Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC)
An OsloMet Centre of Research Excellence studying the societal aspects of pandemics
Weekly Zoom seminars held by invited international pandemic researchers.
Professor Lisa Sattenspiel compared the 1918 influenza with COVID-19 in rural and urban areas of Missouri, USA:
https://hioa365-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/jara_oslomet_no/ERK2QwiUcvNJnG9lcmGsu6sBUsVDb27nTvtnNR84aVQQYA?e=vJFrgb
Professor Lisa Sattenspiel, University of Missouri, USA, will present on “Comparing COVID and the 1918 flu in rural vs. urban counties of Missouri”.
If you wish to attend this Zoom-webinar, please send us an e-mail at: masv@oslomet.no
Blurb: Socioeconomic and demographic factors within communities strongly influence infectious disease patterns. I describe here how such factors affected the spread of the 1918 influenza and current COVID-19 pandemics in the state of Missouri, emphasizing the identification of attributes that may have differentially affected rural vs. urban populations. Results suggest that epidemic patterns were affected at both time periods by a combination of factors such as degree of rurality, distance from the major urban centers of Kansas City and St. Louis, availability of medical resources, and level of ethnic diversity.
Please find the talk given by Rick J. Mourits, International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on: “Occupational characteristics and spatial inequalities in mortality during 1918-9 influenza pandemic in the Netherlands” here:
Other authors: Auke Rijpma, Ruben Schalk, Ingrid K. van Dijk, Richard L. Zijdeman
Rick J. Mourits, International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, presents on: “Occupational characteristics and spatial inequalities in mortality during 1918-9 influenza pandemic in the Netherlands”
Other authors: Auke Rijpma, Ruben Schalk, Ingrid K. van Dijk, Richard L. Zijdeman
Send e-mail to masv@oslomet.no to get the Zoom-link
Blurb: More than a century ago, the 1918-9 influenza pandemic swept across the globe and took the lives of over 50 million people. When the pandemic finally subsided in 1919, the “Spanish” influenza pandemic had taken over 50 million lives worldwide. A century later it is still not fully understood how socioeconomic differences affected the mortality risk. Multiple studies have found no straightforward relation between socioeconomic status and mortality rates during the 1918-9 pandemic. We argue that this is no surprise, as the mechanisms affecting the health gradient by socioeconomic status observed today were generally not helpful in the 1918-9 influenza pandemic. Social status gives individuals the opportunity to more optimally avoid getting ill, resist infections, and be cured diseases (Johansson, 2000). However, two of these three resources – resistance and cures – were little or not available during the 1918-9 influenza pandemic. However, occupational and spatial differences in exposure may have mattered in determining individual mortality risk. In this work we use data from the Dutch civil registry to explore the influence of occupational characteristics including exposure to others at work and whether or not work occurred in an enclosed space as well as regional mortality differences. Findings suggest that occupational characteristics affected the likelihood of infection and mortality within the autumn wave, both in less-hit municipalities and the strongest-hit municipalities. Taken together, our findings suggest a stronger socioeconomic pattern in the pandemic than suggested by previous literature.
Blurb: One year ago, many European countries including Denmark went into an unprecedented lockdown. So far we have been able to suppress transmission of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus to such an extent that less than 1 in 10 Danes have been infected so far. And in a few months we will all be offered one of the highly effective COVID-19 vaccines that became available in record time. Is that then the end of the pandemic? I will first discuss the knowns about the COVID-19 pandemic. First, about the collaboration with Kim Sneppen at the NBI regarding the phenomenon of superspreading, and modeling how this defining feature of the virus turns out to be an Achilles heel of the virus that has allowed effective suppression of epidemics of the virus while we waited for a vaccine. Using Denmark as a case, I will consider the magnitude of the catastrophe that we managed to avoid so far. Finally I will discuss accumulating data on the effectiveness of the vaccines, and discuss at various scenarios regarding our future life with COVID-19 in the vaccine era and the critical unknowns that cloud our view.
Please find the talk given by Professor Siddharth Chandra, Michigan State University, 18th March, on the Demographic impacts of the 1918 influenza pandemic, here:
The Q&A session can be found here:
On the 25th of March (16:00-17:00 CET), Professor Lone Simonsen, Roskilde University, will present on “The First Year of the COVID-19 Pndemic” at the 4th PANSOC webinar this spring.
Send e-mail to masv@oslomet.no if you wish to participate in this webinar.
Blurb: One year ago, many European countries including Denmark went into an unprecedented lockdown. So far we have been able to suppress transmission of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus to such an extent that less than 1 in 10 Danes have been infected so far. And in a few months we will all be offered one of the highly effective COVID-19 vaccines that became available in record time. Is that then the end of the pandemic? I will first discuss the knowns about the COVID-19 pandemic. First, about the collaboration with Kim Sneppen at the NBI regarding the phenomenon of superspreading, and modeling how this defining feature of the virus turns out to be an Achilles heel of the virus that has allowed effective suppression of epidemics of the virus while we waited for a vaccine. Using Denmark as a case, I will consider the magnitude of the catastrophe that we managed to avoid so far. Finally I will discuss accumulating data on the effectiveness of the vaccines, and discuss at various scenarios regarding our future life with COVID-19 in the vaccine era and the critical unknowns that cloud our view.
On 11 March, Jessica Dimka, MSCA-fellow and co-head of PANSOC, talked about the role of socioeconomic status in the uptake of non-pharmaceutical interventions in Norway during the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020.
Professor Siddharth Chandra, Michigan State University will present on this exciting topic Thursday March 18 (16:00-1700 CET).
Please send us an e-mail for the zoom-link at masv@oslomet.no
Blurb: The 1918 influenza pandemic had a profound impact on populations around the world. This presentation highlights research on pandemic impacts on various aspects of key demographic aggregates in various parts of the world. These include estimating the demographic toll of the pandemic in the absence of reliable birth and death registration data, the timing and magnitude of waves of infection and mortality, the age structure of mortality during the pandemic, and impacts of the pandemic on births and maternal health. Where relevant, lessons are drawn for understanding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
