Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore.
Environmental Health Institute, National Environmental Agency, Singapore.
J Travel Med. 2021 Feb 23;28(2). doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa228.
We examined the impact of SARS-CoV-2 social distancing and quarantine policies on dengue transmission in the general and migrant worker populations in Singapore.
We utilized all nationally reported dengue cases in the general and migrant worker populations from 1 January 2013 to 31 May 2020. A difference-in-difference identification strategy was used to determine the effects of social distancing and quarantine policies on reported dengue case counts over time, whilst controlling for weather patterns, seasonality, age and population size.
A reduction of 4.8 dengue cases per age band among migrant workers was attributable to quarantine policies, corresponding to a total reduction of around 432 reported dengue cases over 10 weeks. In the general working population, an increase of 14.5 dengue cases per age band was observed, which corresponds to a total increase of around 1450 reported dengue cases in the same time period. There is an expected relative risk reduction in dengue transmission for the migrant worker population at 0.635 due to quarantine policy and a relative risk increase for the general working population due to social distancing policies at 0.685.
Migrant workers experienced a reduced risk of dengue when they were confined to their dormitories as part of the COVID-19 social distancing measures. Our study highlights the vulnerability of migrant workers under normal working conditions.
我们研究了 SARS-CoV-2 社交距离和隔离政策对新加坡普通人群和外来务工人员登革热传播的影响。
我们利用了 2013 年 1 月 1 日至 2020 年 5 月 31 日期间新加坡普通人群和外来务工人员报告的所有登革热病例。采用差异法识别策略，以确定社交距离和隔离政策对报告的登革热病例数随时间的影响，同时控制天气模式、季节性、年龄和人口规模。
隔离政策使外来务工人员每年龄组减少 4.8 例登革热病例，相当于在 10 周内总共减少约 432 例报告登革热病例。在普通劳动人口中，观察到每年龄组增加 14.5 例登革热病例，相当于同期报告登革热病例增加约 1450 例。由于隔离政策，外来务工人员的登革热传播风险预期相对降低了 0.635，由于社交距离政策，普通劳动人口的登革热传播风险相对增加了 0.685。
外来务工人员在 COVID-19 社交距离措施下被限制在宿舍时，登革热的风险降低。我们的研究强调了外来务工人员在正常工作条件下的脆弱性。
