Associations between COVID-19 Pandemic, Lockdown Measures and Human Mobility: Longitudinal Evidence from 86 Countries

Abstract

Recognizing an urgent need to understand the dynamics of the pandemic’s severity, this longitudinal study is conducted to explore the evolution of complex relationships between the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown measures, and social distancing patterns in a diverse set of 86 countries. Collecting data from multiple sources, a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique is applied to understand the interdependencies between independent variables, mediators, and dependent variables. Results show that lockdown and confinement measures are very effective to reduce human mobility at retail and recreation facilities, transit stations, and workplaces and encourage people to stay home and thereby control COVID-19 transmission at critical times. The study also found that national contexts rooted in socioeconomic and institutional factors influence social distancing patterns and severity of the pandemic, particularly with regard to the vulnerability of people, treatment costs, level of globalization, employment distribution, and degree of independence in society. Additionally, this study portrayed a mutual relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and human mobility. A higher number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths reduces human mobility and the countries with reduced personal mobility have experienced a deepening of the severity of the pandemic. However, the effect of mobility on pandemic severity is stronger than the effect of pandemic situations on mobility. Overall, the study displays considerable temporal changes in the relationships between independent variables, mediators, and dependent variables considering pandemic situations and lockdown regimes, which provides a critical knowledge base for future handling of pandemics. It has also accommodated some policy guidelines for the authority to control the transmission of COVID-19.

Changes in Logistics Activities in Poland as a Result of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Similar results were obtained by Sun et al [43,44] for the world as a whole and by Linka et al [45,46] for European countries. Rahman and Thill [47] confirmed the patterns occurring based on studies on 86 countries. A higher number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths reduced human mobility.…”

The effect of social movements on COVID-19 case increases and death in Turkey

“… 20 In a study conducted in Indonesia, the most significant increase in SARS-CoV-2 cases was seen in the pharmacy and grocery sector, with 4.12%. 21 A large-scale study with data from 86 countries has shown that implementing lockdowns and reducing population mobility in workplaces, public transport, and retail-recreation sectors is very effective in preventing the spread of the epidemic. 21 In Turkey, after the Ramadan Feast at the end of May 2020, housing mobility decreased, and other activities increased, but cases and deaths remained relatively stable.…”

“… 21 A large-scale study with data from 86 countries has shown that implementing lockdowns and reducing population mobility in workplaces, public transport, and retail-recreation sectors is very effective in preventing the spread of the epidemic. 21 In Turkey, after the Ramadan Feast at the end of May 2020, housing mobility decreased, and other activities increased, but cases and deaths remained relatively stable. The fact that the increase in the number of cases and deaths was less than expected may have resulted from the mandatory mask application.…”

Walkability for children in Bologna: Beyond the 15-minute city framework

“…Since then, walkability has become even more crucial considering the unprecedented effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on urban mobility ( Gargiulo et al, 2021;Hayrullaho ğlu and Varol, 2022;Rahman and Thill, 2022;Transport, 2022 ). In July 2020, the European Commission ( European Platform on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, 2020 ) provided ad hoc guidelines for implementing short-term transport planning interventions to face the current critical situation.…”