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Changes in local travel behaviour before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

ABSTRACT: COVID-19 threatens the world. Social distancing is a significant factor in determining the spread of this disease, and social distancing is strongly affected by the local travel behaviour of people in large cities. In this study, we analysed the changes in the local travel behaviour of various population groups in Hong Kong, between 1 January and 31 March 2020, by using second-by-second smartcard data obtained from the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) system. Due to the pandemic, local travel volume decreased by 43%, 49% and 59% during weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays, respectively. The local travel volumes of adults, children, students and senior citizens decreased by 42%, 86%, 73% and 48%, respectively. The local travel behaviour changes for adults and seniors between non-pandemic and pandemic times were greater than those between weekdays and weekends. The opposite was true for children and students. During the pandemic, the daily commute flow decreased by 42%. Local trips to shopping areas, amusement areas and borders decreased by 42%, 81% and 99%, respectively. The effective reproduction number (R _t ) of COVID-19 had the strongest association with daily population use of the MTR 7-8 days earlier.

SUBMITTER: Zhang N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7877214 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Changes in local travel behaviour before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

Zhang Nan N Jia Wei W Wang Peihua P Dung Chung-Hin CH Zhao Pengcheng P Leung Kathy K Su Boni B Cheng Reynold R Li Yuguo Y

Cities (London, England) 20210211

COVID-19 threatens the world. Social distancing is a significant factor in determining the spread of this disease, and social distancing is strongly affected by the local travel behaviour of people in large cities. In this study, we analysed the changes in the local travel behaviour of various population groups in Hong Kong, between 1 January and 31 March 2020, by using second-by-second smartcard data obtained from the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) system. Due to the pandemic, local tr ...[more]

PMID: 33589850

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Project description:BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has influenced antimicrobial consumption and incidence of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). We aimed to study the epidemiology of MDROs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.MethodsWith the maintenance of infection control measures, we described the trend of MDRO infections, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter species (CRA), and extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase-(ESBL)-producing Enterobacterales, in a healthcare region with 3100-bed before (1 January 2016 to 31 December 2019, period 1) and during COVID-19 (1 January 2020 to 30 September 2022, period 2), together with the antimicrobial consumption using piecewise Poisson regression. The epidemiological characteristics of newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients with or without MDRO infections were analyzed.ResultsBetween period 1 and 2, we observed a significant increase in the trend of CRA infections (P<0.001), while there was no significant increase in the trend of MRSA (P=0.742) and ESBL-producing Enterobacterales (P=0.061) infections. Meanwhile, a significant increase in the trend of carbapenems (P<0.001), extended-spectrum beta-lactam-beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations (BLBI) (P=0.045), and fluoroquinolones (P=0.009) consumption was observed. The observed opportunity (23,540 ± 3703 vs 26,145 ± 2838, p=0.359) and compliance (81.6% ± 0.5% vs 80.1% ± 0.8%, P=0.209) of hand hygiene per year was maintained. In a multivariable model, older age, male sex, referral from residential care home for the elderly, presence of indwelling device, presence of endotracheal tube, and use of carbapenems, use of BLBI, use of proton pump inhibitors and history of hospitalization in the past 3 months were associated with higher risks of infections by MDROs among COVID-19 patients.ConclusionInfection control measures may control the surge of MDROs despite an increasing trend of antimicrobial consumption.

Project description:IntroductionChanges in tobacco use and related personal and environmental factors amid the COVID-19 pandemic can be captured by qualitative studies, but they are few in non-Western populations. We assessed the perceived links between tobacco use and COVID-19, and changes in the use of cigarettes, electronic cigarettes (ECs) and heated tobacco products (HTPs) in the early phase of the pandemic in Hong Kong, where lockdown was not implemented.MethodsSemi-structured telephone interviews were conducted from January to June 2021 in 95 participants (36 EC users, 28 HTP users, 32 exclusive cigarette users). Transcriptions were coded using deductive and inductive approaches, and factors for changes were nested in the social-ecological model.ResultsTwo-thirds of participants perceived their infection susceptibility was the same as never tobacco users, and 44.2% perceived more severe COVID-19 disease if infected. Amid the pandemic, tobacco use decreased overall but increased indoors for all three products. Increased tobacco use was mostly attributed to increased emotional distress, while decreases were attributed to various personal (health concerns) and environmental factors (e.g. COVID-19 regulations). Perceived convenience and lower costs were reasons for increased EC use. Limited access to HTPs was compensated by cigarette use.ConclusionsMany participants were unaware of the potential harm of tobacco use on COVID-19. Overall tobacco use decreased due to COVID-19 regulations, which may not be sustainable post-pandemic. Indoor consumption increased, supporting a comprehensive smoke-free policy that covers private indoor areas. Better cessation services targeting EC, HTP and cigarette use are needed.ImplicationsSmokers need better awareness of the risk of tobacco use on COVID-19. Smoking cessation services can be improved by offering brief advice, strengthening advocacy against secondhand smoke, and covering EC and HTP use, highlighting their potential harms to users and others, and their risk of addiction and relapse to cigarette use.

Project description:BackgroundThis study aims to determine the changes in physical activity and actigraphy-measured rest-activity circadian rhythm among Hong Kong community aged population before and during the outbreak of COVID-19.MethodsThis is a three repeated measure population-based cross-sectional study. We recruited community older men aged > 60 years in three periods of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong, i.e., before the COVID-19 outbreak (2 July 2019-8 January 2020), between the 2nd and 3rd waves of COVID-19 (23 June 2020-9 July 2020), and during the 3rd wave of COVID-19 (15 September 2020-29 September 2020). Participants reported detailed information on their physical activity habits using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and wore actigraphs continuously for 7 days (168 h). The actigraph data were then transferred to four rest-activity circadian rhythm parameters: midline statistic of rhythm (MESOR), amplitude, acrophase and percent rhythm. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to estimate the association of period effect of COVID-19 on physical activity and rest-activity circadian rhythm parameters.ResultsAmong the 242 community older men, 106 (43.8%) of them were recruited before the COVID-19 outbreak, 66 (27.3%) were recruited between the 2nd and 3rd waves of COVID-19, and 70 (28.9%) were recruited during the late phase of the 3rd wave of COVID-19. Compared with those recruited before COVID-19, participants recruited between the 2nd and 3rd waves of COVID-19 had lower physical activity (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.03, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) =1.05-3.93), MESOR (AOR = 2.05, 95%CI = 1.01-4.18), and amplitude (AOR = 1.91, 95%CI = 0.95-3.83). There was no difference in physical activity or circadian rhythm parameters between subjects recruited before and during the late phase of the 3rd wave.ConclusionsThis study found that the effect of COVID-19 on physical activity and rest-activity circadian rhythm for the community people may be short-term, indicating strong resilience of the community population. Although maintaining physical activity are encouraged for the older adults to sustain good health, a rebound in their physical activity may be a sign for the next wave of outbreak if insufficient social distancing and population protection are facilitated.

Dataset Information

Changes in local travel behaviour before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

Publications

Changes in local travel behaviour before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

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