Act early to prevent infections and save lives: causal impact of diagnostic efficiency on the COVID-19 pandemic

• Verfasst von: Chen, Simiao [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Jin, Zhangfeng [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Bloom, David E. [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Act early to prevent infections and save lives: causal impact of diagnostic efficiency on the COVID-19 pandemic
• Verf.angabe: Simiao Chen, Zhangfeng Jin, David E. Bloom
• Verlagsort: Bonn, Germany
• Verlag: IZA - Institute of Labor Economics
• E-Jahr: 2020
• Jahr: September 2020
• Umfang: 1 Online-Ressource (circa 51 Seiten)
• Illustrationen: Illustrationen
• Gesamttitel/Reihe: Discussion paper series / IZA ; no. 13749
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: diagnostic efficiency
• Sach-SW: information disclosure
• Sach-SW: social distancing
• Sach-SW: COVID-19
• Sach-SW: China
• Sach-SW: instrumental variable
• Form-SW: Graue Literatur
• K10plus-PPN: 1735497568

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of diagnostic efficiency on the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an exogenous policy on diagnostic confirmation, we show that a one- day decrease in the time taken to confirm the first case in a city publicly led to 9.4% and 12.7% reductions in COVID-19 prevalence and mortality over the subsequent six months, respectively. The impact is larger for cities that are farther from the COVID-19 epicenter, are exposed to less migration, and have more responsive public health systems. Social distancing and a less burdened health system are likely the underlying mechanisms, while the latter also explains the more profound impact on reducing deaths than reducing infections.