Project description:We document the magnitudes of and mechanisms behind socioeconomic differences in travel behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. We focus on King County, Washington, one of the first places in North America where COVID-19 was detected. We leverage novel and rich administrative and survey data on travel volumes, modes, and preferences for different demographic groups. Large average declines in travel and public transit use due to the pandemic and related policy responses mask substantial heterogeneity across socioeconomic groups. Travel declined considerably less among less-educated and lower-income individuals, even after accounting for mode substitution and variation across neighborhoods in the impacts of public transit service reductions. As policy became less restrictive and travel increased, the size of the socioeconomic gap in travel behavior remained stable, and remote work capabilities became increasingly important in explaining this gap. Our results imply that disparities in travel behavior across socioeconomic groups may become an enduring feature of the urban landscape.
Project description:To understand and analyse the global impact of COVID-19 on outpatient services, inpatient care, elective surgery, and perioperative colorectal cancer care, a DElayed COloRectal cancer surgery (DECOR-19) survey was conducted in collaboration with numerous international colorectal societies with the objective of obtaining several learning points from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on our colorectal cancer patients which will assist us in the ongoing management of our colorectal cancer patients and to provide us safe oncological pathways for future outbreaks.
Project description:This study explored the willingness and purchase of travel insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic amongst working adults to ensure their safety and welfare through the lens of the theory of planned behavior. Primary data were gathered from 1,118 working adults across Malaysia and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling. The study outcomes revealed that attitude toward travel insurance was significantly influenced by insurance literacy, perceived health risk, and health consciousness. The willingness of working adults to purchase travel insurance was highly influenced by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral controls but unaffected by perceived product risks. The purchase of travel insurance was positively influenced by the willingness to purchase travel insurance. In fact, travel insurance literacy and perceived health risk should be emphasized amongst working adults to encourage them to purchase travel insurance policies for traveling abroad.
Project description:During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries implemented international travel restrictions that aimed to contain viral spread while still allowing necessary cross-border travel for social and economic reasons. The relative effectiveness of these approaches for controlling the pandemic has gone largely unstudied. Here we developed a flexible network meta-population model to compare the effectiveness of international travel policies, with a focus on evaluating the benefit of policy coordination. Because country-level epidemiological parameters are unknown, they need to be estimated from data; we accomplished this using approximate Bayesian computation, given the nature of our complex stochastic disease transmission model. Based on simulation and theoretical insights we find that, under our proposed policy, international airline travel may resume up to 58% of the pre-pandemic level with pandemic control comparable to that of a complete shutdown of all airline travel. Our results demonstrate that global coordination is necessary to allow for maximum travel with minimum effect on viral spread.
Project description:Understanding changes in human mobility in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial for assessing the impacts of travel restrictions designed to reduce disease spread. Here, relying on data from mainland China, we investigate the spatio-temporal characteristics of human mobility between 1st January and 1st March 2020, and discuss their public health implications. An outbound travel surge from Wuhan before travel restrictions were implemented was also observed across China due to the Lunar New Year, indicating that holiday travel may have played a larger role in mobility changes compared to impending travel restrictions. Holiday travel also shifted healthcare pressure related to COVID-19 towards locations with lower healthcare capacity. Network analyses showed no sign of major changes in the transportation network after Lunar New Year. Changes observed were temporary and did not lead to structural reorganisation of the transportation network during the study period.
Project description:We investigate the performance of SRI/ESG investments against conventional investments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although previous studies have examined the performance of SRI during financial crises, little is known about their performance during the COVID-19 crisis. Applying asset-pricing models, we analyze returns, abnormal returns, and the Sharpe ratio of the ESG ETFs in the US and the MSCI SRI indices for the world, the US, Japan, and Europe before and during the pandemic period vis-à-vis conventional investments. Our results confirm the greater outperformance of SRI indices during the pandemic. These findings have academic and practical implications.
Project description:COVID-19 threatens the world. Social distancing is a significant factor in determining the spread of this disease, and social distancing is strongly affected by the local travel behaviour of people in large cities. In this study, we analysed the changes in the local travel behaviour of various population groups in Hong Kong, between 1 January and 31 March 2020, by using second-by-second smartcard data obtained from the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) system. Due to the pandemic, local travel volume decreased by 43%, 49% and 59% during weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays, respectively. The local travel volumes of adults, children, students and senior citizens decreased by 42%, 86%, 73% and 48%, respectively. The local travel behaviour changes for adults and seniors between non-pandemic and pandemic times were greater than those between weekdays and weekends. The opposite was true for children and students. During the pandemic, the daily commute flow decreased by 42%. Local trips to shopping areas, amusement areas and borders decreased by 42%, 81% and 99%, respectively. The effective reproduction number (R t ) of COVID-19 had the strongest association with daily population use of the MTR 7-8 days earlier.