8/4—Encouraging Adoption of Protective Behaviors to Mitigate COVID-19
Simply explaining the science of COVID-19 and its risks will rarely translate to a change in attitudes and behaviors. The key reasons people do not do things they know they should are cognitive preferences for old habits, forgetfulness, small inconveniences in the moment, preferences for the path of least resistance, and motivated reasoning. This rapid expert consultation from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM, 2020) reviews five clear habit-promoting strategies:
Make the behavior easy to start and repeat
Make the behavior rewarding to repeat
Tie the behavior to an existing habit
Alert people to behaviors that conflict with existing habits and provide alternative behaviors
Provide specific descriptions of desired behaviors
COVID-19 epidemic doubling time in the United States before and during stay-at-home restrictions
Epidemic doubling time in the US was 2.68 days (95%CI:2.30–3.24) prior to widespread mitigation efforts. Among states without stay-at-home orders, median increase in doubling time was 34% (95%CI:21.16-68.85) while for states with stay-at-home orders, median increase was 72.9% (95%CI:69.18-76.11). Statewide mitigation strategies were strongly associated with increased epidemic doubling time.
Enacting national social distancing policies corresponds with dramatic reduction in COVID19 infection rates
Implementation of social distancing policies in US states corresponded with a reduction in COVID19 spread rates. The reduction in spread rate is proportional to the average change in mobility. We validate this observation on a worldwide scale by analyzing COVID19 spread rate in 134 nations with varying social distancing policies. Globally, we find that social distancing policies significantly reduced the COVID19 spread rate, with resulting in an estimated 65% reduction (95% CI = 39–80%) in new COVID19 cases over a two week time period.
The first 100 days of SARS-CoV-2 control in Vietnam
270 cases were confirmed, with no deaths. A national lockdown was implemented between April 1st and 22nd. Around 200 000 people were quarantined and 266 122 RT-PCR tests conducted. Limited transmission amounted to a maximum reproduction number of 1·15 (95% confidence interval, 0·37-2·36). No community transmission has been detected since April 15th. Vietnam has controlled SARS-CoV-2 spread through the early introduction of mass communication, meticulous contact-tracing with strict quarantine, and international travel restrictions.
SARS-CoV-2 Transmission and Infection Among Attendees of an Overnight Camp — Georgia, June 2020
A total of 597 Georgia residents attended camp A. Median camper age was 12 years (range = 6–19 years). Test results were available for 344 (58%) attendees; among these, 260 (76%) were positive. The overall attack rate was 44%. These findings demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 spread efficiently in a youth-centric overnight setting, resulting in high attack rates among persons in all age groups, despite efforts by camp officials to implement most recommended strategies to prevent transmission.
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