Poverty and economic dislocation reduce compliance with COVID-19 shelter-in-place protocols

Abstract

Shelter-in-place policies reduce social contact and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Inconsistent compliance with social distancing creates local and regional interpersonal transmission risks. Using county-day measures on population movement derived from cellphone location data, we investigate whether compliance with local shelter-in-place ordinances varies across US counties with different economic endowments. Our theoretical model implies economic endowments will influence compliance with social distancing. We find evidence that low income areas do comply less than counties with stronger economic endowments. Findings suggest targeted economic relief could improve future compliance with public health interventions.

Social distancing across vulnerability, race, politics, and employment: How different Americans changed behaviors before and after major COVID-19 policy announcements

“…These may include lower-paying jobs in essential services that do not allow work from home, and a need to travel greater distances to get to employment. Findings are similar to existing research indicating that poverty reduces social distancing compliance (Wright et al, 2020). Economic barriers to social distancing must be addressed to enable better social distancing in these communities.…”

“…Research suggests that risk perception and community norms are key predictors of social distancing behavior (Charles et al, 2020). Mitigating the negative costs of social distancing (e.g., providing monetary compensation for lost income) (Bodas & Peleg, 2020;Wright et al, 2020) or targeting risk communication to those who may feel less impacted (e.g., wealthy individuals) can improve social distancing compliance (Bodas & Peleg, 2020). Responding to observed changes in behavior requires policy, messaging, and communication that will appeal to these behavioral drivers and consider expectations of social distancing compliance.…”

“…We characterized how much social distancing was achieved by different population groupings across community vulnerability, race, 2016 presidential election voters, and employment sector. Characteristics were selected based on a review of existing evidence on potential influences on social distancing compliance (Adolph et al, 2020;Allcott et al, 2020;Andersen, 2020;Bodas & Peleg, 2020;Charles et al, 2020;Fairchild et al, 2020;Flanagan et al, 2011;Hutchins et al, 2009;Koren & Pető, 2020;Lewnard & Lo, 2020;Painter & Qiu, 2020;Wright et al, 2020). The groupings were made along the following dimensions, and mean social distancing was computed as described below:…”

“…Individual and community characteristics influence social distancing uptake as well. Social distancing behavior can be influenced by monetary loss (Bodas & Peleg, 2020), political affiliation of individuals and policymakers (Adolph, Amano, Bang-Jensen, Fullman, & Wilkerson, 2020;Allcott et al, 2020;Andersen, 2020;Painter & Qiu, 2020), and poverty (Wright, Sonin, Driscoll, & Wilson, 2020). Research has shown that different population segments vary in their beliefs and behaviors around social distancing: the segment practicing the least social distancing has low risk perception and low self-efficacy, and is more likely to be male and Republican (Charles et al, 2020).…”

Educating ethically during COVID-19

“…While nonpharmaceutical interventions such as masking, social distancing, testing, and contact tracing have proven successful to reduce transmission, all of these measures rely on substantial human compliance that has proven very challenging in the United States. Some of the reluctance of U.S. citizens to follow public health guidelines no doubt stems from the significant economic toll COVID-19 has taken on the country (Wright et al 2020 ).…”