7/24—Covid-19 mortality is negatively associated with test number and government effectiveness

Linear regressions were applied to a cross-sectional dataset comprising 169 countries. Covid-19 mortality rate was negatively associated with Covid-19 test number per 100 people (RR = 0.92, P = 0.001), government effectiveness score (RR = 0.96, P = 0.017), and number of hospital beds (RR = 0.85, P < 0.001). Covid-19 mortality rate was positively associated with proportion of population aged 65 or older (RR = 1.12, P < 0.001) and transport infrastructure quality score (RR = 1.08, P = 0.002) (Liang et al. 2020).

Well-being of Parents and Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A National Survey
Since March 2020, 27% of parents reported worsening mental health for themselves, and 14% reported worsening behavioral health for their children. The proportion of families with moderate or severe food insecurity increased from 6% to 8%.

Acceptability of app-based contact tracing for COVID-19: Cross-country survey evidence
Surprising results considering actual adoption in Australia (28%) and Iceland (40%). Under the voluntary (opt-in) installation regime, 4484 out of 5995 respondents (74.8%) across all countries say they would probably or definitely download the contact-tracing app, if it was available. Panel B shows that 4059 out of 5995 respondents (67.7%) also say they would probably or definitely keep the app installed on their phone under the automatic (opt-out) installation regime.

Simulating the effect of school closure during COVID-19 outbreaks in Ontario, Canada
Closing schools 3-16 weeks reduced attack rates by 7.2–12.7% and ICU admissions by 3.3% to 6.7%. Our results indicate that school closure may have limited impact on reducing the burden of COVID-19.

Evolution and epidemic spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil
We show that non-pharmaceutical interventions reduced the reproduction number from >3 to 1–1.6 in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

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