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Examining the effect of social distancing on the compound growth rate of COVID-19 at the county level (United States) using statistical analyses and a random forest machine learning model.


ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:The goal of the present work is to investigate trends among US counties and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) growth rates in relation to the existence of shelter-in-place (SIP) orders in that county. STUDY DESIGN:This is a prospective cohort study. METHODS:Compound growth rates were calculated using cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases from January 21, 2020, to March 31, 2020, in all 3139 US counties. Compound growth was chosen as it gives a single number that can be used in machine learning to represent the speed of virus spread during defined time intervals. Statistical analyses and a random forest machine learning model were used to analyze the data for differences in counties with and without SIP orders. RESULTS:Statistical analyses revealed that the March 16 presidential recommendation (limiting gatherings to ?10 people) lowered the compound growth rate of COVID-19 for all counties in the US by 6.6%, and the counties that implemented SIP after March 16 had a further reduction of 7.8% compared with the counties that did not implement SIP after March 16. A random forest machine learning model was built to predict compound growth rate after a SIP order and was found to have an accuracy of 92.3%. The random forest found that population, longitude, and population per square mile were the most important features when predicting the effect of SIP. CONCLUSIONS:SIP orders were found to be effective at reducing the growth rate of COVID-19 cases in the US. Counties with a large population or a high population density were found to benefit the most from a SIP order.

SUBMITTER: Cobb JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7186211 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Examining the effect of social distancing on the compound growth rate of COVID-19 at the county level (United States) using statistical analyses and a random forest machine learning model.

Cobb J S JS   Seale M A MA  

Public health 20200428


<h4>Objectives</h4>The goal of the present work is to investigate trends among US counties and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) growth rates in relation to the existence of shelter-in-place (SIP) orders in that county.<h4>Study design</h4>This is a prospective cohort study.<h4>Methods</h4>Compound growth rates were calculated using cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases from January 21, 2020, to March 31, 2020, in all 3139 US counties. Compound growth was chosen as it gives a single number that  ...[more]

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