scholarly journals ‘Social distancing’ between plants may amplify coastal restoration at early stage

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Huang ◽  
Chi Xu ◽  
Quan‐Xing Liu
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Coastal Restoration

scholarly journals Public Compliance With Social Distancing Measures and SARS-CoV-2 Spread

2021 ◽  
pp. 003335492110112
Author(s):  
Hongjie Liu ◽  
Chang Chen ◽  
Raul Cruz-Cano ◽  
Jennifer L. Guida ◽  
Minha Lee
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Reproduction Number ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
The United States ◽  
Density Change ◽  
Regression Coefficients ◽  
Daily Growth Rate ◽  
Daily Growth ◽  
Social Distancing

Objective We quantified the association between public compliance with social distancing measures and the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the first wave of the epidemic (March–May 2020) in 5 states that accounted for half of the total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States. Methods We used data on mobility and number of COVID-19 cases to longitudinally estimate associations between public compliance, as measured by human mobility, and the daily reproduction number and daily growth rate during the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. Results The 5 states mandated social distancing directives during March 19-24, 2020, and public compliance with mandates started to decrease in mid-April 2020. As of May 31, 2020, the daily reproduction number decreased from 2.41-5.21 to 0.72-1.19, and the daily growth rate decreased from 0.22-0.77 to –0.04 to 0.05 in the 5 states. The level of public compliance, as measured by the social distancing index (SDI) and daily encounter-density change, was high at the early stage of implementation but decreased in the 5 states. The SDI was negatively associated with the daily reproduction number (regression coefficients range, –0.04 to –0.01) and the daily growth rate (from –0.009 to –0.01). The daily encounter-density change was positively associated with the daily reproduction number (regression coefficients range, 0.24 to 1.02) and the daily growth rate (from 0.05 to 0.26). Conclusions Social distancing is an effective strategy to reduce the incidence of COVID-19 and illustrates the role of public compliance with social distancing measures to achieve public health benefits.

scholarly journals Performance of progressive and adaptive COVID-19 exit strategies: a stress test analysis for managing intensive care unit rates

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Diederik van Wees ◽  
Martijn van der Kuip ◽  
Sander Osinga ◽  
David van Westerloo ◽  
Michael Tanck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Adaptive Strategy ◽  
Cruise Control ◽  
Exit Strategy ◽  
Epidemiological Modeling ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Exit Strategies

Background: In May 2020, many European countries have begun to introduce an exit strategy for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic which involves relaxing social distancing measures. Predictive epidemiological modeling indicates that chances for resurgence are high. However, parametrization of the epidemiological nature of COVID-19 and the effect of relaxing social distancing is not well constrained, resulting in highly uncertain outcomes in view of managing future intensive care unit (ICU) needs. Methods and findings: For performance analysis of exit strategies we developed an open-source ensemble-based Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Removed (SEIR) model. It takes into account uncertainties for the COVID-19 parametrization and social distancing measures. The model is calibrated to data of the outbreak and lockdown phase. For the exit phase, the model includes the capability to activate an emergency brake, reinstating lockdown conditions. Alternatively, the model uses an adaptive COVID-19 cruise control (ACCC) capable to retain a targeted ICU level. The model is demonstrated for the Netherlands and we analyzed progressive and adaptive exit strategies through a stress test of managing ICU rates. The progressive strategy reflects the outcome of social and economic pressure to use one-way steering toward progressively relaxing measures at an early stage. It is marked by a high probability for the activation of the emergency brake due to an unsolicited growth of ICU needs in the following months. Alternatively, the two-way steering ACCC can flatten ICU needs in a more gradual way and avoids activation of the emergency brake. It also performs well for seasonal variation in the reproduction number of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus. Conclusions: The adaptive strategy (ACCC) is favored, as it avoids the use of the emergency brake at the expense of small steps of restrictive measures and allows the exploration of riskier and potentially rewarding measures in the future pathways of the exit strategy.

Tracking Changes of Social Distancing in the United States of America after Outbreak of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) at the Early Stage

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1079-1090
Author(s):  
Young Sam Oh ◽  
Na Kyoung Song
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Repeated Measure ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Prevention Model ◽  
Measure Analysis ◽  
Repeated Measure Analysis ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Over Time

Objectives: This research examines social distancing changes over time, and by region of the United States after the COVID-19 pandemic began. Methods: We utilized information on social distancing from the Google Community Mobility Reports. We performed one-way repeated-measure analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) to examine the overall changes in the 6 types of social distancing from baseline to the 12-week follow-up (March 1 to May 24, 2020). We applied a 2-way RM-ANOVA to evaluate the effects of time and 4 regions on social distancing. Results: According to one-way RM-ANOVA results, social distancing tended to increase until Time 3 (March 30 to April 12) and 4 (April 13 to April 26), before decreasing again, regardless of the area. The 2-way RM-ANOVA results revealed that the social distancing variations in the 6 area types over time were statistically significant in each region, along with the interaction of regions and time. Compared to other regions, social distancing was the highest in the Northeast area, except in park areas. Conclusions: We found that social distancing can be influenced not only by contagion changes, but also by regional differences. Understanding the features of social distancing can play a significant role in helping society build a promising COVID-19 prevention model.

scholarly journals The Immediate Effect of COVID-19 Policies on Social-Distancing Behavior in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahi Abouk ◽  
Babak Heydari
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Closure ◽  
Grocery Stores ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Before And After ◽  
At Home

Objective Although anecdotal evidence indicates the effectiveness of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) social-distancing policies, their effectiveness in relation to what is driven by public awareness and voluntary actions needs to be determined. We evaluated the effectiveness of the 6 most common social-distancing policies in the United States (statewide stay-at-home orders, limited stay-at-home orders, nonessential business closures, bans on large gatherings, school closure mandates, and limits on restaurants and bars) during the early stage of the pandemic. Methods We applied difference-in-differences and event-study methodologies to evaluate the effect of the 6 social-distancing policies on Google-released aggregated, anonymized daily location data on movement trends over time by state for all 50 states and the District of Columbia in 6 location categories: retail and recreation, grocery stores and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residences. We compared the outcome of interest in states that adopted COVID-19–related policies with states that did not adopt such policies, before and after these policies took effect during February 15–April 25, 2020. Results Statewide stay-at-home orders had the strongest effect on reducing out-of-home mobility and increased the time people spent at home by an estimated 2.5 percentage points (15.2%) from before to after policies took effect. Limits on restaurants and bars ranked second and resulted in an increase in presence at home by an estimated 1.4 percentage points (8.5%). The other 4 policies did not significantly reduce mobility. Conclusion Statewide stay-at-home orders and limits on bars and restaurants were most closely linked to reduced mobility in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas the potential benefits of other such policies may have already been reaped from voluntary social distancing. Further research is needed to understand how the effect of social-distancing policies changes as voluntary social distancing wanes during later stages of a pandemic.

scholarly journals Working Memory Capacity Predicts Individual Differences in Social Distancing Compliance during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the U.S.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weizhen Xie ◽  
Stephen Campbell ◽  
Weiwei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Individual

Noncompliance with social distancing during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic poses a great challenge to the public health system. These noncompliance behaviors partly reflect people’s concerns for the inherent costs of social distancing while discounting its public health benefits. We propose that this oversight may be associated with the limitation in one’s mental capacity to simultaneously retain multiple pieces of information in working memory (WM) for rational decision making that leads to social distancing compliance. We tested this hypothesis in 850 U.S. residents during the first 2 weeks following the presidential declaration of national emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that participants’ social distancing compliance at this initial stage could be predicted by individual differences in WM capacity, partly due to increased awareness of benefits over costs of social distancing among higher WM capacity individuals. Critically, the unique contribution of WM capacity to the individual differences in social distancing compliance could not be explained by other psychological and socioeconomic factors (e.g., moods, personality, education, and income levels). Furthermore, the critical role of WM capacity in social distancing compliance can be generalized to the compliance with another set of rules for social interactions, namely the fairness norm, in Western cultures. Collectively, our data reveal novel contributions of a core cognitive process underlying social distancing compliance during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting a potential cognitive venue for developing strategies to mitigate a public health crisis.

scholarly journals Novel indicator of change in COVID-19 spread status

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Nakano ◽  
Yoichi Ikeda
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Infected People ◽  
Daily Number ◽  
Population Immunity

As the spread of COVID-19 worldwide progresses, it is important not only to protect human lives, but also to minimize social losses due to economic paralysis by detecting signs of spread at an early stage and predicting future trends accurately. This report introduces a new indicator (K) of the magnitude of the spread of COVID-19 based on daily number of infected people from publicly available data. Transitions of the K can predict effects of measures such as the blockage of cities and social distancing, signs of new spread, and possible regional dependence in the formation of population immunity.

scholarly journals Up and About: Older Adults’ Well-being During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Swedish Longitudinal Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Kivi ◽  
Isabelle Hansson ◽  
Pär Bjälkebring
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Risk Perception ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Financial Satisfaction ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Financial Consequences

Abstract Objectives To investigate early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic related to (a) levels of worry, risk perception, and social distancing; (b) longitudinal effects on well-being; and (c) effects of worry, risk perception, and social distancing on well-being. Methods We analyzed annual changes in four aspects of well-being over 5 years (2015–2020): life satisfaction, financial satisfaction, self-rated health, and loneliness in a subsample (n = 1,071, aged 65–71) from a larger survey of Swedish older adults. The 2020 wave, collected March 26–April 2, included measures of worry, risk perception, and social distancing in response to COVID-19. Results (a) In relation to COVID-19: 44.9% worried about health, 69.5% about societal consequences, 25.1% about financial consequences; 86.4% perceived a high societal risk, 42.3% a high risk of infection, and 71.2% reported high levels of social distancing. (b) Well-being remained stable (life satisfaction and loneliness) or even increased (self-rated health and financial satisfaction) in 2020 compared to previous years. (c) More worry about health and financial consequences was related to lower scores in all four well-being measures. Higher societal worry and more social distancing were related to higher well-being. Discussion In the early stage of the pandemic, Swedish older adults on average rated their well-being as high as, or even higher than, previous years. However, those who worried more reported lower well-being. Our findings speak to the resilience, but also heterogeneity, among older adults during the pandemic. Further research, on a broad range of health factors and long-term psychological consequences, is needed.

scholarly journals Working memory capacity predicts individual differences in social-distancing compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (30) ◽  
pp. 17667-17674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weizhen Xie ◽  
Stephen Campbell ◽  
Weiwei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Social Distancing

Noncompliance with social distancing during the early stage of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses a great challenge to the public health system. These noncompliance behaviors partly reflect people’s concerns for the inherent costs of social distancing while discounting its public health benefits. We propose that this oversight may be associated with the limitation in one’s mental capacity to simultaneously retain multiple pieces of information in working memory (WM) for rational decision making that leads to social-distancing compliance. We tested this hypothesis in 850 United States residents during the first 2 wk following the presidential declaration of national emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that participants’ social-distancing compliance at this initial stage could be predicted by individual differences in WM capacity, partly due to increased awareness of benefits over costs of social distancing among higher WM capacity individuals. Critically, the unique contribution of WM capacity to the individual differences in social-distancing compliance could not be explained by other psychological and socioeconomic factors (e.g., moods, personality, education, and income levels). Furthermore, the critical role of WM capacity in social-distancing compliance can be generalized to the compliance with another set of rules for social interactions, namely the fairness norm, in Western cultures. Collectively, our data reveal contributions of a core cognitive process underlying social-distancing compliance during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting a potential cognitive venue for developing strategies to mitigate a public health crisis.

scholarly journals Human mobility trends during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0241468
Author(s):  
Minha Lee ◽  
Jun Zhao ◽  
Qianqian Sun ◽  
Yixuan Pan ◽  
Weiyi Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Tangible Evidence ◽  
The Government ◽  
At Home

In March of this year, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, and it continues to threaten public health. This global health crisis imposes limitations on daily movements, which have deteriorated every sector in our society. Understanding public reactions to the virus and the non-pharmaceutical interventions should be of great help to fight COVID-19 in a strategic way. We aim to provide tangible evidence of the human mobility trends by comparing the day-by-day variations across the U.S. from January 2020 to early April 2020. Large-scale public mobility at an aggregated level is observed by leveraging mobile device location data and the measures related to social distancing. Our study captures spatial and temporal heterogeneity as well as the sociodemographic variations and teleworking trends regarding the pandemic propagation and the non-pharmaceutical mobility interventions. All metrics adapted capture decreased public movements after the national emergency declaration. The population staying home has increased in all states before the stay-at-home mandates implemented and becomes more stable after the order with a smaller range of fluctuation. The public had been taking active responses, voluntarily staying home more, to the in-state confirmed cases while the stay-at-home orders stabilize the variations. As the estimated teleworking rates also continue to incline throughout the study period, the teleworking trend can be another driving factor for the growing stay-at-home population. We confirm that there exists overall mobility heterogeneity between the income or population density groups. The study suggests that public mobility trends are in line with the government message urging to stay home. We anticipate our data-driven analysis offers integrated perspectives and serves as evidence to raise public awareness and, consequently, reinforce the importance of social distancing while assisting policymakers.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Epidemic in Sri Lanka: A Mathematical and Computational Modelling Approach to Control

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
W. P. T. M. Wickramaarachchi ◽  
S. S. N. Perera ◽  
S. Jayasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Critical Parameters ◽  
World Population ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
First Case ◽  
Local Case

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak that originated in the city of Wuhan, China, has caused a significant damage to the world population and the global economy. It has claimed more than 0.8 million lives worldwide, and more than 27 million people have been infected as of 07th September 2020. In Sri Lanka, the first case of COVID-19 was reported late January 2020 which was a Chinese national and the first local case was identified in the second week of March. Since then, the government of Sri Lanka introduced various sequential measures to improve social distancing such as closure of schools and education institutes, introducing work from home model to reduce the public gathering, introducing travel bans to international arrivals, and more drastically, imposed island wide curfew expecting to minimize the burden of the disease to the Sri Lankan health system and the entire community. Currently, there are 3123 cases with 12 fatalities and also, it was reported that 2925 patients have recovered and are discharged from hospitals, according to the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka. In this study, we use the SEIR conceptual model and its modified version by decomposing infected patients into two classes: patients who show mild symptoms and patients who tend to face severe respiratory problems and are required to be treated in intensive care units. We numerically simulate the models for about a five-month period reflecting the early stage of the epidemic in the country, considering three critical parameters of COVID-19 transmission mainly in the Sri Lankan context: efficacy of control measures, rate of overseas imported cases, and time to introduce social distancing measures by the respective authorities.

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