Open AccessEffectiveness of government policies in response to the first COVID-19 outbreak
Author(s) -
Theologos Dergiades,
Costas Milas,
Elías Mossialos,
Theodore Panagiotidis
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos global public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2767-3375
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000242
Subject(s) - pandemic , outbreak , covid-19 , psychological intervention , government (linguistics) , development economics , political science , business , economic growth , economics , medicine , virology , nursing , linguistics , philosophy , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
This paper assesses the quantitative impact of government interventions on deaths related to the first COVID-19 outbreak. Using daily data for 32 countries and relying on the stringency of the conducted policies, we find that the greater the strength of government interventions at an early stage , the more effective these are in slowing down or reversing the growth rate of deaths. School closures have a significant impact on reducing the growth rate of deaths, which is less powerful compared to the case where a number of policy interventions are combined together. These results can be informative for governments in responding to future pandemics.