256.
Char Leung, Li Su, etc.,
Better healthcare can reduce the risk of COVID-19 in-hospital post-partum maternal death: evidence from Brazil, 2022.08.10,
https://academic.oup.com/ije/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ije/dyac157/6659906?searchresult=1 .
COVID-19 in post-partum women is commonly overlooked. The present study assessed whether puerperium is an independent risk factor of COVID-19 related in-hospital maternal death and whether fatality is preventable in the Brazilian context. We demonstrated that puerperium was associated with an increased odds of COVID-19-related in-hospital mortality. Only part of the risk can be reduced by quality healthcare such as non-profit private hospitals, those that have an obstetric centre or those located in urban areas.
255.
Florence Débarre, Emmanuel Lecoeur, etc.,
The French Covid-19 vaccination policy did not solve vaccination inequities: a nationwide study on 64.5 million people, 2022.09.14,
https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurpub/ckac125/6697909?searchresult=1 .
This study aims to obtain further insights on the socio-economic, political and geographic factor associated with vaccination rates, and to evaluate the effect of the French domestic sanitary pass, by using nationwide, exhaustive datasets. By emphasizing a differentiated use of COVID-19 vaccination according to a socio-economic gradient, the study confirms the strong impact of social inequalities on COVID-19. Previous research found that the most deprived areas have been disproportionately infected and hospitalized during the pandemic. The study further show that poorer districts are also the least vaccinated and, hence, the most still at risk, despite the widely celebrated domestic sanitary pass. There is an urgent need to define new vaccination policies that truly address social inequities.
254.
Donato Greco,
What Does the Monkeypox Outbreak Tell Us about Global Health Governance? Critical Remarks on the New WHO Declaration of Public Health Emergency of International Concern, 2022.08.10,
https://www.ejiltalk.org/what-does-the-monkeypox-outbreak-tell-us-about-global-health-governance-critical-remarks-on-the-new-who-declaration-of-public-health-emergency-of-international-concern/ .
On 23 July 2022, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (“WHO”) declared that the outbreak of monkeypox constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (“PHEIC”). The present post is aimed at highlighting some critical issues related not only to the PHEIC declaration but, more generally, to global health governance. The post shows that not a few shortcomings affect the governance of international health emergencies.
253.
Santiago Peña (Bomchil), Alegría Jijón,
A Brief Comment on ALArb’s Protocol for Virtual Arbitration Hearings, 2022.07.22,
http://arbitrationblog.kluwerarbitration.com/2022/07/22/a-brief-comment-on-alarbs-protocol-for-virtual-arbitration-hearings/ .
COVID-19 pandemic restrictions imposed in early 2020 led to a substantial change in the way international arbitration proceedings are conducted—forcing practitioners to hold any kind of hearing exclusively on a virtual basis in order to avoid the suspension of proceedings. Having identified a growing concern on guidance of how virtual hearings should be conducted, the Observatory on the State of Arbitration in Latin America launched the Protocol for Remote or Virtual Arbitration Hearings (the “Protocol”) in May 2021. In this article, the authors review briefly the structure and content of the Protocol and analyze the most relevant conclusions from its practical application.
252.
Maria Hauser-Morel, Charlotte Matthews,
Signing an Award in Counterparts: The Paris Court of Appeal Adopts a Flexible Stance, 2022.03.09,
http://arbitrationblog.kluwerarbitration.com/2022/03/09/signing-an-award-in-counterparts-the-paris-court-of-appeal-adopts-a-flexible-stance/ .
The Paris Court of Appeal has ruled in a Covid-related set aside request that French law does not impose an obligation on arbitrators to sign an award simultaneously on the same page. it is doubtful that the applicant would have succeeded to show that the impugned signature process constituted a violation of the mandate conferred upon the tribunal (1520-3°) or that it constituted a violation of public international order (1520-5°). It may reasonably be expected that the Paris Court of Appeal would equally be as un-formalistic with an international arbitral award, where the Court has shown particular deference to flexibility and party autonomy. In any event, going forward, it is likely that parties will increasingly use e-signature procedures, progressively rendering wet signature issues moot.
251.
Fok-Moon Lum, Anthony Torres-Ruesta, etc.,
Monkeypox: disease epidemiology, host immunity and clinical interventions, 2022.09.05,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9443635/ .
Monkeypox virus (MPXV), which causes disease in humans, has for many years been restricted to the African continent, with only a handful of sporadic cases in other parts of the world. However, unprecedented outbreaks of monkeypox in non-endemic regions have recently taken the world by surprise. In less than 4 months, the number of detected MPXV infections has soared to more than 48,000 cases, recording a total of 13 deaths. In this Review, the authors discuss the clinical, epidemiological and immunological features of MPXV infections. The authors also highlight important research questions and new opportunities to tackle the ongoing monkeypox outbreak.
250.
Maria Bakola, Ireri Hernandez Carballo, etc.,
The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on air pollution in Europe and North America: a systematic review, 2022.09.08,
https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurpub/ckac118/6694086?searchresult=1 .
The study integrated disparate studies to provide a comprehensive picture of the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on air pollution. The authors performed a systematic review of studies investigating the impact of lockdowns on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ‘Criteria Air Pollutants’, known to have adverse health effects (available in Supplementary appendix S1), including CO, lead, ground-level O3, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), PM and sulfur dioxide (SO2). They compared studies across Europe and North America, in view of differing regulatory approaches to pollution. Additionally, the study evaluated potential mechanisms and modifying factors for the relationship between lockdown measures and air pollution. The study aimed to investigate: what are the effects of lockdowns/restrictive measures on air pollution levels during the pandemic in Europe and North America; why did some nations and cities experience greater reductions in air pollution levels; and what gaps remain and merit further investigation.
249.
Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln,
Covid-Induced School Closures in the US and Germany: Long-Term Distributional Effects, 2022.09.09,
https://academic.oup.com/economicpolicy/advance-article/doi/10.1093/epolic/eiac052/6694841?searchresult=1 .
The author documents that schooling time dropped on average by -55% in the US and -45% in Germany from the onset of the crisis to the summer of 2021. In the US, schools were closed longer in richer than in poorer areas, while in Germany the regional variation is much smaller. However, Germany exhibited substantial variation by grade level, with a strong U-shaped patterns that implies that children attending middle school faced the longest closures. A structural model of human capital accumulation predicts that the US school closures on average lead to a reduction of life-time earnings of–1.8% for the affected children. While the overall losses are likely somewhat smaller in Germany, the socio-economic gradient in the losses could be larger than in the US, leading to increased inequality and decreased intergenerational mobility.
248.
Giacomo De Giorgi, Pascal Geldsetzer, etc.,
The impact of face-mask mandates on all-cause mortality in Switzerland: a quasi-experimental study, 2022.09.10,
https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurpub/ckac123/6695430?searchresult=1 .
Focusing on a quasi-experimental setting in Switzerland, the research aimed to determine (i) the effect of face-mask mandates for indoor public spaces on all-cause mortality; and (ii) how the effect has varied over time, and by age and sex. The research concluded that mandating face-mask use in public indoor spaces in Switzerland in mid-to-late 2020 does not appear to have resulted in large reductions in all-cause mortality in the short term. There is some suggestion that combining face-mask mandates with social distancing rules reduced all-cause mortality.
247.
Vernon Valentine Palmer,
Excused Performances: Force Majeure, Impracticability, and Frustration of Contracts, 2022.09.12,
https://academic.oup.com/ajcl/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ajcl/avac017/6696364?searchresult=1 .
The global pandemic spreads to the far corners of the world, causing untold deaths, sickness, crowded hospitals, supply shortages, business closures, disrupted supply lines, and other distressing conditions. The report made incidental attempts to illustrate how the pandemic fits within the existing law on excused performances. In a sense it is not anticipated that Covid-19 will produce fundamental doctrinal changes in the common law of the United States. Rather, it will produce changes and important insertions in the so-called force majeure clauses of future contracts.
Chinese Society of International Law, in association with Chinese Institute of International Law at China Foreign Affairs University, and National Center for Foreign-related Rule of Law Research at China Foreign Affairs University
Contact: secretary@bigghgg.cn