The Covid-19 containment effects of public health measures - A spatial difference-in-differences approach
| Autor: | Reinhold Kosfeld, Klaus Wälde, Johannes Rode, Timo Mitze |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Exploit Public economics Gesundheitswesen Public health Maßnahme COVID-19 containment effects spatial difference-in-differences Schutz Specification Panel analysis Work (electrical) public health measures medicine Business Closure (psychology) Dimension (data warehouse) Deutschland Spatial analysis |
| DOI: | 10.1101/2020.12.15.20248173 |
| Popis: | Since mid-March 2020 the Federal and state governments in Germany agreed on comprehensive public health measures to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections leading to the Covid-19 disease. We study the containment effects of these policy interventions on the progression of the pandemic in the first containment phase in spring 2020 before the easing of restrictions may become effective by the end of April. To exploit both the temporal and spatial dimension in the dissemination of the virus, we conduct a spatial panel data analysis for German NUTS-3 regions. Specifically, we employ a spatial difference-in-differences approach to identify the effects of six compound sets of public health measures. We find that contact restrictions and closure of schools substantially contributed to flattening the infection curve. Additionally, a strong treatment effect of mandatory wearing of face masks is established for the few treated regions during this containment phase. No incremental effect is evidenced for closure of establishments, such as museums, theaters, cinemas and parks, and the shutdown of shopping malls and other non-essential retail stores. These findings prove to be robust to changes in model specification. By contrast, the dampening effect of restaurant closure is sensitive to model variation. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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