Integrated genomic surveillance enables tracing of person-to-person SARS-CoV-2 transmission chains during community transmission and reveals extensive onward transmission of travel-imported infections, Germany, June to July 2021

BackgroundTracking person-to-person SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the population is important to understand the epidemiology of community transmission and may contribute to the containment of SARS-CoV-2. Neither contact tracing nor genomic surveillance alone, however, are typically sufficient to achieve this objective.AimWe demonstrate the successful application of the integrated genomic surveillance (IGS) system of the German city of Düsseldorf for tracing SARS-CoV-2 transmission chains in the population as well as detecting and investigating travel-associated SARS-CoV-2 infection clusters.MethodsGenomic surveillance, phylogenetic analysis, and structured case interviews were integrated to elucidate two genetically defined clusters of SARS-CoV-2 isolates detected by IGS in Düsseldorf in July 2021.ResultsCluster 1 (n = 67 Düsseldorf cases) and Cluster 2 (n = 36) were detected in a surveillance dataset of 518 high-quality SARS-CoV-2 genomes from Düsseldorf (53% of total cases, sampled mid-June to July 2021). Cluster 1 could be traced back to a complex pattern of transmission in nightlife venues following a putative importation by a SARS-CoV-2-infected return traveller (IP) in late June; 28 SARS-CoV-2 cases could be epidemiologically directly linked to IP. Supported by viral genome data from Spain, Cluster 2 was shown to represent multiple independent introduction events of a viral strain circulating in Catalonia and other European countries, followed by diffuse community transmission in Düsseldorf.ConclusionIGS enabled high-resolution tracing of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in an internationally connected city during community transmission and provided infection chain-level evidence of the downstream propagation of travel-imported SARS-CoV-2 cases

The applicability of the classical news value theory in political online coverage on the basis of a media content analysis

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird untersucht, in welchem Ausmaß die klassische Nachrichtenwerttheorie und die damit verbundenen Nachrichtenfaktoren auf den Bereich der Online-Politikberichterstattung zutreffen. Darüber hinaus geht es darum, herauszufinden, welche der Faktoren einen besonders hohen oder geringen Einfluss auf die Nachrichtenauswahl haben. Um diese Frage zu beantworten, wird anhand der digitalen Ausgabe der Süddeutschen Zeitung eine Medieninhaltsanalyse durchgeführt. Als Grundlage für die Untersuchung dienen die 22 Nachrichtenfaktoren von Ruhrmann et al. Dabei wurde herausgefunden, dass die Nachrichtenwerttheorie grundsätzlich auch auf Onlinemedien anwendbar ist, die Relevanz einzelner Nachrichtenfaktoren allerdings durch die besonderen Merkmale des Online-Journalismus beeinflusst wird. Es wurde unter anderem festgestellt, dass die Kriterien Faktizität, Personalisierung und Einfluss wichtig für die Nachrichtenauswahl sind, während Aggression, Emotionen sowie Demonstration eher gering ausgeprägt waren. Anders als vermutet, spielte außerdem der Nachrichtenfaktor Visualität in der empirischen Überprüfung eine sehr geringe Rolle. Dadurch, dass durch das Untersuchungsdesign der Inhaltsanalyse nur eine sehr kleine Stichprobe codiert wurde, kann sie keine allgemeine Aussage für die gesamte Online-Medienlandschaft in Deutschland geben. Die Untersuchung zeigt vielmehr Tendenzen auf, die anhand vergleichender Studien mit größeren Stichproben validiert werden müssen.The following paper examines to what extent the classical news value theory and the associated news factors are applicable in political online coverage. Further, it should be ascertained which news factors have a very high or low impact on the process of news selection. This question is answered by a media content analysis on the basis of the digital edition of the „Süddeutsche Zeitung“. The foundation of this research are the 22 news factors by Ruhrmann et al. Generally, the paper finds that the news value theory is applicable on the domain of online coverage. However, the relevance of particular news factors is influenced by the special characteristics of this domain. Among other things, it was observed that the criteria facticity, personalization and impact were crucial in the process of news selection. At the same time, aggression, emotions and demonstration were less marked. Against assumptions, the news factor visuality did not play a decisive role. As a result of the small sample of the present content analysis the research cannot draw conclusions for the whole field of online coverage in Germany. Instead it shows propensities that must be validated through further studies which also should include comparisons to other media genres