COVID-19: Regional Differences in Austria

Hanns Moshammer, Michael Poteser and Lisbeth Weitensfelder
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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
Lisbeth Weitensfelder: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: In the turbulent year 2020, overshadowed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, Austria experienced multiple waves of increased case incidence. While governmental measures to curb the numbers were based on current knowledge of infection risk factors, a retrospective analysis of incidence and lethality at the district level revealed correlations of relative infection risk with socioeconomic, geographical, and behavioral population parameters. We identified unexpected correlations between political orientation and smoking behavior and COVID-19 infection risk and/or mortality. For example, a decrease in daily smokers by 2.3 percentage points would be associated with an increase in cumulative incidence by 10% in the adjusted model, and an increase in voters of the right-wing populist party by 1.6 percentage points with an increase in cumulative mortality by 10%. While these parameters are apparently only single elements of complex causal chains that finally lead to individual susceptibility and vulnerability levels, our findings might have identified ecological parameters that can be utilized to develop fine-tuned communications and measures in upcoming challenges of this and other pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19; regional differences; ecological risk factors; underreporting; infection risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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