Survival Analysis of COVID-19 on Democracy with Cox Proportional Hazards Model
Abstract Background: The outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has struck us in many ways and we observed that China and South Korea found an effective measure to contain the virus. Conversely, the United States and the European countries are struggling to fight the virus. China is not considered a democracy and South Korea is less democratic than the United States. Therefore, we want to explore the association between the deaths of COVID-19 and democracy. Methods: We collected COVID-19 deaths data for each country from the Johns Hopkins University website and democracy indices of 2018 from the Economist Intelligence Unit website in May 2020. Then we conducted a survival analysis, regarding each country as a subject, with the Cox Proportional Hazards Model, adjusting for other selected variables. Result: The result showed that the association between democracy and deaths of COVID-19 was significant (P=0.04), adjusting for other covariates. Conclusion: In conclusion, less democratic governments performed better in containing the virus and controlling the number of deaths.