COVID-19 pandemic severity, lockdown regimes, and people’s mobility : early evidence from 88 countries

Search for this publication on Google Scholar
Thill, J. -C., Rahman, M. M., & Paul, K. C. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic severity, lockdown regimes, and people’s mobility : early evidence from 88 countries. Sustainability. https://doi.org/doi:10.3390/su12219101
Download PDF

Analytics

681 views ◎
29 downloads ⇓


Description

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.

Details
Title

COVID-19 pandemic severity, lockdown regimes, and people’s mobility : early evidence from 88 countries

Author(s)

Thill, Jean-Claude
Rahman, Md. Mokhlesur
Paul, Kamal Chandra

UNC Charlotte Affiliate Type

Faculty

Publisher

MDPI

Extent

1 online resource

Date Published

2020

Material Type

Journal article

Genre

articles

Resource Type

text

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.

Subjects--Topics

Public health
COVID-19 (Disease)
Social distancing (Public health)

Is Part Of

Sustainability

Volume

Vol. 12

Language

English

Published Version (Please cite this version)

doi:10.3390/su12219101

Publisher's Version

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9101/htm

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/work:177

Rights

This item may be protected by copyright and other related rights. Atkins Library provides access to this item for educational and research purposes only; other uses require the permission of the copyright holder.