COVID-19, social distancing, and effects on human behavior

With the global spread of COVID-19, there are questions regarding the use of masks by the general public to limit spread and transmission. Yet few studies have attempted to synthesize the literature on the usage of masks for disease prevention. I briefly review the general literature on the efficacy of masks in the context of disease transmission, with a particular emphasis on their direct protective capabilities. I find a high degree of variation in protective capability within and across different types of masks, depending on mask fit and particle size and flow, among other factors. Given this variability and commonly-adopted assumptions of human behavior, it is difficult to say with certainty whether a policy recommending that the general public wear masks will significantly help to “flatten the curve” or stop the exponential spread of the pandemic, at least compared to other practices such as hand washing and social distancing.

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Compliance with COVID-19 Mitigation Measures in the United States

10.31234/osf.io/qymu3 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Benjamin van Rooij ◽

Anne Leonore de Bruijn ◽

Christopher Reinders Folmer ◽

Emmeke Barbara Kooistra ◽

Malouke Esra Kuiper ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Social Norms ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Online Survey ◽

The United States ◽

Self Control ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Intrinsic Motivations ◽

Fundamental Shift

The COVID-19 mitigation measures require a fundamental shift in human behavior. The present study assesses what factors influence Americans to comply with the stay at home and social distancing measures. It analyzes data from an online survey, conducted on April 3, 2020, of 570 participants from 35 states that have adopted such measures. The results show that while perceptual deterrence was not associated with compliance, people actually comply less when they fear the authorities. Further, two broad processes promote compliance. First, compliance depended on people’s capacity to obey the rules, opportunity to break the rules, and self-control. As such, compliance results from their own personal abilities and the context in which they live. Second, compliance depended on people’s intrinsic motivations, including substantive moral support and social norms. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for ensuring compliance to effectively mitigate the virus.

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A compartmental model that predicts the effect of social distancing and vaccination on controlling COVID-19

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-86873-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mohammadali Dashtbali ◽

Mehdi Mirzaie

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Compartmental Model ◽

Disease Outbreak ◽

Disease Dynamics ◽

Essential Point ◽

Infectious Disease Outbreak ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Epidemic Curve ◽

Record Data

AbstractThe understanding of the interaction between disease dynamics and human behavior is an important and essential point to control infectious. Disease outbreak can be influenced by social distancing and vaccination. In this study, we introduce two compartmental models to derive the epidemic curve and analyze the individual’s behavior in spreading and controlling the COVID-19 epidemic. The first model includes Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious, Hospitalized, Recovered and Death compartments and in the second model, we added a new compartment namely, semi-susceptible individuals that are assumed to be more immune than the susceptible. A comparison of the two models shows that the second model provides a better fit to the daily infected cases from Egypt, Belgium, Japan, Nigeria, Italy, and Germany released by WHO. Finally, we added a vaccinated term to the model to predict how vaccination could control the epidemic. The model was applied on the record data from WHO.

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Behavioral Implications in COVID-19 Spread and Vaccinations

Systems ◽

10.3390/systems9040072 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 72

Author(s):

Karim Chichakly

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Feedback Loops ◽

Seir Model ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Model Comparisons ◽

Virulent Strains ◽

The Usa ◽

Reduced Adherence

COVID-19 vaccinations have been administered quickly in the USA. However, a surprisingly large number of Americans are unwilling to get vaccinated. Without enough people getting vaccinated, the pandemic will not end. The longer the pandemic persists, the more opportunities exist for more virulent strains to emerge. This model looks at the effects of people’s behavior in containing and ending the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA. Human behavior adds several feedback loops to the standard SEIR model. Comparisons are made between cases with and without behavior loops, with reduced adherence to the recommended or mandated masks and social distancing, with and without the vaccine, and the effects of an early mask mandate termination. The results suggest human behavior must be accounted for in epidemiology models and that removing masks before enough vaccine are administered not only puts those vaccinated at risk, but allows the disease to readily spread again.

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A Compartmental Model that Predicts the Effect of Social Distancing and Vaccination on Controlling COVID-19

10.21203/rs.3.rs-104025/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mohammadali Dashtbali ◽

Mehdi Mirzaie

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Compartmental Model ◽

Disease Outbreak ◽

Disease Dynamics ◽

Essential Point ◽

Infectious Disease Outbreak ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Epidemic Curve ◽

Record Data

Abstract The understanding of the interaction between disease dynamics and human behavior is an important and essential point to control infectious. Disease outbreak can be inﬂuenced by social distancing and vaccination. In this study, we introduce two compartmental models to derive the epidemic curve and analyze the individual’s behavior in spreading and controlling the COVID-19 epidemic. The ﬁrst model includes Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious, Hospitalized, Recovered and Death compartments and in the second model, we added a new compartment namely, semi-susceptible individuals that are assumed to be more immune than the susceptible. A comparison of the two models shows that the second model provides a better ﬁt to the daily infected cases from Egypt, Belgium, Japan, Nigeria, Italy, and Germany released by WHO. Finally, we added a vaccinated term to the model to predict how vaccination could control the epidemic. The model was applied on the record data from WHO.

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Human Cultural Dimensions and Behavior during COVID-19 Can Lead to Policy Resistance and Economic Losses: A Perspective from Game Theory Analysis

10.5772/intechopen.96689 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tamer Oraby ◽

Michael G. Tyshenko ◽

Samit Bhattacharyya

Keyword(s):

Game Theory ◽

Decision Making ◽

Social Isolation ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Low Income ◽

Evolutionary Game ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Economic Resilience ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Behavioral Decision

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant societal impacts. Besides loss of life there were large additional costs incurred by every country including the treatment of patients and costs to implement response plans. The pandemic resulted in major economic disruptions and stalled growth worldwide due to travel bans, lockdowns, social distancing, and non-essential business closures. Public health officials in almost every country implemented and encouraged Nonpharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) such as contact tracing, social distancing, masks, and isolation. Human behavioral decision-making concerning social isolation was a major hindrance to the success in curbing the pandemic worldwide. In many developing countries individuals’ choices were motivated by the competing risk of losing jobs, and daily income. In this chapter we focus on human behavior concerning social isolation in the context of decision-making during the pandemic. We developed a conceptual framework and deterministic model that integrated evolutionary game theory within our disease transmission model. We illustrate scenarios numerically simulating the model. This study highlights the idea that human behavior is an important component in successful disease control strategies. Economic resilience, especially in low-income countries, can improve public understanding and uptake of NPIs.

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