Timing of social distancing policies and COVID-19 mortality: county-level evidence from the U.S

Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, Neeraj Kaushal () and Ashley N. Muchow ()
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Neeraj Kaushal: Columbia University
Ashley N. Muchow: University of Illinois at Chicago

Journal of Population Economics, 2021, vol. 34, issue 4, No 10, 1445-1472

Abstract: Abstract Using county-level data on COVID-19 mortality and infections, along with county-level information on the adoption of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), we examine how the speed of NPI adoption affected COVID-19 mortality in the United States. Our estimates suggest that adopting safer-at-home orders or non-essential business closures 1 day before infections double can curtail the COVID-19 death rate by 1.9%. This finding proves robust to alternative measures of NPI adoption speed, model specifications that control for testing, other NPIs, and mobility and across various samples (national, the Northeast, excluding New York, and excluding the Northeast). We also find that the adoption speed of NPIs is associated with lower infections and is unrelated to non-COVID deaths, suggesting these measures slowed contagion. Finally, NPI adoption speed appears to have been less effective in Republican counties, suggesting that political ideology might have compromised their efficacy.

Keywords: COVID-19; Mortality; Infections; Non-pharmaceutical interventions; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I10 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-021-00845-2

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