Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232679 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13927
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
To assess the efficacy of Covid-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on infectious disease containment in Europe, we first use weekly 2015-20 data on the spread of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to compare the 2019-20 season of these diseases with the previous five. Although the magnitude of results differs between countries, we document much stronger end-of-season declines in infections in the most recent outbreak than in the earlier ones, implying that they may be driven by NPIs implemented in 2020 to combat Covid-19. To test this conjecture, we use detailed country-specific weekly information on Covid-19 NPIs to estimate several panel models that relate NPI implementation to disease incidence across countries. Not only do certain measures significantly reduce the spread of Covid-19, they also curtail the spread of influenza and RSV. Nonetheless, although we identify workplace closures as a particularly effective measure, we find no evidence for the efficacy of other NPIs such as travel restrictions.
Subjects: 
non-pharmaceutical interventions
infectious diseases
Europe
COVID-19
JEL: 
H30
H23
H12
I18
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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