Time Course of COVID-19 Cases in Austria

Hanns Moshammer, Michael Poteser, Kathrin Lemmerer, Peter Wallner and Hans-Peter Hutter
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Hanns Moshammer: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Michael Poteser: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Kathrin Lemmerer: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Peter Wallner: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Hans-Peter Hutter: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-8

Abstract: COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus, which first appeared in China in late 2019, and reached pandemic distribution in early 2020. The first major outbreak in Europe occurred in Northern Italy where it spread to neighboring countries, notably to Austria, where skiing resorts served as a main transmission hub. Soon, the Austrian government introduced strict measures to curb the spread of the virus. Using publicly available data, we assessed the efficiency of the governmental measures. We assumed an average incubation period of one week and an average duration of infectivity of 10 days. One week after the introduction of strict measures, the increase in daily new cases was reversed, and the reproduction number dropped. The crude estimates tended to overestimate the reproduction rate in the early phase. Publicly available data provide a first estimate about the effectiveness of public health measures. However, more data are needed for an unbiased assessment.

Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus; containment; public health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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