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Timing and Support Safeguards for Reopening an Economy During COVID-19

Received: 10 March 2021    Accepted: 26 March 2021    Published: 7 April 2021
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Abstract

Before the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were authorized, governments around the world have adopted strict lockdown measures in response to the threat from the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the negative impact on freedom of movement, the economy, and society at large, the question of when and how to safely reopen an economy is urgent. Based on the data of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases from all 31 provincial capitals on the Chinese mainland, this paper is the first to apply the synthetic control method to empirically analyze the causal effect of reopening the economy in three provincial capitals on their increase in new cases. Data showed that the number of new infection cases in all three cities remained at zero for several consecutive days before reopening. Reopening the economy did not have a significant adverse effect on the increase in the number of new infections in these three cities for at least a week after reopening. This study contains lessons for other countries of the world by providing timely and reliable causal evidence on the timing and support safeguards for reopening an economy during COVID-19.

Published in World Journal of Public Health (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.wjph.20210602.12
Page(s) 31-39
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

COVID-19, Reopening Economies, Increase of Newly Confirmed Cases, Synthetic Control Method

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Xiaoxuan Yang. (2021). Timing and Support Safeguards for Reopening an Economy During COVID-19. World Journal of Public Health, 6(2), 31-39. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20210602.12

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    ACS Style

    Xiaoxuan Yang. Timing and Support Safeguards for Reopening an Economy During COVID-19. World J. Public Health 2021, 6(2), 31-39. doi: 10.11648/j.wjph.20210602.12

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    AMA Style

    Xiaoxuan Yang. Timing and Support Safeguards for Reopening an Economy During COVID-19. World J Public Health. 2021;6(2):31-39. doi: 10.11648/j.wjph.20210602.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.wjph.20210602.12,
      author = {Xiaoxuan Yang},
      title = {Timing and Support Safeguards for Reopening an Economy During COVID-19},
      journal = {World Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {6},
      number = {2},
      pages = {31-39},
      doi = {10.11648/j.wjph.20210602.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20210602.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wjph.20210602.12},
      abstract = {Before the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were authorized, governments around the world have adopted strict lockdown measures in response to the threat from the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the negative impact on freedom of movement, the economy, and society at large, the question of when and how to safely reopen an economy is urgent. Based on the data of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases from all 31 provincial capitals on the Chinese mainland, this paper is the first to apply the synthetic control method to empirically analyze the causal effect of reopening the economy in three provincial capitals on their increase in new cases. Data showed that the number of new infection cases in all three cities remained at zero for several consecutive days before reopening. Reopening the economy did not have a significant adverse effect on the increase in the number of new infections in these three cities for at least a week after reopening. This study contains lessons for other countries of the world by providing timely and reliable causal evidence on the timing and support safeguards for reopening an economy during COVID-19.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Timing and Support Safeguards for Reopening an Economy During COVID-19
    AU  - Xiaoxuan Yang
    Y1  - 2021/04/07
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20210602.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.wjph.20210602.12
    T2  - World Journal of Public Health
    JF  - World Journal of Public Health
    JO  - World Journal of Public Health
    SP  - 31
    EP  - 39
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2637-6059
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20210602.12
    AB  - Before the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were authorized, governments around the world have adopted strict lockdown measures in response to the threat from the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the negative impact on freedom of movement, the economy, and society at large, the question of when and how to safely reopen an economy is urgent. Based on the data of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases from all 31 provincial capitals on the Chinese mainland, this paper is the first to apply the synthetic control method to empirically analyze the causal effect of reopening the economy in three provincial capitals on their increase in new cases. Data showed that the number of new infection cases in all three cities remained at zero for several consecutive days before reopening. Reopening the economy did not have a significant adverse effect on the increase in the number of new infections in these three cities for at least a week after reopening. This study contains lessons for other countries of the world by providing timely and reliable causal evidence on the timing and support safeguards for reopening an economy during COVID-19.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States of America

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