COVID-19 Pandemic Severity, Lockdown Regimes, and People’s Mobility: Early Evidence from 88 Countries

This study empirically investigates the complex interplay between the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, mobility changes in retail and recreation, transit stations, workplaces, and residential areas, and lockdown measures in 88 countries around the world during the early phase of the pandemic. T...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inSustainability Vol. 12; no. 21; p. 9101
Main Authors Rahman, Md. Mokhlesur, Thill, Jean-Claude, Paul, Kamal Chandra
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2020
Subjects
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Dependent variables
Disease control
Disease transmission
Epidemics
Fatalities
Global economy
Globalization
Health risks
Independent variables
Infections
Mobility
Multivariate statistical analysis
Older people
Organizational aspects
Pandemics
Public health
Residential areas
Respiratory diseases
Restrictions
Risk reduction
Shelter in place
Social distancing
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomics
Supply chains
Sustainability
Unemployment
Workplaces
United States > US
China
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This study empirically investigates the complex interplay between the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, mobility changes in retail and recreation, transit stations, workplaces, and residential areas, and lockdown measures in 88 countries around the world during the early phase of the pandemic. To conduct the study, data on mobility patterns, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of people, lockdown measures, and coronavirus pandemic were collected from multiple sources (e.g., Google, UNDP, UN, BBC, Oxford University, Worldometer). A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) framework is used to investigate the direct and indirect effects of independent variables on dependent variables considering the intervening effects of mediators. Results show that lockdown measures have significant effects to encourage people to maintain social distancing so as to reduce the risk of infection. However, pandemic severity and socioeconomic and institutional factors have limited effects to sustain social distancing practice. The results also explain that socioeconomic and institutional factors of urbanity and modernity have significant effects on pandemic severity. Countries with a higher number of elderly people, employment in the service sector, and higher globalization trend are the worst victims of the coronavirus pandemic (e.g., USA, UK, Italy, and Spain). Social distancing measures are reasonably effective at tempering the severity of the pandemic.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su12219101