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The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected economic development in countries around the world. It has deepened existing problems and increased the need for economic transformation, modernisation, and qualitative development, and launched new technological reforms that have led to the emergence of new economic forms of business models, consumption, as well as policies at the level of the state or local governments. The impacts of the pandemic are still visible in many aspects of life, including economic activity and the individual decisions of economic subjects at the level of households, enterprises, and governments. In this article, we present the results of the impact analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic with an emphasis mainly on the SMEs segment focusing on the tourist, hotel, and gastro industry (generally as one of the most affected by the pandemic). We also analyse the impact of the pandemic on the automotive industry because it is the most important manufacturing industry in Slovakia. Regardless of which industries of the national economy they are operating in, SMEs are assumed to be a driving force of structural changes, increasing employment, and economic growth. SMEs in Slovakia represent approx. 99% of all active enterprises and significantly participate in the success of the national economy. They are also an important factor in cooperation with large enterprises; in the case of Slovakia, the automotive industry should be highlighted (it is an important part of the secondary sector). The analysis and evaluation of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are carried out as a temporal and comparative analysis of the selected economic and industrial indicators relevant to the assessment of the impact of the pandemic on the Slovak business environment. It is an overview study of development; the impact of the pandemic is expressed mostly through the ratio indicators. The basis for time analysis and comparison is data representing the economic status quo before the pandemic (2019), and the ordinary period is represented by data distinctive of the pandemic period (2020, 2021). The results of the analysis indicate that the pandemic had a strong impact on employment and the sales of enterprises operating in the accommodation and catering industries; on the other hand, it did not reflect in the number of defunct enterprises, which points to the potential effectiveness of anti-pandemic measures in terms of state aid for the business sector. The results of this study may serve as a basis for the evaluation of introduced support programs (the evaluation of optimal combination and the impact of fiscal policies during a national/global economic crisis between assisting households, companies, state, and local governments) immediately mitigating the consequences of anti-pandemic measures, but also programs to eliminate the long-term consequences of the pandemic in the business environment in Slovakia. Assessing the situation is also a prerequisite for evaluating the impact of current crises (problems such as the global failure of logistics chains due to the pandemic, inflation, the environmental and energy crisis, and migration due to war conflict and applied sanction measures). In general, it is possible to claim that the pandemic was a huge burden for Slovakia; on the other hand, it was a lesson learned. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic started in late 2019 in China. and At the beginning of 2020 it spread to all countries of the world, causing damage in all aspects of economic and social lives, including the labour market. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market throughout its course so far has become an important topic of research in various countries, including Poland. Research is conducted in four main areas concerning: the situation of employees and employers on the labour market; unemployment and professional activity; remote work; and anti-crisis measures undertaken by the state. The paper refers to all these aspects of the labour market in Poland, in some cases against the background of other countries. Based on the source literature, the pandemic is presented from different perspectives: as a cause of the global crisis; the implications of the pandemic on the labour market; its impact on employers and employees and on the economy and society more broadly; government programmes aimed at preventing and combating the pandemic in the form of so-called anti-crisis shields and financial shields; and the spread of remote work and its effects. The paper also presents the results of its own survey research on a sample of 170 respondents, representing people active in the labour market in April 2022. The pandemic has caused disruptive, immediate and long-term effects on the labour market in Poland. The anti-crisis policy of the state mitigated quite effectively the negative economic and social effects, noticeably more so and additionally more appreciated by employers than by employees. The case of Poland, where broad anti-pandemic and anti-crisis measures were undertaken, may be partly applicable to other, mainly European, countries. Further research on the crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in different aspects of socio-economic areas in national and international economies are recommended. The pandemic, in causing a general economic crisis, has left a permanent mark on the labour market in Poland, which will be structurally important for its functioning in the future. Full article

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a major global public health crisis. In response, researchers and pharmaceutical companies worked together for the rapid development of vaccines to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with viral infection. Monitoring host immunity following virus infection and/or vaccination is essential to guide vaccination intervention policy. Humoral immune response to vaccination can be assessed with serologic testing, and indeed, many serological immunoassays are now in use. However, these many different assays make the standardization of test results difficult. Moreover, most published serological tests require venous blood sampling, which makes testing large numbers of people complex and costly. Here, we validate the GSP^®/DELFIA^® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG kit using dried blood samples for high-throughput serosurveillance using standard quantitative measurements of anti-spike S1 IgG antibody concentrations. We then apply our validated assay to compare post-vaccination anti-SARS-CoV-2 S1 IgG levels from subjects who received a double dose of the AZD1222 vaccine with those vaccinated with a heterologous strategy, demonstrating how this assay is suitable for large-scale screening to achieve a clearer population immune picture. Full article

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis and measures aimed at curbing the pandemic have a widespread impact on various aspects of well-being, such as housing, social connections, and others. Moreover, COVID-19 does not affect all population groups equally. This study analyzes the impact of major COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on a set of national well-being indicators from the most recent version of the OECD Well-Being Framework. Using causal loop diagrams (systems maps), we consider direct and indirect effects of these policies on various components of the national well-being system. Our results show that business closures directly and/or indirectly impact more national well-being components than any other policy. The most affected national well-being components by all policies are life satisfaction, perceived health, and prevalence of depressive symptoms. In addition, we specify how the impact of the anti-pandemic measures differs for various population strata, using the degree of income and employment loss as key stratifying variables. Our insights can be helpful to identify and promote measures that can alleviate the adverse effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the national well-being. Full article

This study was aimed at developing a cognitive—econometric model for assessing the effectiveness of the current governmental policies to support enterprises in Russia in the context of pandemic propagation. Using the Granger test and correlation analysis, we formed a system of key indicators that characterizes the economic development of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in Russia. Based on the revealed causal relationships and correlation coefficients, a model describing the impact of public policy support instruments on SME economic development was built using cognitive modeling. By means of the additive convolution method, the correlation coefficient between the Russia Small Business Index (RSBI) and the COVID-19 prevalence rate was used to predict the 2020 year-end RSBI value. Regarding the RSBI index forecast, the effectiveness of instruments of the state support for SMEs was evaluated. It was determined how much these indicators of the anti-crisis package of measures should change to increase SMEs’ business activities. The developed cognitive model can be utilized by private and governmental institutions to continuously monitor the effectiveness of public policies that support SMEs. It can also be used as a preventive indicator to evaluate the impact of the anti-crisis measures during pandemics and in the case of other exogenous risks threatening SMEs. The originality of the research results was determined by the econometric methods applied to empirically assess the effectiveness and degree of impact of governmental measures on the operation of SMEs under conditions of uncertainty. Full article