Behavior and the Transmission of COVID-19

A simple model of COVID-19 that incorporates feedback from disease prevalence to disease transmission through an endogenous response of human behavior does a remarkable job fitting the main features of the data on the growth rates of daily deaths observed across a large number of countries and states in the United States in 2020. This finding, however, suggests a new empirical puzzle: very large wedges that shift disease transmission rates holding disease prevalence fixed are required both across regions and within a region over time for the model to match the data on deaths from COVID-19 as an equilibrium outcome exactly.

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Mask mandate and use efficacy in state-level COVID-19 containment

10.1101/2021.05.18.21257385 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Damian Guerra ◽

Daniel J Guerra

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Growth Rates ◽

State Level ◽

The United States ◽

Future Research ◽

Transmission Rates ◽

High Transmission ◽

Lower Case ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Lower Infection

Background: Containment of the COVID-19 pandemic requires evidence-based strategies to reduce transmission. Because COVID-19 can spread via respired droplets, many states have mandated mask use in public settings. Randomized control trials have not clearly demonstrated mask efficacy against respiratory viruses, but observational studies suggest greater mask compliance may be associated with lower infection rates. We hypothesized that statewide mask mandates and mask use are associated with lower COVID-19 case growth rates in the United States. Methods: We calculated total COVID-19 case growth and mask use for the continental United States with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. We estimated post-mask mandate case growth in non-mandate states using median issuance dates of neighboring states with mandates. Results: Case growth was not significantly different between mandate and non-mandate states at low or high transmission rates, and surges were equivocal. Mask use predicted lower case growth at low, but not high transmission rates. Growth rates were comparable between states in the top and bottom mask use quintiles adjusted for normalized total cases early in the pandemic and unadjusted after peak Fall-Winter infections. Mask use did not predict Summer 2020 case growth for non-Northeast states or Fall-Winter 2020 growth for all states. Conclusions: Mask mandates and use are not associated with slower state-level COVID-19 spread during COVID-19 growth surges. COVID-19 containment requires future research and implementation of existing efficacious strategies.

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Mindsets: A View From Two Eras

Perspectives on Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/1745691618804166 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 481-496 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Carol S. Dweck ◽

David S. Yeager

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Field Experiments ◽

The United States ◽

Growth Mindset ◽

Systematic Examination ◽

Personal Perspectives ◽

Over Time

A growth mindset is the belief that human capacities are not fixed but can be developed over time, and mindset research examines the power of such beliefs to influence human behavior. This article offers two personal perspectives on mindset research across two eras. Given recent changes in the field, the authors represent different generations of researchers, each focusing on different issues and challenges, but both committed to “era-bridging” research. The first author traces mindset research from its systematic examination of how mindsets affect challenge seeking and resilience, through the ways in which mindsets influence the formation of judgments and stereotypes. The second author then describes how mindset research entered the era of field experiments and replication science, and how researchers worked to create reliable interventions to address underachievement—including a national experiment in the United States. The authors conclude that there is much more to learn but that the studies to date illustrate how an era-bridging program of research can continue to be generative and relevant to new generations of scholars.

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Magic and Politics

Nova Religio The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions ◽

10.1525/nr.2020.23.4.5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 5-14

Author(s):

Sabina Magliocco

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

North America ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Presidential Election ◽

The United States ◽

Right Wing ◽

Special Issue ◽

Far Right ◽

Cultural Expression ◽

Spirit World

This essay introduces a special issue of Nova Religio on magic and politics in the United States in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election. The articles in this issue address a gap in the literature examining intersections of religion, magic, and politics in contemporary North America. They approach political magic as an essentially religious phenomenon, in that it deals with the spirit world and attempts to motivate human behavior through the use of symbols. Covering a range of practices from the far right to the far left, the articles argue against prevailing scholarly treatments of the use of esoteric technologies as a predominantly right-wing phenomenon, showing how they have also been operationalized by the left in recent history. They showcase the creativity of magic as a form of human cultural expression, and demonstrate how magic coexists with rationality in contemporary western settings.

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An Analysis of Fraudulent Qui Tam Actions Over Time in the United States

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.992988 ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

Karen A. Fitzner ◽

Charlie Bennett ◽

June McKoy ◽

Cara Tigue

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

Over Time

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The New Economic Populism and the Future of Inequality in the United States

10.1093/oso/9780190671013.003.0008 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

William W. Franko ◽

Christopher Witko

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Federal Government ◽

Labor Unions ◽

Republican Party ◽

The United States ◽

The Public ◽

Empirical Results ◽

Income Disparities ◽

The Face ◽

Over Time

The authors conclude the book by recapping their arguments and empirical results, and discussing the possibilities for the “new economic populism” to promote egalitarian economic outcomes in the face of continuing gridlock and the dominance of Washington, DC’s policymaking institutions by business and the wealthy, and a conservative Republican Party. Many states are actually addressing inequality now, and these policies are working. Admittedly, many states also continue to embrace the policies that have contributed to growing inequality, such as tax cuts for the wealthy or attempting to weaken labor unions. But as the public grows more concerned about inequality, the authors argue, policies that help to address these income disparities will become more popular, and policies that exacerbate inequality will become less so. Over time, if history is a guide, more egalitarian policies will spread across the states, and ultimately to the federal government.

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Different School Reopening Plans on Coronavirus Disease 2019 Case Growth Rates in the School Setting in the United States

Journal of School Health ◽

10.1111/josh.13009 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dong Liu ◽

Ge Lin ◽

Xiaoting Sun ◽

Yi Du ◽

Han Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Growth Rates ◽

School Setting ◽

The United States

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Thirty-Day Laboratory-Based Surveillance for Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area

Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology ◽

10.1086/675602 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 35 (4) ◽

pp. 423-425 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Edwin C. Pereira ◽

Kristin M. Shaw ◽

Paula M. Snippes Vagnone ◽

Jane E. Harper ◽

Alexander J. Kallen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Metropolitan Area ◽

The United States ◽

Carbapenem Resistant ◽

Over Time ◽

Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are a growing problem in the United States. We explored the feasibility of active laboratory-based surveillance of CRE in a metropolitan area not previously considered to be an area of CRE endemicity. We provide a framework to address CRE surveillance and to monitor changes in the incidence of CRE infection over time.

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Revealing the spatial shifting pattern of COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-87902-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Di Zhu ◽

Xinyue Ye ◽

Steven Manson

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Long Range ◽

Network Optimization ◽

Network Modeling ◽

The United States ◽

Standard Series ◽

Time And Space ◽

Long Range Interactions ◽

Dynamic Relationships ◽

Over Time

AbstractWe describe the use of network modeling to capture the shifting spatiotemporal nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most common approach to tracking COVID-19 cases over time and space is to examine a series of maps that provide snapshots of the pandemic. A series of snapshots can convey the spatial nature of cases but often rely on subjective interpretation to assess how the pandemic is shifting in severity through time and space. We present a novel application of network optimization to a standard series of snapshots to better reveal how the spatial centres of the pandemic shifted spatially over time in the mainland United States under a mix of interventions. We find a global spatial shifting pattern with stable pandemic centres and both local and long-range interactions. Metrics derived from the daily nature of spatial shifts are introduced to help evaluate the pandemic situation at regional scales. We also highlight the value of reviewing pandemics through local spatial shifts to uncover dynamic relationships among and within regions, such as spillover and concentration among states. This new way of examining the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of network-based spatial shifts offers new story lines in understanding how the pandemic spread in geography.

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