Authors: Hamish Gibbs, Yang Liu, Carl AB Pearson, Christopher I Jarvis, Chris Grundy, Billy J Quilty, Charlie Diamond, Rosalind M Eggo
Published: May, 2020 in Nature Communications
Abstract
Understanding changes in human mobility in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial for assessing the impacts of travel restrictions designed to reduce disease spread. Here, relying on data from mainland China, we investigated the spatio-temporal characteristics of human mobility between 1st January and 1st March 2020 and discussed their public health implications. An outbound travel surge from Wuhan before travel restrictions were implemented was also observed across China due to the Lunar New Year, indicating that holiday travel may have played a larger role in mobility changes compared to impending travel restrictions. Holiday travel also shifted healthcare pressure related to COVID-19 towards locations with lower access to care. Network analyses showed no sign of major changes in the transportation network after Lunar New Year. Changes observed were temporary and have not yet led to structural reorganisation of the transportation network at the time of this study.
Cite
@article{gibbs_changing_2020,
title = {Changing travel patterns in China during the early stages of the {COVID}-19 pandemic},
volume = {11},
rights = {2020 The Author(s)},
issn = {2041-1723},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18783-0},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-020-18783-0},
abstract = {Understanding changes in human mobility in the early stages of the {COVID}-19 pandemic is crucial for assessing the impacts of travel restrictions designed to reduce disease spread. Here, relying on data from mainland China, we investigate the spatio-temporal characteristics of human mobility between 1st January and 1st March 2020, and discuss their public health implications. An outbound travel surge from Wuhan before travel restrictions were implemented was also observed across China due to the Lunar New Year, indicating that holiday travel may have played a larger role in mobility changes compared to impending travel restrictions. Holiday travel also shifted healthcare pressure related to {COVID}-19 towards locations with lower healthcare capacity. Network analyses showed no sign of major changes in the transportation network after Lunar New Year. Changes observed were temporary and did not lead to structural reorganisation of the transportation network during the study period.},
pages = {5012},
number = {1},
journaltitle = {Nature Communications},
author = {Gibbs, Hamish and Liu, Yang and Pearson, Carl A. B. and Jarvis, Christopher I. and Grundy, Chris and Quilty, Billy J. and Diamond, Charlie and Eggo, Rosalind M.},
urldate = {2021-02-23},
date = {2020-10-06},
langid = {english},
note = {Number: 1
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group},
file = {Full Text PDF:/Users/hamishgibbs/Zotero/storage/Z3YC9GZE/Gibbs et al. - 2020 - Changing travel patterns in China during the early.pdf:application/pdf;Snapshot:/Users/hamishgibbs/Zotero/storage/A4ZY2SED/s41467-020-18783-0.html:text/html},
}