Social distancing to slow the U.S. COVID-19 epidemic: longitudinal pretest-posttest comparison group study
Authors: Siedner Mark J. , Harling Guy , Reynolds Zahra , Gilbert Rebecca F. , Haneuse Sebastien , Venkataramani Atheendar S. , Tsai Alexander C. 
Published: April 2020

Background

Social distancing measures to address the U.S. coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic may have notable health and social impacts.

Methods and Findings

We conducted a longitudinal pretest-posttest comparison group study to estimate the change in COVID-19 case growth before versus after implementation of statewide social distancing measures in the U.S. The primary exposure was time before (14 days prior to, and up to 3 days after) versus after (beginning 4 days after, and up to 21 days after) implementation of the first statewide social distancing measures. Statewide restrictions on internal movement were examined as a secondary exposure. The primary outcome was the COVID-19 case growth rate. The secondary outcome was the COVID-19-attributed mortality growth rate. All states initiated social distancing measures between March 10-25, 2020. The mean daily COVID-19 case growth rate decreased beginning four days after implementation of the first statewide social distancing measures, by 0.9% per day (95% confidence interval [CI], −1.3% to −0.4%; P<0.001). We did not estimate a statistically significant difference in the mean daily case growth rate before versus after implementation of statewide restrictions on internal movement (0.1% per day; 95% CI, −0.04% to 0.3%, P=0.14), but there is significant difficulty in disentangling the unique associations with statewide restrictions on internal movement from the unique associations with the first social distancing measures. Beginning seven days after social distancing, the COVID-19-attributed mortality growth rate decreased by 1.7% per day (95% CI, −3.0% to −0.7%; P<0.001). Our analysis is susceptible to potential bias resulting from the aggregate nature of the ecological data, potential confounding by contemporaneous changes (e.g., increases in testing), and potential underestimation of social distancing due to spillovers across neighboring states.

Conclusions

Statewide social distancing measures were associated with a decrease in the COVID-19 epidemic case growth rate that was statistically significant and a decrease in the COVID-19-attributed mortality growth rate that was not statistically significant.

Author Summary

Why was the study done

There are few empirical data about the population health benefits of imposing statewide social distancing measures to reduce transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

What did the researchers find

We compared data from each state before vs. after implementation of statewide social distancing measures to estimate changes in mean COVID-19 daily case growth rates. Growth rates declined by approximately 1% per day beginning four days (approximately one incubation period) after statewide social distancing measures were implemented. Stated differently, our model implies that social distancing reduced the total number of COVID-19 cases by approximately 1,600 reported cases at 7 days after implementation, by approximately reported 55,000 cases at 14 days after implementation, and by approximately reported 600,000 cases at 21 days after implementation.

What do these findings mean

Statewide social distancing measures were associated with a reduction in the growth rate of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. However, our analysis is susceptible to potential bias resulting from the aggregate nature of the data, potential confounding by other changes that occurred during the study period (e.g., increases in testing), and potential underestimation of social distancing due to spillovers across neighboring states.