A year of living distantly: global trends in the use of stay-at-home orders over the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were the main pillar of defence to protect human society against the virus. While a variety of modelling studies try to quantify the effects of NPIs, this paper investigates when and how national and subnational governments have taken actions. We observe longitudinal changes in the global pattern of policymaking to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on stay-at-home orders. Drawing on data from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, we show several important trends. First, while national governments exhibited a strong alignment in policy settings initially in March and April 2020, their cross-country policy heterogeneity has grown since May 2020, although countries within global regions continue to display similarities in their approaches. Second, most governments that have implemented multiple stay-at-home orders over the course of the pandemic have become less sensitive to case levels (insofar as they implement subsequent restrictions at progressively higher case levels), apart from a small number of contrast cases which have mostly eliminated domestic community transmission. Third, pandemic policies are increasingly specific to subnational levels, and there is often significant heterogeneity with regard to policy approaches even within the same country.

Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Diagnosis: Results from a Tertiary Care Center in North-West Italy

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has hit our societies and forced us to radically change our priorities [1,2]. This was especially true during lockdown periods, when even access to hospitals was limited to urgent cases [3,4].…”

Reddit language indicates changes associated with diet, physical activity, substance use, and smoking during COVID-19

“…In the week of March 23, 2020, several stay-at-home orders were issued [41]. While there was heterogeneity in the way policies were enacted in each country and state, around this week, a paradigm shift in social and physical behavior had been initiated.…”

Masturbation Prevalence, Frequency, Reasons, and Associations with Partnered Sex in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a U.S. Nationally Representative Survey

“…Although there has long been a need for greater scientific attention to masturbation, this has been particularly true during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, public health professionals have recommended that people choose masturbation over sex with people outside their household (Government of the District of Columbia, 2021 ; The NYC Health Department, 2021 ) and, globally, people have moved in and out of COVID-related stay-at-home guidance (Huang et al, 2022 ; Phillips et al, 2021 ). Masturbation and the COVID-19 pandemic may be related in other ways, other than just risk avoidance; for example, some people (due to working from home and staying at home more often) may have masturbated less often due either to lack of privacy or because they had more opportunities for partnered sex (at least if they had a household partner).…”