![]() In the first wave of the pandemic in the US, the daily new cases peaked in mid-April (32,000/day) and then slowly decreased. The efficiency of social distancing practices shows up in the infection curve. On 19 March 2020, California was the first state to impose a stay-at-home order to slow the spread. In the US, state governments took the lead in responding to the pandemic. Social distancing practices are the most efficient way to reduce COVID-19 spread and were implemented in China, South Korea, Singapore, the UK, Spain, and many countries in the European Union. The rapid spread of COVID-19 required a quick government response. The pandemic has disproportionally affected minority groups, low-income families, and essential workers in the US. By the end of August 2020, 6,045,455 people were infected in the US, and 183,472 had died. On 11 March, the WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. The implications for public health show the importance of access to health insurance and mask mandates to protect low-income essential workers, but minority groups still face a higher risk of infection during the pandemic. Health insurance access for low-income workers (via Medicaid expansion) helped to reduce COVID-19 cases in the reopening model. We also found that the COVID-19 growth rate increased in states with higher percentages of essential workers (during reopening) and higher percentages of minorities (during the mask mandate period). The results suggest a dynamic social distancing approach: a shutdown for a short period followed by reopening, combined with universal mask wearing. The increase in the daily infection growth rate pushed state governments to shut down, but reopening led to significant increases in new cases 21 days afterward. ![]() Over the longer term, mask mandates had a larger effect on flattening the curve than shutdowns. The results show the importance of early intervention: shutdowns and mask mandates reduced the COVID-19 infection growth rate immediately after being imposed statewide. This work used event study to examine the impact of three policies (shutdowns, reopening, and mask mandates) on changes in the daily COVID-19 infection growth rate at the state level in the US (February through August 2020).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |