interactions and social media use would predict wellbeing during a period of physical distancing in the United Kingdom. In a 30-day diary study conducted in April-June 2020, 108 participants reported their daily social interactions and social media use, as well as their end-of-day wellbeing. Using multilevel regressions, we found that more face-to-face interactions positively predicted wellbeing, while technology-mediated communication had less consistent positive effects on wellbeing. More active and less passive social media use was associated with greater wellbeing. Our results suggest that while technology-mediated communication can improve wellbeing, face-to-face interactions are unique and important for wellbeing during physical distancing.

Connected Despite COVID-19: The Role of Social Interactions and Social Media for Wellbeing

he real Covid news gets better every day. Case numbers are falling. Hospital admissions are falling. Deaths are falling. The vaccination programme is a success beyond anyone's wildest imagination. New, effective treatments are emerging. Spring, fresh air and sunshine are almost upon us.ADVERTISEMENT{"requests":{"csi":"https://csi.gstatic.com/csi?"},"transport":{"xhrpost":false},"triggers":{"adRequestStart":{"on":"ad-request-start","request":"csi","sampleSpec":{"sampleOn":"a4a-csi-${pageViewId}","threshold":1},"selector":"amp-ad","selectionMethod":"closest","extraUrlParams":{"met.a4a":"afs_lvt.${viewerLastVisibleTime}~afs.${time}"}},"adResponseEnd":{"on":"ad-response-end","request":"csi","sampleSpec":{"sampleOn":"a4a-csi-${pageViewId}","threshold":1},"selector":"amp-ad","selectionMethod":"closest","extraUrlParams":{"met.a4a":"afe.${time}"}},"adRenderStart":{"on":"ad-render-start","request":"csi","sampleSpec":{"sampleOn":"a4a-csi-${pageViewId}","threshold":1},"selector":"amp-ad","selectionMethod":"closest","extraUrlParams":{"met.a4a":"ast.${scheduleTime}~ars_lvt.${viewerLastVisibleTime}~ars.${time}","qqid":"${qqid}"}},"adIframeLoaded":{"on":"ad-iframe-loaded","request":"csi","sampleSpec":{"sampleOn":"a4a-csi-${pageViewId}","threshold":1},"selector":"amp-ad","selectionMethod":"closest","extraUrlParams":{"met.a4a":"ail.${time}"}}},"extraUrlParams":{"s":"ampad","ctx":"2","c":"${correlator}","slotId":"${slotId}","puid":"${requestCount}~${timestamp}"}}{"transport":{"beacon":false,"xhrpost":false},"requests":{"visibility1":"https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pcs/activeview?xai=AKAOjss-vQjNUP78eIujxsqd1zb1s_Ieqsh2jNEjiuoMIqu2hzEWAJnJ-SvgYo4pBkZycxz5afWcGV84tyTcXKf0L_YcKTxd-oAATZSJ0qLpY4E&sig=Cg0ArKJSzMMZ9tqhK04eEAE&id=ampim&o=${elementX},${elementY}&d=${elementWidth},${elementHeight}&ss=${screenWidth},${screenHeight}&bs=${viewportWidth},${viewportHeight}&mcvt=${maxContinuousVisibleTime}&mtos=0,0,${maxContinuousVisibleTime},${maxContinuousVisibleTime},${maxContinuousVisibleTime}&tos=0,0,${totalVisibleTime},0,0&tfs=${firstSeenTime}&tls=${lastSeenTime}&g=${minVisiblePercentage}&h=${maxVisiblePercentage}&tt=${totalTime}&r=v&avms=ampa&adk=2528340120","btr1":"https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/pcs/view?xai=AKAOjstFzLpzkAIYMJiF0gz473squSjpvO8-0d8UuPsuSPpNYbk7ctV6pTs02zT6ZvHciTRNc7g8Mrv3OWgAoRbrfWzOApakgWCFcd6LMk6X52Dw9-gNDEXXK0JJlVKIcwHrMpsZ6JzmC3PsygLcm4wUW9tJzT9QDTASwB7QYmpDSCM3lWt2zQloZNjpwNXh0OZ2b4ZLUfHg_rSzBTwldkrwDvgH6-OFm4C4YjFA4cTA6WZwkoJv4fM4deO2dTaot6kVOMrZESQjsuP3nFbdaQaluYr6HRxVW5MG3RvkvvSCFpfbooYMyUnghtkHZSKbAlgBSvgvTgB525uN_aZMo7eNA5AGbaBIVQc1EFQiJ6Q3roqDsA&sai=AMfl-YRtdo31o6GgCTlilFM4fP_cgfjIBNtP5IKcLuWE90tU_nu9dpQy3kZio1hsEYPt2eIZNwrxKs_49m6vpYY-qnQjBiC5bsHJwJvpoLUvXqLz&sig=Cg0ArKJSzJRksUuGCjAfEAE&urlfix=1&adurl="},"triggers":{"continuousVisible":{"request":["visibility1"],"on":"visible","visibilitySpec":{"selector":"amp-ad","selectionMethod":"closest","visiblePercentageMin":50,"continuousTimeMin":1000}},"beginToRender":{"request":["btr1"],"on":"ini-load","selector":"amp-ad","selectionMethod":"closest"}}}Why, then, is there so much talk of keeping restrictions in place for the rest of the year? Why do some say that we should keep the so-called 'Rule of Six' for months to come and warn we might be wearing face masks for ever – yes, for ever – in some situations at least?

We MUST resist the powerful voices arguing for Zero Covid: Vaccines will make the virus no more lethal than flu, says PROFESSOR ROBERT DINGWALL. So why sacrifice freedom and prosperity in a doomed attempt to eliminate it completely?

10.1136/bmj.m4716

Little is known about the interests of the doctors, scientists, and academics on whose advice the UK government relies to manage the pandemic. Attempts to discover more are frequently thwarted, finds Paul D Thacker

Conflicts of interest among the UK government’s covid-19 advisers

10.31234/osf.io/v84mr

People across the world have responded to the pandemic by mobilising and organising to support their communities, setting up mutual aid groups to provide practical, financial, and social support. Mutual aid means short-term ‘crisis response’ for some, while for other groups, it is a chance to radically restructure society, and what it means to be a member of that society. We applied a social representations lens to examine the ways in which citizenship was understood and performed by members of UK Covid-19 mutual aid groups. Interviews were conducted with 29 members of these groups. A reflexive thematic analysis developed three conceptualisations of citizenship: (1) human rights-based citizenship, untied to concerns around ‘deservingness’ or legal status; (2) neoliberal citizenship, to which participants oriented pragmatically in order to claim their group’s legitimacy at the same time as they rejected its individualism; and (3) resistant citizenship, which captured the tension between working within/with existing political structures, or working outside/against them. Findings are discussed in relation to previous theoretical and empirical work and practical implications for policy makers and local government are set out.

Rehearsing post-Covid-19 citizenship: Social representations and social practices in UK mutual aid groups

10.1136/bmj.m4851

What we know, and what we don’tThe UK’s £100bn “Operation Moonshot” to roll out mass testing for covid-19 to cities and universities around the country raises two key questions. How infectious are people who test positive but have no symptoms? And, what is their contribution to transmission of live virus?

Asymptomatic transmission of covid-19

Campaigners push back at influencers stoking fears over safety and lawfulness of vaccine

'Verify before you amplify': the BAME activists fighting Covid myths

Boosting indoor humidity in winter can hinder transmission of the virus

Another Way to Protect against COVID beyond Masking and Social Distancing

About 10% of the City of Pittsburgh’s workforce is off work because they are quarantining for possible covid-19 exposure, the city announced Wednesday. That amounts to about 330 of the city’s 3,300-person workforce. A smaller but unspecified number of workers are off because they’ve tested positive for covid.

10% of City of Pittsburgh’s employees are in covid quarantine, officials say

Imperial has projected the coronavirus outbreak for all countries around the world with the latest version of its scenario analysis tool.

Imperial projects global coronavirus trajectory with simulation tool

Support for Sweden’s government and public confidence in authorities’ ability to handle the coronavirus crisis are sliding as the country’s anti-lockdown approach continues to be tested by mounting numbers of deaths and new cases.

Swedes' support for anti-lockdown stance slips amid rising Covid deaths

http://icumonitoring.ch now shows the 'ad-hoc' bed capacity as well as the bed capacity certified by the Swiss Society of Intensive Care Medicine. Data from partners the Coordinated Sanitary Service of @vbs_ddps. Thanks @nico_criscuolo @ChengZhao20, PhDs at @ETH_en

10.1073/pnas.2013182117

Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have been employed to reduce the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), yet these measures are already having similar effects on other directly transmitted, endemic diseases. Disruptions to the seasonal transmission patterns of these diseases may have consequences for the timing and severity of future outbreaks. Here we consider the implications of SARS-CoV-2 NPIs for two endemic infections circulating in the United States of America: respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and seasonal influenza. Using laboratory surveillance data from 2020, we estimate that RSV transmission declined by at least 20% in the United States at the start of the NPI period. We simulate future trajectories of both RSV and influenza, using an epidemic model. As susceptibility increases over the NPI period, we find that substantial outbreaks of RSV may occur in future years, with peak outbreaks likely occurring in the winter of 2021–2022. Longer NPIs, in general, lead to larger future outbreaks although they may display complex interactions with baseline seasonality. Results for influenza broadly echo this picture, but are more uncertain; future outbreaks are likely dependent on the transmissibility and evolutionary dynamics of circulating strains.

The impact of COVID-19 nonpharmaceutical interventions on the future dynamics of endemic infections

10.1136/bmj.m4150 (

Patients’ socioeconomic circumstances should be routinely documented in their healthcare record, say Andrew Moscrop and colleaguesHealth inequities are worsening across Britain. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that men in England’s most deprived areas die almost a decade earlier than those living in affluent neighbourhoods.1 For women, life expectancy is falling in deprived areas. During the coronavirus pandemic, the strong emerging relation between covid-19 death rates and area deprivation reported by ONS2 and Public Health England3 has shown the exacerbation of existing inequities and highlighted the need for more comprehensive datasets in order to understand and reduce them.

If social determinants of health are so important, shouldn’t we ask patients about them?

10.31234/osf.io/p23bv

The current research examined whether men’s hostile sexism was a risk factor for family-based aggression during a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in which families were confined to the home for 5 weeks. Parents who had reported on their sexist attitudes and aggressive behavior toward intimate partners and children prior to the COVID-19 pandemic completed assessments of aggressive behavior toward their partners and children during the lockdown (N = 362 parents of which 310 were drawn from the same family). Accounting for pre-lockdown levels of aggression, men who more strongly endorsed hostile sexism reported greater aggressive behavior toward their intimate partners and their children during the lockdown. The contextual factors that help explain these longitudinal associations differed across targets of family-based aggression. Men’s hostile sexism predicted greater aggression toward intimate partners when men experienced low power during couples’ interactions, whereas men’s hostile sexism predicted greater aggressive parenting when men reported lower partner-child relationship quality. Novel effects also emerged for benevolent sexism. Men’s higher benevolent sexism predicted lower aggressive parenting, and women’s higher benevolent sexism predicted greater aggressive behavior toward partners, irrespective of power and relationship quality. The current study provides the first longitudinal demonstration that men’s hostile sexism predicts residual changes in aggression toward both intimate partners and children. Such aggressive behavior will intensify the health, well-being, and developmental costs of the pandemic, highlighting the importance of targeting power-related gender role beliefs when screening for aggression risk and delivering therapeutic and education interventions as families face the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19.

Sexist Attitudes and Family Aggression during COVID-19 Lockdown

arXiv:2011.12817

Specialization is a hallmark of humans. Specialization in the real world (with imperfectly sorted partners, imperfectly calibrated supply and demand, and high failure risk) requires redundancy in relationships, which prevents specialists from going hungry when some of their partners fail to capture highly variable food items and derive the most value when dividing surplus harvests. The burgeoning field of multilayer network analysis offers tools to test for the effect of redundant relationships in food sharing networks on hunger. We derive measures that include progressively more network structure: measures without any network structure, those that only include information about individuals, and those that include all information about individuals and domains. We test for the effects of these measures in a sample of horticulturalists living in the savannahs of the Guyana Shield, a nutritionally precarious environment. Having redundant relationships is associated with a lower incidence of reported skipped meals. This provides evidence that redundancy in food sharing networks may mitigate risk associated with the foraging strategies necessary to support a large-brained, generalist omnivore. This result has consequences for broader debates in the field of human evolution such as why humans live in groups with low relatedness.

Redundant relationships in multiplex food sharing networks increase food security in a nutritionally precarious environment