Browsing by Subject "Social Distancing"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    COVID-19 and the Conundrum of Mask Requirements
    (Washington and Lee University School of Law, 2020-05-28) Gatter, Robert; Mohapatra, Seema; Robert H. McKinney School of Law
    As states begin to loosen their COVID-19 restrictions, public debate is underway about what public health measures are appropriate. Many states have some form of mask-wearing orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. Public health guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization has conflicted. From a public health point of view, it is not clear what the right answer is. In the absence of directives, individuals are also making their own choices about mask use. At a time when public health measures, like shelter-in-place orders and social distancing, are being used to stop the spread of coronavirus, wearing masks can be seen as a form of solidarity and desire to not infect others. Similarly, not wearing a mask can also be a political statement of sorts. Additionally, black men wearing masks have reported being asked to leave stores and fearing for their own safety. This essay provides an overview of the legal and policy landscape and focuses on the potential for policing against African Americans when mask mandates are in place. Despite the public health benefits of mask usage, due to mask mandates likely being enforced discriminatorily, we advise caution against mask mandates.
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    COVID-19: How Do We Stay Safe?
    (American Thoracic Society, 2020-07-10) Carlos, W. Graham; Dela Cruz, Charles S.; Cao, Bin; Gross, Jane E.; Pasnick, Susan; Jamil, Shazia; Medicine, School of Medicine
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    Drive-thru iftars and coronavirus task forces: How Muslims are observing obligations to the poor this Ramadan
    (The Conversation US, 2020-05-06) Siddiqui, Shariq; Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
    Many of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims are experiencing the holy month of Ramadan differently this year – disrupted by social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As a scholar of Muslim philanthropy, I have watched as people and institutions have adapted practices to accommodate social distancing rules. I have also observed how the crisis has exposed the vulnerability of Muslim nonprofits.
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    Impact of social distancing during COVID-19 pandemic on crime in Los Angeles and Indianapolis
    (Elsevier, 2020-05-01) Mohler, George; Bertozzi, Andrea L.; Carter, Jeremy; Short, Martin B.; Sledge, Daniel; Tita, George E.; Uchida, Craig D.; Brantingham, P. Jeffrey; Computer and Information Science, School of Science
    Governments have implemented social distancing measures to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The measures include instructions that individuals maintain social distance when in public, school closures, limitations on gatherings and business operations, and instructions to remain at home. Social distancing may have an impact on the volume and distribution of crime. Crimes such as residential burglary may decrease as a byproduct of increased guardianship over personal space and property. Crimes such as domestic violence may increase because of extended periods of contact between potential offenders and victims. Understanding the impact of social distancing on crime is critical for ensuring the safety of police and government capacity to deal with the evolving crisis. Understanding how social distancing policies impact crime may also provide insights into whether people are complying with public health measures. Examination of the most recently available data from both Los Angeles, CA, and Indianapolis, IN, shows that social distancing has had a statistically significant impact on a few specific crime types. However, the overall effect is notably less than might be expected given the scale of the disruption to social and economic life.
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    Impacts of State Reopening Policy on Human Mobility
    (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020-05) Nguyen, Thuy D.; Gupta, Sumedha; Andersen, Martin; Bento, Ana; Simon, Kosali I.; Wing, Coady; O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, IU & IUPUI
    This study quantifies the effect of state reopening policies on daily mobility, travel, and mixing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. We harness cell device signal data to examine the effects of the timing and pace of reopening plans in different states. We quantify the increase in mobility patterns during the reopening phase by a broad range of cell-device-based metrics. Soon (four days) after reopening, we observe a 6% to 8% mobility increase. In addition, we find that temperature and precipitation are strongly associated with increased mobility across counties. The mobility measures that reflect visits to a greater variety of locations responds the most to reopening policies, while total time in vs. outside the house remains unchanged. The largest increases in mobility occur in states that were late adopters of closure measures, suggesting that closure policies may have represented more of a binding constraint in those states. Together, these four observations provide an assessment of the extent to which people in the U.S. are resuming movement and physical proximity as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
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    Perceived Social support and compliance with stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 outbreak: Evidence from Iran
    (Springer Nature, 2020-08-19) Paykani, Toktam; Zimet, Gregory D.; Esmaeili, Reza; Khajedaluee, Amir Reza; Khajedaluee, Mohammad; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background: Strong evidence demonstrates that social support plays a key role in facilitating preventive health behaviors. The major aim of the current study was to assess the effects of perceived social support on compliance with stay-at-home advice in response to a COVID-19 outbreak during the Persian New Year (Nowruz) holydays, since Nowruz holidays of 2020 coincided with the peak of the coronavirus epidemic in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was carried out based on phone interviews of 1073 adults aged over 18 years from 4 to 12 April 2020 in Mashhad, Khorasan-Razavi Province, as the second largest city of Iran. A systematic random sampling was carried out using fixed phone number lists provided by Telecommunication Company of Khorasan-Razavi Province. Phone interviews were carried out by four trained interviewers from the Iranian Students Polling Agency (ISPA) at various times of the day. The survey included sociodemographic questions, perceived social support scale (MSPSS) and questions about self-isolation. Statistical analysis included Chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis and multivariate logistic regression. Results: 20.5% of participants reported poor compliance with self-isolation during the first two weeks of Nowruz. Clear social gradients were not found in people’s compliance with self-isolation. When controlling sociodemographic factors, perceived social support, interestingly, both fostered and hindered personal compliance with self-isolation, depending on the source of support from family members (OR = .875, 95% CI = .800, .957, p < .005), friends (OR = 1.147, 95% CI = 1.073, 1.223, p < .001) and a significant other person (OR = .916, 95% CI = .833, 1.007, p = .069). Conclusions: Public health messaging may need to emphasize the role that friends and families can play in helping to protect those in their friendship/family groups by promoting compliance with social distancing. Further in-depth studies are recommended to evaluate how this kind of messaging can most effectively encourage people to engage in social distancing practices.
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    Public perceptions of the effectiveness of recommended non-pharmaceutical intervention behaviors to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2
    (Public Library of Science (PLOS), 2020-11-04) Kasting, Monica L.; Head, Katharine J.; Hartsock, Jane A.; Sturm, Lynne; Zimet, Gregory D.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented public health threat, both in scope and response. With no vaccine available, the public is advised to practice non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) including social distancing, mask-wearing, and washing hands. However, little is known about public perceptions of the effectiveness of these measures, and high perceived effectiveness is likely to be critical in order to achieve widespread adoption of NPI. Methods: In May 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional survey among U.S. adults (N = 3,474). The primary outcome was a six-item measure assessing perceived effectiveness of recommended behaviors to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection from 1 (not at all effective) to 5 (extremely effective). The sample was divided into "higher" and "lower" perceived effectiveness groups. Covariates included demographics, healthcare characteristics, and health beliefs. Variables that were significant at p<0.01 in bivariate analyses were entered into a multivariable logistic regression and a best-fit model was created using a cutoff of p<0.01 to stay in the model. Results: Mean age was 45.5 years and most participants were non-Hispanic White (63%) and female (52.4%). The high perceived effectiveness group was slightly larger than the low perceived effectiveness group (52.7% vs. 47.3%). Almost all health belief variables were significant in the best-fit regression model. COVID-19-related worry (aOR = 1.82; 95% CI = 1.64-2.02), and perceived threat to physical health (aOR = 1.32; 95% CI = 1.20-1.45) were positively associated with perceived effectiveness while perceived severity of COVID-19 (0.84; 95% CI = 0.73-0.96) and perceived likelihood of infection (0.85; 95% CI = 0.77-0.94) switched directions in the adjusted model and were negatively associated with perceived effectiveness. Conclusions: This research indicates people generally believe NPI are effective, but there was variability based on health beliefs and there are mixed rates of engagement in these behaviors. Public health efforts should focus on increasing perceived severity and threat of SARS-CoV-2-related disease, while promoting NPI as effective in reducing threat.
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    State Executive Orders: Nuance in restrictions, revealing suspensions, and decisions to enforce
    (Wiley, 2020-05-30) Curley, Cali; Federman, Peter; School of Public and Environmental Affairs
    In the absence of a large-scale federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local elected officials have enacted executive orders that include both restrictions to public liberties as well as the suspension of rules and regulations. While these restrictive policy actions have received extensive media attention, the suspensions, including regulatory rollbacks, waivers, and extensions are lesser known. This viewpoint offers insight from a working database that captures the nuance and variation across restrictions, suspensions, and enforcement mechanisms being utilized, at the state level.
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    Uropathologists During the COVID-19 Pandemic: What Can Be Learned in Terms of Social Interaction, Visibility, and Social Distance
    (Elsevier, 2020-05-11) Montironi, Rodolfo; Cheng, Liang; Cimadamore, Alessia; Lopez-Beltran, Antonio; Scarpelli, Marina; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
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    We distance most when we believe our social circle does
    (Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science, 2020-08-05) Tuncgenc, Bahar; El Zein, Marwa; Sulik, Justin; Newson, Martha; Zhao, Yi; Dezecache, Guillaume; Deroy, Ophelia; Biostatistics, School of Public Health
    Why do we adopt new rules, such as social distancing? While decades of psychology research stresses the importance of social influence on individual behaviour, many COVID-19 campaigns focused on convincing individuals that distancing is the right thing to do. In a global dataset (114 countries, n=6674), we investigated how social influences predict people’s adherence to distancing rules during the pandemic. Analyses showed that people practised distancing more when they thought their close social circle did so; this social influence mattered more than people thinking distancing was the right thing. People’s adherence also aligned with their fellow citizens’, but only if they deeply bonded with their country. Personal vulnerability to the disease predicted distancing more for people with larger social circles. Empathy, collective efficacy and collectivism also significantly predicted distancing. During crises, policymakers can achieve behavioural change by emphasising shared values and harnessing the social influence of close friends and relatives.