A qualitative analysis of the effects of the COVID-19 response on low-income residents in Cameron County, Texas: Lessons for future pandemic response.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had dramatic impacts throughout the United States (US). In Cameron County, Texas, along the Texas-Mexico border, the impacts of the virus were felt more severely than in most places in the US. Residents of the county, which has high rates of poverty, many multigenerational households, high levels of underlying conditions, and an uninsured population of almost 30 percent, were not only poised to be affected by the virus but also by the response policies put in place to contain it.

Vaccine spillover effects in Africa: A cross-national study of vaccine spillover and confidence in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Background: Vaccine hesitancy and a distrust of the COVID-19 vaccine is widespread in many African nations, stemming from historic medical abuses and low confidence in governments. While studies have examined drivers of vaccine hesitancy in Africa, little is known about vaccine spillover effects: how prior experiences with vaccines influence individuals' confidence in vaccines and future vaccination behaviors.

Methods: In a large online survey conducted across three African countries (Kenya, N = 1545; Nigeria, N = 1557; South Africa, N = 1588), we examined five measures of vaccine spillover: how experiences with the COVID-19 vaccination process influenced respondents' confidence in the safety, efficacy, and importance of all vaccines approved for use in their country, and the likelihood of vaccinating themselves or their children in the future.

Impact of Collegiate Football Games on Emergency Response Intervals: A Case Study of College Station, Texas (USA).

Objectives: Little is known about how mass gatherings affect emergency response intervals. Previous research suggests that college football games increase ambulance transport intervals, but their impact on emergency response intervals is unexplored. This study examines how collegiate home football games in College Station, Texas (USA) affect emergency vehicle response intervals.

Dengue Treatment-Seeking Behavior: A Qualitative Study With Costa Rican Residents.

Treatment-seeking behavior (TSB) in relation to dengue infection is a critical aspect of public health, and understanding the factors that influence it is crucial for effective disease management. This research delves into key determinants of dengue TSB by examining the perceptions and behaviors of individuals in Costa Rica, in relation to the Health Belief Model (HBM). This study utilized naturalistic inquiry and incorporated a qualitative research design involving nine students organized into four teams, with at least one student on each team with high Spanish fluency.

An exploration of barriers to access to healthcare in Hancock County, Tennessee: A qualitative study.

Objective: Explore barriers to healthcare access in Hancock County, Tennessee using a conceptual framework for access to healthcare.

Methods: We collected data from 30 participants in Hancock County during 1 week in April 2023 using a combination of network and purposive sampling. We analyzed the data using thematic analysis and the conceptual framework of healthcare access.

Examining the Impacts of Title 42 in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas: Perceptions From Stakeholders in Immigrant Health and Wellbeing.

During the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services implemented a little-known public health law, referred to as "Title 42." The law immediately received criticism from public health professionals and pandemic response experts around the country. Years after its initial implementation, however, the policy has been consistently maintained through numerous court decisions as necessary to prevent COVID-19.

The lingering impact of Hurricane Katrina: Examining the physical health, mental health, and racial equity impacts of disaster response.

Purpose: The purpose of the research discussed in this paper is to better understand the negative health outcomes resulting from Hurricane Katrina and the disaster response that followed. This understanding can inform future disaster response.

Design: We conducted 10 in-depth interviews with individuals who lived in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina.

Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric, Deteriorating Health Access, and COVID-19 in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

The Rio Grande Valley of Texas has an exceptionally high number of COVID-19 cases and case fatality rate. The region makes up only 3% of the Texas population but, as of April 2021, accounted for 9% of the state's COVID-19 deaths. Additionally, during the summer of 2020, the Rio Grande Valley had one of the highest per capita infection rates in the United States.

The lingering impact of Hurricane Katrina: Examining the physical health, mental health, and racial equity impacts of disaster response.

Purpose: The purpose of the research discussed in this paper is to better understand the negative health outcomes resulting from Hurricane Katrina and the disaster response that followed. This understanding can inform future disaster response.

Design: We conducted 10 in-depth interviews with individuals who lived in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina.

Conflict and Cholera: Yemen's Man-Made Public Health Crisis and the Global Implications of Weaponizing Health.

The cholera epidemic in Yemen, which began in October 2016 and reached its peak in 2017, was the largest disease outbreak in modern history. Suspected cases topped 1 million, and there were more than 2,000 confirmed deaths in the first 8 months of the outbreak. Although cholera is an ancient disease, and there were other countries around the globe experiencing outbreaks at the same time as the outbreak in Yemen, Yemen's outbreak had a number of unique features.

Parent psychology and the decision to delay childhood vaccination.

Objective: The study of vaccine hesitancy identifies parental decisions to delay childhood vaccinations as an important public health issue, with consequences for immunization rates, the pursuit of nonmedical exemptions in states, and disease outbreaks. While prior work has explored the demographic and social underpinnings of parental decisions to delay childhood vaccinations, little is known about how the psychological dispositions of parents are associated with this choice. We analyze public opinion data to assess the role of psychological factors in reported parental decisions to delay childhood vaccination.

'Greater good' versus civil liberties in the United States: Tuberculosis and Seattle's Firland Sanatorium.

As far back as the late 1700s, peoples in the United States were developing ways to control infectious disease without infringing on Constitutional rights. Despite acknowledgement that an infected person has certain civil liberties, the history of public health law shows that, in many instances, infectious disease isolation and quarantine proved to be scientifically questionable at best. I examine an historical example of such questionable relationship between public health and civil liberties: the locked ward at Firland Sanatorium in Seattle, Washington.