Demographic, jurisdictional, and spatial effects on social distancing in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT: Social distancing, a non-pharmaceutical tactic aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19, can arise because individuals voluntarily distance from others to avoid contracting the disease. Alternatively, it can arise because of jurisdictional restrictions imposed by local authorities. We run reduced form models of social distancing as a function of county-level exogenous demographic variables and jurisdictional fixed effects for 49 states to assess the relative contributions of demographic and jurisdictional effects in explaining social distancing behavior. To allow for possible spatial aspects of a contagious disease, we also model the spillovers associated with demographic variables in surrounding counties as well as allow for disturbances that depend upon those in surrounding counties. We

SUBMITTER: Narayanan RP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7508394 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature