Social Distancing and Transmission-reducing Practices during the 2019 Coronavirus Disease and 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Outbreaks in Korea

Abstract

Background:The absence of effective antiviral medications and vaccines increased the focus on non-pharmaceutical preventive behaviors for mitigating against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To examine the current status of non-pharmaceutical preventive behaviors practiced during the COVID-19 outbreak and factors affecting behavioral activities, we compared to the 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak in Korea. Methods: This was a serial cross-sectional population-based study in Korea with four surveys conducted on June 2 and 25, 2015 (MERS-CoV surveys), and February 4, and April 2, 2020 (COVID-19 surveys). Of 25,711 participants selected using random digit dialing numbers, 4,011 participants (aged ≥ 18 years) were successfully interviewed, for the 2020 COVID-19 (n = 2,002) and 2015 MERS-CoV (n = 2,009) epidemics were included. Participants were selected poststratification by sex, age, and province. The total number of weighted cases in this survey equaled the total number of unweighted cases at the national level. We measured the levels of preventive behaviors (social distancing [avoiding physical contact with others]), and practicing transmissionreducing behaviors such as wearing face mask and handwashing. Results: Between the surveys, respondents who reported practicing social distancing increased from 41.9%-58.2% (MERS-CoV) to 83.4%-92.3% (COVID-19). The response rate for the four surveys ranged between 13.7% and 17.7%. Practicing transmission-reducing behaviors (wearing face masks and handwashing) at least once during COVID-19 (78.8%, 80.2%) also increased compared to that during MERS-CoV (15.5%, 60.3%). The higher affective risk perception groups were more likely to practice transmission-reducing measures (adjusted odds ratio, 3.24-4.81; 95 confidence interval, 1.76-6.96) during both COVID-19 and MERS-CoV. Conclusion:The study findings suggest markedly increased proportions of nonpharmaceutical behavioral practices evenly across all subgroups during the two different novel virus outbreaks in Korea. Strategic interventions are needed to attempt based on preventive behavior works.

Community movement and COVID-19: a global study using Google's Community Mobility Reports

“…The implementation of such measures in response to infectious disease outbreaks is not new; methods aiming to reduce social contact and limit mobility being used for centuries [11][12][13]. More recently, measures restricting social interaction and movement have been used in response to the SARS and MERS epidemics which occurred in the last decades [11,[14][15][16]. That movement affects disease transmission and incidence has been shown in numerous studies [e.g.…”

Keeping Low Reproductive Number Despite the Rebound Population Mobility in Korea, a Country Never under Lockdown during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The resulting reproductive number was also high, but it dropped after implementing a social distancing policy. According to a survey from 4 February to 2 April, approximately 90% of the respondents reported practicing social distancing activities such as avoiding outdoor activities, public transportation, and healthcare facilities [ 18 ]. An interesting observation is that from 23 March to 20 April, the period of social distancing level Ⅲ, the reproductive number was still less than 1, although the population mobility continued to increase.…”

Modification of Acute Stroke Pathway in Korea After the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak

“…The COVID-19 is a contact-transmissible infectious disease thought to spread throughout the population via direct individual-individual contact; moreover, it is yet to have effective antiviral medications and vaccines. Consequently, some patients with stroke may refrain from visiting emergency treatment at hospitals for fear of infection, which could have attributed to the decreased number of admitted patients with stroke during the early COVID-19 periods (3,16,21). Most stroke centers have modified and optimized the triage protocols for acute stroke management for the prevention of COVID-19 spread with respect to regional characteristics (1,8,9,22).…”

“…The number of COVID-19 cases increased rapidly since February 17, 2020, at the time of identification of case 31 in Daegu, Kyungbuk, Korea. Therefore, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency raised the alert level and stepped up the social distancing strategy (2,3). The second wave of COVID-19 spread started in Seoul in August 2020.…”