ArticleWorld development2021
Life under lockdown: Illustrating tradeoffs in South Africa's response to COVID-19.
Article in World development, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 94 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of different COVID-19 public health restrictions on mobility: A systematic review.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Excess of death and the experiential disruption of death and mourning rituals during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.Medical humanities · 2025Article
- Variant patterns and influence of inter-regional travel during the SARS-CoV-2 expansion in South Africa.PloS one · 2025Article
- Mobile phone data analyses for public health research: a scoping review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Increased difficulty accessing food and income change during the COVID-19 pandemic among youth living in the eThekwini district, South Africa.Public health nutrition · 2024Article
- Optimal approaches for COVID-19 control: the use of vaccines and lockdowns across societal groups.Frontiers in epidemiology · 2024Article
- Controlling the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi: Results from a multi-round study.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- The effects of COVID-19 on rural communities in Mahikeng Local municipality.Jamba (Potchefstroom, South Africa) · 2024Article
- Co-creation of a novel approach for improving supply chain management for SARS-CoV-2 point of care diagnostic services in Mopani District, Limpopo Province: nominal group technique.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- The lived experiences of tuberculosis survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic and government lockdown in South Africa: a qualitative analysis.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Adverse childhood experiences, traumatic events, and mental health among adults at two outpatient psychiatric facilities in Johannesburg, South Africa: a cross-sectional analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Gimme shelter. Social distancing and income support in times of pandemic.European economic review · 2023Article
- The lived experiences of Tuberculosis survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic and government lockdown in South Africa: a qualitative analysis.Research square · 2023Article
- How does COVID-19 lockdown affect air quality: Evidence from Lanzhou, a large city in Northwest China.Urban climate · 2023Article
- The impact of COVID-19 on mobility choices in Switzerland.Transportation research. Part A, Policy and practice · 2023Article
- Coping strategies employed by public psychiatric healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in southern Gauteng, South Africa.PloS one · 2023Article
- Lockdown stringency and employment formality: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.Journal for labour market research · 2023Article
- Does poverty increase COVID-19 in Africa? A cross-country analysis.Health economics review · 2022Article
- Knowledge acquisition and precautionary behaviors for individual resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of rural Latin America.Journal of rural studies · 2022Article
- Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Sentiment and Topic Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccination on Twitter and Vaccine Uptake.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This research note sheds light on the first three months of the COVID-19 outbreak in South Africa, where the virus has spread faster than anywhere else in the region. At the same time, South Africa has been recognized globally for its swift and efficient early response. We consider the impact of this response on different segments of the population, looking at changes in mobility by province to highlight variation in the willingness and ability of different subsets of the population to comply with lockdown orders. Using anonymized mobile phone data, we show that South Africans in all provinces reduced their mobility substantially in response to the government's lockdown orders. Statistical regression analysis shows that such mobility reductions are significantly and negatively associated with COVID-19 growth rates two weeks later. These findings add an important perspective to the emerging literature on the efficacy of shelter-in-place orders, which to date is dominated by studies of the United States. We show that people were particularly willing and able to act in the provinces hit hardest by the pandemic in its initial stages. At the same time, compliance with lockdown orders presented a greater challenge among rural populations and others with more precarious livelihoods. By reflecting on South Africa's inequality profile and results of a recent survey, we demonstrate how the country's response may deepen preexisting divides. This cautionary tale is relevant beyond South Africa, as much of the continent - and the world - grapples with similar tradeoffs. Along with measures to contain the spread of disease, governments and other development focused organizations should seriously consider how to offset the costs faced by already marginalized populations.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.