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Chen S, Guo L, Alghaith T, Dong D, Alluhidan M, Hamza MM, Herbst CH, Zhang X, Tagtag GCA, Zhang Y, Alazemi N, Saber R, Alsukait R, Tang S. Effective COVID-19 Control: A Comparative Analysis of the Stringency and Timeliness of Government Responses in Asia. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:ijerph18168686. [PMID: 34444434 PMCID: PMC8393310 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18168686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2021] [Revised: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Aim: Many governments in East and Southeast Asia responded promptly and effectively at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Synthesizing and analyzing these responses is vital for disease control evidence-based policymaking. Methods: An extensive review of COVID-19 control measures was conducted in selected Asian countries and subregions, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and Vietnam from 1 January to 30 May 2020. Control measures were categorized into administrative, public health, and health system measures. To evaluate the stringency and timeliness of responses, we developed two indices: the Initial Response Index (IRI) and the Modified Stringency Index (MSI), which builds on the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT). Results: Comprehensive administrative, public health, and health system control measures were implemented at the onset of the outbreak. Despite variations in package components, the stringency of control measures across the study sites increased with the acceleration of the outbreak, with public health control measures implemented the most stringently. Variations in daily average MSI scores are observed, with Mainland China scoring the highest (74.2), followed by Singapore (67.4), Vietnam (66.8), Hong Kong (66.2), South Korea (62.3), Taiwan (52.1), and Japan (50.3). Variations in IRI scores depicting timeliness were higher: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Singapore acted faster (IRI > 50.0), while Japan (42.4) and Mainland China (4.2) followed. Conclusions: Timely setting of stringency of the control measures, especially public health measures, at dynamically high levels is key to optimally controlling outbreaks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shu Chen
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR), University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
- School of Risk and Actuarial Studies, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
- Correspondence:
| | - Lei Guo
- Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA; (L.G.); (X.Z.); (S.T.)
| | - Taghred Alghaith
- General Directorate for National Health Economics and Policy, Saudi Health Council, Riyadh 13315, Saudi Arabia; (T.A.); (M.A.); (N.A.); (R.S.)
| | - Di Dong
- Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, The World Bank, Washington, DC 20433, USA; (D.D.); (M.M.H.); (C.H.H.); (Y.Z.); (R.A.)
| | - Mohammed Alluhidan
- General Directorate for National Health Economics and Policy, Saudi Health Council, Riyadh 13315, Saudi Arabia; (T.A.); (M.A.); (N.A.); (R.S.)
- Division of Health Research, Lancaster University, Bailrigg LA1 4YX, UK
| | - Mariam M. Hamza
- Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, The World Bank, Washington, DC 20433, USA; (D.D.); (M.M.H.); (C.H.H.); (Y.Z.); (R.A.)
| | - Christopher H. Herbst
- Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, The World Bank, Washington, DC 20433, USA; (D.D.); (M.M.H.); (C.H.H.); (Y.Z.); (R.A.)
| | - Xinqi Zhang
- Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA; (L.G.); (X.Z.); (S.T.)
| | | | - Yi Zhang
- Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, The World Bank, Washington, DC 20433, USA; (D.D.); (M.M.H.); (C.H.H.); (Y.Z.); (R.A.)
| | - Nahar Alazemi
- General Directorate for National Health Economics and Policy, Saudi Health Council, Riyadh 13315, Saudi Arabia; (T.A.); (M.A.); (N.A.); (R.S.)
| | - Rana Saber
- General Directorate for National Health Economics and Policy, Saudi Health Council, Riyadh 13315, Saudi Arabia; (T.A.); (M.A.); (N.A.); (R.S.)
| | - Reem Alsukait
- Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, The World Bank, Washington, DC 20433, USA; (D.D.); (M.M.H.); (C.H.H.); (Y.Z.); (R.A.)
| | - Shenglan Tang
- Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA; (L.G.); (X.Z.); (S.T.)
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Crawford FW, Jones SA, Cartter M, Dean SG, Warren JL, Li ZR, Barbieri J, Campbell J, Kenney P, Valleau T, Morozova O. Impact of close interpersonal contact on COVID-19 incidence: evidence from one year of mobile device data. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2021:2021.03.10.21253282. [PMID: 33758869 PMCID: PMC7987027 DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.10.21253282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Close contact between people is the primary route for transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We sought to quantify interpersonal contact at the population-level by using anonymized mobile device geolocation data. We computed the frequency of contact (within six feet) between people in Connecticut during February 2020 - January 2021. Then we aggregated counts of contact events by area of residence to obtain an estimate of the total intensity of interpersonal contact experienced by residents of each town for each day. When incorporated into a susceptible-exposed-infective-removed (SEIR) model of COVID-19 transmission, the contact rate accurately predicted COVID-19 cases in Connecticut towns during the timespan. The pattern of contact rate in Connecticut explains the large initial wave of infections during March-April, the subsequent drop in cases during June-August, local outbreaks during August-September, broad statewide resurgence during September-December, and decline in January 2021. Contact rate data can help guide public health messaging campaigns to encourage social distancing and in the allocation of testing resources to detect or prevent emerging local outbreaks more quickly than traditional case investigation. ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY Close interpersonal contact measured using mobile device location data explains dynamics of COVID-19 transmission in Connecticut during the first year of the pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Forrest W Crawford
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
- Department of Statistics & Data Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
- Yale School of Management, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Sydney A Jones
- Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Infectious Diseases Section, Connecticut Department of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Matthew Cartter
- Infectious Diseases Section, Connecticut Department of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Samantha G Dean
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Joshua L Warren
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Zehang Richard Li
- Department of Statistics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Olga Morozova
- Program in Public Health and Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University, NY, USA
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Relationships between Local Green Space and Human Mobility Patterns during COVID-19 for Maryland and California, USA. SUSTAINABILITY 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/su12229401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Human mobility is a significant factor for disease transmission. Little is known about how the environment influences mobility during a pandemic. The aim of this study was to investigate an effect of green space on mobility reductions during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Maryland and California, USA. For 230 minor civil divisions (MCD) in Maryland and 341 census county divisions (CCD) in California, we obtained mobility data from Facebook Data for Good aggregating information of people using the Facebook app on their mobile phones with location history active. The users’ movement between two locations was used to calculate the number of users that traveled into an MCD (or CCD) for each day in the daytime hours between 11 March and 26 April 2020. Each MCD’s (CCD’s) vegetation level was estimated as the average Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) level for 1 January through 31 March 2020. We calculated the number of state and local parks, food retail establishments, and hospitals for each MCD (CCD). Results showed that the daily percent changes in the number of travels declined during the study period. This mobility reduction was significantly lower in Maryland MCDs with state parks (p-value = 0.045), in California CCDs with local-scale parks (p-value = 0.048). EVI showed no association with mobility in both states. This finding has implications for the potential impacts of green space on mobility under an outbreak. Future studies are needed to explore these findings and to investigate changes in health effects of green space during a pandemic.
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COVID-19 Pandemic Severity, Lockdown Regimes, and People’s Mobility: Early Evidence from 88 Countries. SUSTAINABILITY 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/su12219101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
This study empirically investigates the complex interplay between the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, mobility changes in retail and recreation, transit stations, workplaces, and residential areas, and lockdown measures in 88 countries around the world during the early phase of the pandemic. To conduct the study, data on mobility patterns, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of people, lockdown measures, and coronavirus pandemic were collected from multiple sources (e.g., Google, UNDP, UN, BBC, Oxford University, Worldometer). A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) framework is used to investigate the direct and indirect effects of independent variables on dependent variables considering the intervening effects of mediators. Results show that lockdown measures have significant effects to encourage people to maintain social distancing so as to reduce the risk of infection. However, pandemic severity and socioeconomic and institutional factors have limited effects to sustain social distancing practice. The results also explain that socioeconomic and institutional factors of urbanity and modernity have significant effects on pandemic severity. Countries with a higher number of elderly people, employment in the service sector, and higher globalization trend are the worst victims of the coronavirus pandemic (e.g., USA, UK, Italy, and Spain). Social distancing measures are reasonably effective at tempering the severity of the pandemic.
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Poom A, Järv O, Zook M, Toivonen T. COVID-19 is spatial: Ensuring that mobile Big Data is used for social good. BIG DATA & SOCIETY 2020; 7:2053951720952088. [PMID: 34191995 PMCID: PMC7453154 DOI: 10.1177/2053951720952088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The mobility restrictions related to COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in the biggest disruption to individual mobilities in modern times. The crisis is clearly spatial in nature, and examining the geographical aspect is important in understanding the broad implications of the pandemic. The avalanche of mobile Big Data makes it possible to study the spatial effects of the crisis with spatiotemporal detail at the national and global scales. However, the current crisis also highlights serious limitations in the readiness to take the advantage of mobile Big Data for social good, both within and beyond the interests of health sector. We propose two strategical pathways for the future use of mobile Big Data for societal impact assessment, addressing access to both raw mobile Big Data as well as aggregated data products. Both pathways require careful considerations of privacy issues, harmonized and transparent methodologies, and attention to the representativeness, reliability and continuity of data. The goal is to be better prepared to use mobile Big Data in future crises.
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Affiliation(s)
- Age Poom
- Digital Geography Lab, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, Institute of Urban and Regional Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Mobility Lab, Department of Geography, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Age Poom, University of Helsinki, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
| | - Olle Järv
- Digital Geography Lab, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, Institute of Urban and Regional Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Matthew Zook
- Department of Geography, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
| | - Tuuli Toivonen
- Digital Geography Lab, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, Institute of Urban and Regional Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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