Social vulnerability amplifies the disparate impact of mobility on COVID-19 transmissibility across the United States
Abstract Although human mobility is considered critical for the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) both locally and globally, the extent to which such an association is impacted by social vulnerability remains unclear. Here, using multisource epidemiological and socioeconomic data of U...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01437-5 |
| _version_ | 1811304495297069056 |
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| author | Bo Huang Zhihui Huang Chen Chen Jian Lin Tony Tam Yingyi Hong Sen Pei |
| author_facet | Bo Huang Zhihui Huang Chen Chen Jian Lin Tony Tam Yingyi Hong Sen Pei |
| author_sort | Bo Huang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Although human mobility is considered critical for the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) both locally and globally, the extent to which such an association is impacted by social vulnerability remains unclear. Here, using multisource epidemiological and socioeconomic data of US counties, we develop a COVID-19 pandemic vulnerability index (CPVI) to quantify their levels of social vulnerability and examine how social vulnerability moderated the influence of mobility on disease transmissibility (represented by the effective reproduction number, R t) during the US summer epidemic wave of 2020. We find that counties in the top CPVI quintile suffered almost double in regard to COVID-19 transmission (45.02% days with an R t higher than 1) from mobility, particularly intracounty mobility, compared to counties in the lowest quintile (21.90%). In contrast, counties in the bottom CPVI quintile were only slightly affected by the level of mobility. As such, a 25% intracounty mobility change was associated with a 15.28% R t change for counties in the top CPVI quintile, which is eight times the 1.81% R t change for those in the lowest quintile. These findings suggest the need to account for the vulnerability of communities when making social distancing measures against mobility in the future. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:08:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8127479952e449659b9f9e5517297848 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2662-9992 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:08:09Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-8127479952e449659b9f9e55172978482022-12-22T02:55:06ZengSpringer NatureHumanities & Social Sciences Communications2662-99922022-11-019111310.1057/s41599-022-01437-5Social vulnerability amplifies the disparate impact of mobility on COVID-19 transmissibility across the United StatesBo Huang0Zhihui Huang1Chen Chen2Jian Lin3Tony Tam4Yingyi Hong5Sen Pei6Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong KongFaculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiao Tong UniversityDepartment of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong KongSierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California MercedDepartment of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong KongDepartment of Management, The Chinese University of Hong KongDepartment of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia UniversityAbstract Although human mobility is considered critical for the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) both locally and globally, the extent to which such an association is impacted by social vulnerability remains unclear. Here, using multisource epidemiological and socioeconomic data of US counties, we develop a COVID-19 pandemic vulnerability index (CPVI) to quantify their levels of social vulnerability and examine how social vulnerability moderated the influence of mobility on disease transmissibility (represented by the effective reproduction number, R t) during the US summer epidemic wave of 2020. We find that counties in the top CPVI quintile suffered almost double in regard to COVID-19 transmission (45.02% days with an R t higher than 1) from mobility, particularly intracounty mobility, compared to counties in the lowest quintile (21.90%). In contrast, counties in the bottom CPVI quintile were only slightly affected by the level of mobility. As such, a 25% intracounty mobility change was associated with a 15.28% R t change for counties in the top CPVI quintile, which is eight times the 1.81% R t change for those in the lowest quintile. These findings suggest the need to account for the vulnerability of communities when making social distancing measures against mobility in the future.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01437-5 |
| spellingShingle | Bo Huang Zhihui Huang Chen Chen Jian Lin Tony Tam Yingyi Hong Sen Pei Social vulnerability amplifies the disparate impact of mobility on COVID-19 transmissibility across the United States Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| title | Social vulnerability amplifies the disparate impact of mobility on COVID-19 transmissibility across the United States |
| title_full | Social vulnerability amplifies the disparate impact of mobility on COVID-19 transmissibility across the United States |
| title_fullStr | Social vulnerability amplifies the disparate impact of mobility on COVID-19 transmissibility across the United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social vulnerability amplifies the disparate impact of mobility on COVID-19 transmissibility across the United States |
| title_short | Social vulnerability amplifies the disparate impact of mobility on COVID-19 transmissibility across the United States |
| title_sort | social vulnerability amplifies the disparate impact of mobility on covid 19 transmissibility across the united states |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01437-5 |
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