ArticleBMC infectious diseases2022
Social distancing causally impacts the spread of SARS-CoV-2: a U.S. nationwide event study.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- The effect of age-specific stay-at-home recommendation on healthcare utilization: Evidence from Finland's COVID-19 policy.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2026Article
- Competing motives in a pandemic: Interplays between fundamental social motives and technology use in predicting (Non)Compliance with social distancing guidelines.Computers in human behavior · 2021Article
- Recommendations for Demonstrators, Law Enforcement Agencies, and Public Health Agencies for Reducing SARS-CoV-2 Transmission During Civil Protests.Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) · 2021Article
- Crowd Salience Heightens Tolerance to Healthy Facial Features.Adaptive human behavior and physiology · 2021Article
- The current situation of COVID-19 in Sudan.New microbes and new infections · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We assess the causal impact of social distancing on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the U.S. using the quasi-natural experimental setting created by the spontaneous relaxation of social distancing behavior brought on by the protests that erupted across the nation following George Floyd's tragic death on May 25, 2020. Using a difference-in-difference specification and a balanced sample covering the [- 30, 30] day event window centered on the onset of protests, we document an increase of 1.34 cases per day, per 100,000 population, in the SARS-CoV-2 incidence rate in protest counties, relative to their propensity score matching non-protest counterparts. This represents a 26.8% increase in the incidence rate relative to the week preceding the protests. We find that the treatment effect only manifests itself after the onset of the protests and our placebo tests rule out the possibility that our findings are attributable to chance. Our research informs policy makers and provides insights regarding the usefulness of social distancing as an intervention to minimize the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
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Registered trials
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.