Whose coronavirus strategy worked best? Scientists hunt most effective policies

Gibney, Elizabeth

doi:10.1038/d41586-020-01248-1

Cited by 138 publications

(113 citation statements)

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“…The results presented above show significant differences in the frequency and proportion of self-reported symptoms in Ada assessments before and after the implementation of measures aimed at reducing the transmission of COVID-19. Importantly, the same differences were found in both Germany and the United Kingdom, despite the divergent trajectories of these countries in the lead-up to the implementation of lockdown policies [ 37 ], as well as other national differences such as those relating to health systems [ 38 ]. Furthermore, these differences were not found during the same time periods in 2019, suggesting that the lockdown measures could have contributed to the results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Syndromic Surveillance Insights from a Symptom Assessment App Before and During COVID-19 Measures in Germany and the United Kingdom: Results From Repeated Cross-Sectional Analyses

Mehl¹,

Bergey²,

Cawley³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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Background Unprecedented lockdown measures have been introduced in countries worldwide to mitigate the spread and consequences of COVID-19. Although attention has been focused on the effects of these measures on epidemiological indicators relating directly to the infection, there is increased recognition of their broader health implications. However, assessing these implications in real time is a challenge, due to the limitations of existing syndromic surveillance data and tools. Objective The aim of this study is to explore the added value of mobile phone app–based symptom assessment tools as real-time health insight providers to inform public health policy makers. Methods A comparative and descriptive analysis of the proportion of all self-reported symptoms entered by users during an assessment within the Ada app in Germany and the United Kingdom was conducted between two periods, namely before and after the implementation of “Phase One” COVID-19 measures. Additional analyses were performed to explore the association between symptom trends and seasonality, and symptom trends and weather. Differences in the proportion of unique symptoms between the periods were analyzed using a Pearson chi-square test and reported as log2 fold changes. Results Overall, 48,300-54,900 symptomatic users reported 140,500-170,400 symptoms during the Baseline and Measures periods in Germany. Overall, 34,200-37,400 symptomatic users in the United Kingdom reported 112,100-131,900 symptoms during the Baseline and Measures periods. The majority of symptomatic users were female (Germany: 68,600/103,200, 66.52%; United Kingdom: 51,200/71,600, 72.74%). The majority were aged 10-29 years (Germany: 68,500/100,000, 68.45%; United Kingdom: 50,900/68,800, 73.91%), and about one-quarter were aged 30-59 years (Germany: 26,200/100,000, 26.15%; United Kingdom: 14,900/68,800, 21.65%). Overall, 103 symptoms were reported either more or less frequently (with statistically significant differences) during the Measures period as compared to the Baseline period, and 34 of these were reported in both countries. The following mental health symptoms (log2 fold change, P value) were reported less often during the Measures period: inability to manage constant stress and demands at work (–1.07, P<.001), memory difficulty (–0.56, P<.001), depressed mood (–0.42, P<.001), and impaired concentration (–0.46, P<.001). Diminished sense of taste (2.26, P<.001) and hyposmia (2.20, P<.001) were reported more frequently during the Measures period. None of the 34 symptoms were found to be different between the same dates in 2019. In total, 14 of the 34 symptoms had statistically significant associations with weather variables. Conclusions Symptom assessment apps have an important role to play in facilitating improved understanding of the implications of public health policies such as COVID-19 lockdown measures. Not only do they provide the means to complement and cross-validate hypotheses based on data collected through more traditional channels, they can also generate novel insights through a real-time syndromic surveillance system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Syndromic Surveillance Insights from a Symptom Assessment App Before and During COVID-19 Measures in Germany and the United Kingdom: Results From Repeated Cross-Sectional Analyses

Mehl¹,

Bergey²,

Cawley³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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“…Many countries were in or near massive lockdowns, those still unaffected closed down their borders, and a stubborn minority counted the dead and prayed for the miracle of herd immunity. The world had entered into uncharted waters, and it is still unknown which of many employed strategies will yield best results in the long run (Gibney 2020 ).…”

Section: Down Into the Rabbit Holementioning

confidence: 99%

The Day After Covid-19

Jandrić

2020

Postdigit Sci Educ

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“…However, in order to smooth over the deep and long-lasting consequences of the lockdown and to keep transmissibility under control (avoiding another wave of infection), it is necessary to balance the clear benefits of restrictive measures in containing transmission against the negative socioeconomic effects on the community ( Gibney, 2020 ). As some countries see a flattening or even a decline in deaths ( Kupferschmidt, 2020 , McKee, 2020 ), with the effective reproduction number (R 0 ) below 1 ( Anderson et al, 2020a ), it seems plausible that the reopening of society could be considered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies to exiting the COVID-19 lockdown for workplace and school: A scoping review

et al. 2021

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Highlights Epidemiological conditions and surveillance actions should be closely monitored and enforced. As a prerequisite to the implementation of any exit strategy, COVID-19 must be under control below thresholds of safeguards. Large-scale testing, contact tracing, and isolation strategies emerged as essential components that allowed the easing of the lockdown. The maintenance of social distancing measures emerged as an overarching mitigation strategy. The benefit gained from the practical implementation of social distancing (i.e., limiting classes to small cohorts of students, school shifts, avoidance of pattern mixing, gradual returning, and teleworking) was evident.

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Whose coronavirus strategy worked best? Scientists hunt most effective policies

Abstract: Hong Kong seems to have given the world a lesson in how to curb COVID-19 effectively. With a population of 7.5 million, it has reported just 4 deaths. Researchers studying its

Cited by 138 publications

References 1 publication

Syndromic Surveillance Insights from a Symptom Assessment App Before and During COVID-19 Measures in Germany and the United Kingdom: Results From Repeated Cross-Sectional Analyses

Syndromic Surveillance Insights from a Symptom Assessment App Before and During COVID-19 Measures in Germany and the United Kingdom: Results From Repeated Cross-Sectional Analyses

The Day After Covid-19

Strategies to exiting the COVID-19 lockdown for workplace and school: A scoping review

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