Tracking the Dynamics and Allocating Tests for COVID-19 in Real-Time: an Acceleration Index with an Application to French Age Groups and Départements

Christelle Baunez (), Mickael Degoulet (), Stéphane Luchini and Patrick Pintus
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Christelle Baunez: Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Institut Neurosciences Timone
Mickael Degoulet: Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Institut Neurosciences Timone

No 2035, AMSE Working Papers from Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France

Abstract: An acceleration index is proposed as a novel indicator to track the dynamics of the COVID-19 in real-time. Using French data on cases and tests for the period following the first lock-down-from May 13, 2020, onwards-our acceleration index shows that the ongoing pandemic resurgence can be dated to begin around July 7. It uncovers that the pandemic acceleration has been stronger than national average for the [59 − 68] and [69 − 78] age groups since early September, the latter being associated with the strongest acceleration index, as of October 25. In contrast, acceleration among the [19 − 28] age group is the lowest and is about half that of the [69 − 78], as of October 25. In addition, we propose an algorithm to allocate tests among French départements, based on both the acceleration index and the feedback effect of testing. Our acceleration-based allocation differs from the actual distribution over French territories, which is population-based. We argue that both our acceleration index and our allocation algorithm are useful tools to guide public health policies as France enters a second lock-down period with indeterminate duration.

Keywords: COVID-19; indicator of epidemic dynamics; acceleration Index; real-time Analysis; sub-national allocation of tests; France (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2020-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-hea
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Tracking the dynamics and allocating tests for COVID-19 in real-time: An acceleration index with an application to French age groups and départements (2021)
Working Paper: Tracking the Dynamics and Allocating Tests for COVID-19 in Real-Time: an Acceleration Index with an Application to French Age Groups and Départements (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2035

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