Urban-Rural Disparities for COVID-19: Evidence from 10 Countries and Areas in the Western Pacific.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Limited evidence on the effectiveness of various types of social distancing measures, from voluntary physical distancing to a community-wide quarantine, exists for the Western Pacific Region (WPR) which has large urban and rural populations.

Methods

We estimated the time-varying reproduction number (R _t ) in a Bayesian framework using district-level mobility data provided by Facebook (i) to assess how various social distancing policies have contributed to the reduction in transmissibility of SARS-COV-2 and (ii) to examine within-country variations in behavioural responses, quantified by reductions in mobility, for urban and rural areas.

Results

Social distancing measures were largely effective in reducing transmissibility, with R

SUBMITTER: Park M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9629684 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature