Using Mobile Device Data to Understand the Effect of Stay-at-Home Orders on Residents’ Mobility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guihua Wang
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Mobile Device ◽  
The United States ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Average Effect ◽  
Heterogeneous Effects ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Staying At Home ◽  
At Home

Problem definition: This study addresses three important questions concerning the effectiveness of stay-at-home orders and sociodemographic disparities. (1) What is the average effect of the orders on the percentage of residents staying at home? (2) Is the effect heterogeneous across counties with different percentages of vulnerable populations (defined as those without health insurance or who did not attend high school)? (3) If so, why are the orders less effective for some counties than for others? Academic/practical relevance: To combat the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a number of states in the United States implemented stay-at-home orders that prevent residents from leaving their homes except for essential trips. These orders have drawn heavy criticism from the public because whether they are necessary and effective in increasing the number of residents staying at home is unclear. Methodology: We estimate the average effect of the orders using a difference-in-differences model, where the control group is the counties that did not implement the orders and the treatment group is the counties that did implement the orders during our study period. We estimate the heterogeneous effects of the orders by interacting county features with treatment dummies in a triple-difference model. Results: Using a unique set of mobile device data that track residents’ mobility, we find that, although some residents already voluntarily stayed at home before the implementation of any order, the stay-at-home orders increased the number of residents staying at home by 2.832 percentage points (or 11.25%). We also find that these orders are less effective for counties with higher percentages of uninsured or less educated (i.e., did not attend high school) residents. To explore the mechanisms behind these results, we analyze the effect of the orders on the average number of work and nonwork trips per person. We find that the orders reduce the number of work trips by 0.053 (or 7.87%) and nonwork trips by 0.183 (or 6.50%). The percentage of uninsured or less educated residents in a county negatively correlates with the reduction in the number of work trips but does not correlate with the reduction in the number of nonwork trips. Managerial implications: Our results suggest that uninsured and less educated residents are less likely to follow the orders because their jobs prevent them from working from home. Policy makers must take into account the differences in residents’ socioeconomic status when developing new policies or allocating limited healthcare resources.

Bilingual lexical skills of school-age children with Chinese and Korean heritage languages in the United States

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 350-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisela Jia ◽  
Jennifer Chen ◽  
HyeYoung Kim ◽  
Phoenix-Shan Chan ◽  
Changmo Jeung
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Primary Study ◽  
School Age ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Lexical Skills ◽  
At Home

This cross-sectional study investigated the bilingual lexical skills of 175 US school-age children (5 to18 years old) with Cantonese, Mandarin, or Korean as their heritage language (HL), and English as their dominant language. Primary study goals were to identify potential patterns of development in bilingual lexical skills over the elementary to high school time span and to examine the relation of environmental factors to lexical skills. HL and English productive lexical skills were assessed with a Picture Naming and a Verbal Fluency task. English receptive lexical skills were assessed with Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. A survey obtained information about participants’ language use in six environmental contexts. There were age-related significant increases in both HL and English skills. However, English proficiency already had a significant lead over HL proficiency at the youngest age. English receptive lexical skills reached monolingual expectations from age 8, whereas for HL, high school age participants on average only reached the level of early elementary school monolinguals. Although more English use at home at younger ages was associated with stronger English skills, the relation did not exist for older participants. Instead, among older participants, more English use at home was associated with weaker HL skills. Children’s attendance at HL programs and visits to home countries bore little relation to HL proficiency.

scholarly journals Gender Inequality in Research Productivity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruomeng Cui ◽  
Hao Ding ◽  
Feng Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Research Productivity ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Academic Activities ◽  
Managerial Implications

Problem definition: We study the disproportionate impact of the lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak on female and male academic research productivity in social science. Academic/practical relevance: The lockdown has caused substantial disruptions to academic activities, requiring people to work from home. How this disruption affects productivity and the related gender equity is an important operations and societal question. Methodology: We collect data from the largest open-access preprint repository for social science on 41,858 research preprints in 18 disciplines produced by 76,832 authors across 25 countries over a span of two years. We use a difference-in-differences approach leveraging the exogenous pandemic shock. Results: Our results indicate that, in the 10 weeks after the lockdown in the United States, although total research productivity increased by 35%, female academics’ productivity dropped by 13.2% relative to that of male academics. We also show that this intensified productivity gap is more pronounced for assistant professors and for academics in top-ranked universities and is found in six other countries. Managerial implications: Our work points out the fairness issue in productivity caused by the lockdown, a finding that universities will find helpful when evaluating faculty productivity. It also helps organizations realize the potential unintended consequences that can arise from telecommuting.

scholarly journals Predictive Modeling on the Number of Covid-19 Death Toll in the United States Considering the Effects of Coronavirus-Related Changes and Covid-19 Recovered Cases

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 1140-1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoang Pham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Death Toll ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
First Case ◽  
Staying At Home ◽  
At Home

COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. Many countries around the world implemented their own policies and restrictions designed to limit the spread of Covid-19 in recent months. Businesses and schools transitioned into working and learning remotely. In the United States, many states were under strict orders to stay home at least in the month of April. In recent weeks, there are some significant changes related restrictions include social-distancing, reopening states, and staying-at-home orders. The United States surpassed 2 million coronavirus cases on Monday, June 15, 2020 less than five months after the first case was confirmed in the country. The virus has killed at least 115,000 people in the United States as of Monday, June 15, 2020, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. With the recent easing of coronavirus-related restrictions and changes on business and social activity such as stay-at-home, social distancing since late May 2020 hoping to restore economic and business activities, new Covid-19 outbreaks are on the rise in many states across the country. Some researchers expressed concern that the process of easing restrictions and relaxing stay-at-home orders too soon could quickly surge the number of infected Covid-19 cases as well as the death toll in the United States. Some of these increases, however, could be due to more testing sites in the communities while others may be are the results of easing restrictions due to recent reopening and changed policies, though the number of daily death toll does not appear to be going down in recent days due to Covid-19 in the U.S. This raises the challenging question: • How can policy decision-makers and community leaders make the decision to implement public policies and restrictions and keep or lift staying-at-home orders of ongoing Covid-19 pandemic for their communities in a scientific way? In this study, we aim to develop models addressing the effects of recent Covid-19 related changes in the communities such as reopening states, practicing social-distancing, and staying-at-home orders. Our models account for the fact that changes to these policies which can lead to a surge of coronavirus cases and deaths, especially in the United States. Specifically, in this paper we develop a novel generalized mathematical model and several explicit models considering the effects of recent reopening states, staying-at-home orders and social-distancing practice of different communities along with a set of selected indicators such as the total number of coronavirus recovered and new cases that can estimate the daily death toll and total number of deaths in the United States related to Covid-19 virus. We compare the modeling results among the developed models based on several existing criteria. The model also can be used to predict the number of death toll in Italy and the United Kingdom (UK). The results show very encouraging predictability for the proposed models in this study. The model predicts that 128,500 to 140,100 people in the United States will have died of Covid-19 by July 4, 2020. The model also predicts that between 137,900 and 154,000 people will have died of Covid-19 by July 31, and 148,500 to 169,700 will have died by the end of August 2020, as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 based on the Covid-19 death data available on June 13, 2020. The model also predicts that 34,900 to 37,200 people in Italy will have died of Covid-19 by July 4, and 36,900 to 40,400 people will have died by the end of August based on the data available on June 13, 2020. The model also predicts that between 43,500 and 46,700 people in the United Kingdom will have died of Covid-19 by July 4, and 48,700 to 51,900 people will have died by the end of August, as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 based on the data available on June 13, 2020. The model can serve as a framework to help policy makers a scientific approach in quantifying decision-makings related to Covid-19 affairs.

The Effects of Delivering Personalized Course Recommendations at Scale on Advanced Placement Participation and Performance

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-49
Author(s):  
Zachary Mabel ◽  
Michael D. Hurwitz ◽  
Matea Pender ◽  
Brooke White
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Minority Students ◽  
Advanced Placement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Underrepresented Minority ◽  
Underrepresented Minority Students ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Percent Increase ◽  
Group Rate

Abstract Gaps in advanced high school coursework by socioeconomic status and geography persist in the United States, even among students with the ability and access to succeed in them. Lack of information on course availability and inaccurate self-perceptions may contribute to these inequities. We report on a large-scale experiment designed to increase Advanced Placement (AP) participation among underrepresented minority students and students attending rural high schools. Students and parents assigned to treatment received personalized outreach via multiple communication channels about APs offered at their high school in which they demonstrated potential to succeed. Outreach increased the probability of AP Exam participation in subjects in which students demonstrated potential to succeed by 1.1 percentage points, a 2.5 percent increase over the control group rate. This, in turn, increased the probability that students scored 3 or higher on those AP Exams by 0.5 percentage points, a 1.4 percent increase over the control group rate. Intervention effects were concentrated among underrepresented minority students attending non-rural schools and relatively less academically prepared students. The findings indicate that personalized course recommendations can increase equity in advanced high school course participation; however, designing outreach campaigns at scale that engage students is a crucial challenge to their efficacy.

Internet addiction in adolescents and staying at a dormitory: A controlled study

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S690-S690
Author(s):  
Y. Kıvrak ◽  
İ.C. Kıvrak
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Internet Addiction ◽  
Depression Score ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Staying At Home ◽  
At Home

IntroductionInternet addiction can have important consequences in adolescents. Many adolescents have to live apart from their families for their education during high school. Some of these students stay in dormitories. Despite the many studies on Internet addiction, none of them clarify the Internet addiction status and quality of life of dormitory residents.AimsOur aim in this study was to determine the internet addiction scores of dormitory residents and evaluate whether a difference was present with students who lived at home.MethodsThe subject group consisted of randomly chosen dormitory students. The control group consisted of another randomly chosen student at the same class who was staying at home. The sociodemographic data forms the pediatric quality of life inventory (PedsQL), children's depression inventory (CDI) and internet addiction test (IAT) were administered.ResultsWe found lower Internet addiction scores and total psychosocial scores in dormitory students compared to students who lived at home. There was no difference between the groups regarding depression score, physical health total score and quality of life total score.ConclusionsOur results indicate that dormitory students suffer less from Internet addiction than those staying at home while the quality of life is similar. Staying at a dormitory may be protective against and therapeutic for Internet addiction without decreasing the quality of life and missing school for internet addict adolescents as it makes it more difficult for them to access the internet.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals Quantifying behavior change during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis L Chao ◽  
Victor Cho ◽  
Amanda S Izzo ◽  
Joshua L Proctor ◽  
Marita Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mobility Data ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Low Incidence ◽  
Staying At Home ◽  
At Home

Background: During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most effective way to reduce transmission and to protect oneself was to reduce contact with others. However, it is unclear how behavior changed, despite numerous surveys about peoples' attitudes and actions during the pandemic and public health efforts to influence behavior. Methods: We used two sources of data to quantify changes in behavior at the county level during the first year of the pandemic in the United States: aggregated mobile device (smartphone) location data to approximate the fraction of people staying at home each day and digital invitation data to capture the number and size of social gatherings. Results: Between mid-March to early April 2020, the number of events fell and the fraction of devices staying at home peaked, independently of when states issued emergency orders or stay-at-home recommendations. Activity began to recover in May or June, with later rebounds in counties that suffered an early spring wave of reported COVID-19 cases. Counties with high incidence in the summer had more events, higher mobility, and less stringent state-level COVID-related restrictions the month before than counties with low incidence. Counties with high incidence in early fall stayed at home less and had less stringent state-level COVID-related restrictions in October, when cases began to rise in some parts of the US. During the early months of the pandemic, the number of events was inversely correlated with the fraction of devices staying at home, but after the fall of 2020 mobility appeared to stay constant as the number of events fell. Greater changes in behavior were observed in counties where a larger fraction voted for Biden in the 2020 US Presidential election. The number of people invited per event dropped gradually throughout the first year of the pandemic. Conclusions: The mobility and events datasets uncovered different kinds of behavioral responses to the pandemic. Our results indicate that people did in fact change their behavior in ways that likely reduced COVID exposure and transmission, though the degree of change appeared to be affected by political views. Though the mobility data captured the initial massive behavior changes in the first months of the pandemic, the digital invitation data, presented here for the first time, continued to show large changes in behavior later in the first year of the pandemic.

scholarly journals The Impact of an 8-Weeks At-Home Physical Activity Plan on Academic Achievement at the Time of COVID-19 Lock-Down in Italian School

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5812
Author(s):  
Francesca Latino ◽  
Francesco Fischetti ◽  
Stefania Cataldi ◽  
Domenico Monacis ◽  
Dario Colella
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Physical Fitness ◽  
Exercise Programme ◽  
Step Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Students ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
At Home

The purpose of this randomized controlled study was to investigate the efficacy of an 8-week exercise programme conducted in e-learning mode on high school students’ academic performance. The aim was to examine the changes in physical fitness and learning outcomes during the enforced period of lockdown caused by outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of schools in Italy. Thirty high-school students (14–15 years) were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 15) that performed an at-home workout programme (~60 min., twice a week), or a control group (n = 15) who received only a regular programme of theoretical lessons where no practice takes place. Both groups were synchronized in real-time with the physical education teacher. In order to assess students’ starting level and significant changes reached, at baseline and after training, a battery of standardized assessment motor tests (Standing long jump test, Harvard step test, sit and reach test, and butt kicks test), and an academic achievement test (Amos 8–15) were administered. In comparison to the control group at baseline and the end of the programme, the experimental group reported considerable improvements in motivation and concentration, significant anxiety reduction, and an increase in capacity to organize studying and to be more flexible. Moreover, it was possible to observe the efficacy of the workout to improve learning ability among practicing students (p < 0.001). No significant changes were found in the control group. The results suggest that a school-based exercise programme conducted online could be a powerful approach in order to achieve the best academic outcomes and for improving students’ physical fitness as well as their cognitive health.

If You Ask Them, Will They Come? Predictors of Quarantine Compliance During a Hypothetical Avian Influenza Pandemic: Results From a Statewide Survey

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Bauerle Bass ◽  
Sheryl Burt Ruzek ◽  
Lawrence Ward ◽  
Thomas F. Gordon ◽  
Alexandra Hanlon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Avian Influenza ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Significant Other ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
Random Digit Dial ◽  
Staying At Home ◽  
At Home

ABSTRACTBackground: An influenza pandemic, such as that of the H1N1 virus, raises questions about how to respond effectively to a lethal outbreak. Most plans have focused on minimizing impact by containing the virus through quarantine, but quarantine has not been used widely in the United States and little is known about what would be the public's response. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that influence an individual's decision to comply with a hypothetical avian influenza quarantine order.Methods: A total of 1204 adult Pennsylvania residents participated in a random digit dial telephone sample. The residents were interviewed regarding their attitudes about and knowledge of avian influenza and about compliance with quarantine orders, including staying at home or traveling to a government-designated facility.Results: Analysis of variance showed differences among demographic groups in willingness to comply with quarantine orders, with women and individuals not presently employed more willing to stay at home or to travel to a government-designated facility if ordered. Those who did not regularly attend religious services were significantly less willing than those who did attend regularly to comply with any type of quarantine order. Regression analysis indicated that demographic variables, overall knowledge of avian influenza, attitudes about its severity, and the belief that the respondent and/or his or her significant other(s) may contract it were predictive.Conclusions: The results of this study can provide health planners and policy makers with information for improving their efforts to conduct a quarantine successfully, including crafting messages and targeting information to certain groups of people to communicate risk about the epidemic.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2010;4:135-144)

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