Evaluating Social Distancing Measures and Their Association with the Covid-19 Pandemic in South America
Social distancing is a powerful non-pharmaceutical intervention used as a way to slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus around the world since the end of 2019 in China. Taking that into account, this work aimed to identify variations on population mobility in South America during the pandemic (15 F...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-03-01
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| Series: | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/10/3/121 |
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| author | Gisliany Lillian Alves de Oliveira Luciana Lima Ivanovitch Silva Marcel da Câmara Ribeiro-Dantas Kayo Henrique Monteiro Patricia Takako Endo |
| author_facet | Gisliany Lillian Alves de Oliveira Luciana Lima Ivanovitch Silva Marcel da Câmara Ribeiro-Dantas Kayo Henrique Monteiro Patricia Takako Endo |
| author_sort | Gisliany Lillian Alves de Oliveira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social distancing is a powerful non-pharmaceutical intervention used as a way to slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus around the world since the end of 2019 in China. Taking that into account, this work aimed to identify variations on population mobility in South America during the pandemic (15 February to 27 October 2020). We used a data-driven approach to create a community mobility index from the Google Covid-19 Community Mobility and relate it to the Covid stringency index from Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT). Two hypotheses were established: countries which have adopted stricter social distancing measures have also a lower level of circulation (H1), and mobility is occurring randomly in space (H2). Considering a transient period, a low capacity of governments to respond to the pandemic with more stringent measures of social distancing was observed at the beginning of the crisis. In turn, considering a steady-state period, the results showed an inverse relationship between the Covid stringency index and the community mobility index for at least three countries (H1 rejected). Regarding the spatial analysis, global and local Moran indices revealed regional mobility patterns for Argentina, Brazil, and Chile (H1 rejected). In Brazil, the absence of coordinated policies between the federal government and states regarding social distancing may have played an important role for several and extensive clusters formation. On the other hand, the results for Argentina and Chile could be signals for the difficulties of governments in keeping their population under control, and for long periods, even under stricter decrees. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:07:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f1021de5c21d4c04a1e1f7b0a1d04290 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2220-9964 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:07:47Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |
| spelling | doaj.art-f1021de5c21d4c04a1e1f7b0a1d042902023-12-03T12:02:08ZengMDPI AGISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information2220-99642021-03-0110312110.3390/ijgi10030121Evaluating Social Distancing Measures and Their Association with the Covid-19 Pandemic in South AmericaGisliany Lillian Alves de Oliveira0Luciana Lima1Ivanovitch Silva2Marcel da Câmara Ribeiro-Dantas3Kayo Henrique Monteiro4Patricia Takako Endo5Instituto Metrópole Digital, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-970, BrazilPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Demografia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-970, BrazilInstituto Metrópole Digital, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-970, BrazilLaboratoire Physico Chimie Curie, Institut Curie, Université PSL, CNRS UMR168, Sorbonne Université, 75005 Paris, FrancePrograma de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia da Computação, Universidade de Pernambuco, Recife 50720-001, BrazilPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia da Computação, Universidade de Pernambuco, Recife 50720-001, BrazilSocial distancing is a powerful non-pharmaceutical intervention used as a way to slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus around the world since the end of 2019 in China. Taking that into account, this work aimed to identify variations on population mobility in South America during the pandemic (15 February to 27 October 2020). We used a data-driven approach to create a community mobility index from the Google Covid-19 Community Mobility and relate it to the Covid stringency index from Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT). Two hypotheses were established: countries which have adopted stricter social distancing measures have also a lower level of circulation (H1), and mobility is occurring randomly in space (H2). Considering a transient period, a low capacity of governments to respond to the pandemic with more stringent measures of social distancing was observed at the beginning of the crisis. In turn, considering a steady-state period, the results showed an inverse relationship between the Covid stringency index and the community mobility index for at least three countries (H1 rejected). Regarding the spatial analysis, global and local Moran indices revealed regional mobility patterns for Argentina, Brazil, and Chile (H1 rejected). In Brazil, the absence of coordinated policies between the federal government and states regarding social distancing may have played an important role for several and extensive clusters formation. On the other hand, the results for Argentina and Chile could be signals for the difficulties of governments in keeping their population under control, and for long periods, even under stricter decrees.https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/10/3/121Covid-19google community mobility reportlockdownsocial distancingreproduction numberdata science |
| spellingShingle | Gisliany Lillian Alves de Oliveira Luciana Lima Ivanovitch Silva Marcel da Câmara Ribeiro-Dantas Kayo Henrique Monteiro Patricia Takako Endo Evaluating Social Distancing Measures and Their Association with the Covid-19 Pandemic in South America ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information Covid-19 google community mobility report lockdown social distancing reproduction number data science |
| title | Evaluating Social Distancing Measures and Their Association with the Covid-19 Pandemic in South America |
| title_full | Evaluating Social Distancing Measures and Their Association with the Covid-19 Pandemic in South America |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating Social Distancing Measures and Their Association with the Covid-19 Pandemic in South America |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating Social Distancing Measures and Their Association with the Covid-19 Pandemic in South America |
| title_short | Evaluating Social Distancing Measures and Their Association with the Covid-19 Pandemic in South America |
| title_sort | evaluating social distancing measures and their association with the covid 19 pandemic in south america |
| topic | Covid-19 google community mobility report lockdown social distancing reproduction number data science |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/10/3/121 |
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