A novel comparison framework for epidemiological strategies applied to age-based restrictions versus horizontal lockdowns
Abstract
During an epidemic, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, policy-makers are faced with the decision of implementing effective, yet socioeconomically costly intervention strategies, such as school and workplace closure, physical distancing, etc. In this study, we propose a rigorous definition of epidemiological strategies. In addition, we develop a scheme for comparing certain epidemiological strategies, with the goal of providing policy-makers with a tool for their systematic comparison. Then, we put the suggested scheme to the test by employing an age-based epidemiological compartment model introduced in Bitsouni et al. (2024), coupled with data from the literature, in order to compare the effectiveness of age-based and horizontal interventions. In general, our findings suggest that these two are comparable, mainly at a low or medium level of intensity.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2312.01517,
title = {A novel comparison framework for epidemiological strategies applied to age-based restrictions versus horizontal lockdowns},
author = {Vasiliki Bitsouni and Nikolaos Gialelis and Vasilis Tsilidis},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.01517},
year = {2024}
}