A recent study revealed that combination of curfews and targeted lockdowns seem to be effective in controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
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| Photo: COVID-19 Localized Lockdown | InStyleHealth |
Extracting from the June to July 2020 experience of
French Guiana, the experts built a mathematical model to help explain the
impact of control measures on the transmission of COVID-19. To reveal the on-the-ground intervention, the
model took into account the localized lockdowns, a curfew, and other measures
such as border restrictions, screening campaigns, and closures of food
establishments.
Under the supposition that a lockdown in French Guiana
would have similar impact as that in metropolitan France, the model revealed
that a 10-day territory-wide lockdown could reduce the number of general ward
beds required from 454 to 256 when started at an earlier date. Deferring for a
week mitigated the impact, but nevertheless reduced the number of required beds
to 345.
According to researchers, “Eventually, given the
societal and economic cost associated with a territory-wide lockdown, this
strategy was ruled out and it was decided to implement less drastic measures.”
A general curfew was initially scheduled from 11 PM to
5 AM every day, however it was eventually expanded to 7 PM to 5 AM during
weekdays, and for the whole weekend starting 3 PM on Saturdays.
It was revealed from the model that a baseline of 1.40,
the reproduction number of SARS-CoV2 briefly spiked to 1.71 under a more
lenient curfew, before plummeting to 1.14 after the curfew hours were extended.
Consecutively, the projection of required hospital beds decreased to 162. The ICU
beds or intensive care unit beds required has also decreased to 28 from 110 at
the peak of the virus outbreak.
For complete details of this study, click here.
Source: Nat Commun 2021;12:1634