Earth from Space Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD, 21046, USA.
Leidos, Reston, VA, 20190, USA.
Sci Rep. 2022 May 16;12(1):8096. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-12211-7.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have enacted widespread physical distancing measures to prevent and control virus transmission. Quantitative, spatially-disaggregated information about the population-scale shifts in activity that have resulted from these measures is extremely scarce, particularly for regions outside of Europe and the US. Public health institutions often must make decisions about control measures with limited region-specific data about how they will affect societal behavior, patterns of exposure, and infection outcomes. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Day/Night Band (VIIRS DNB), a new-generation space-borne low-light imager, has the potential to track changes in human activity, but the capability has not yet been applied to a cross-country analysis of COVID-19 responses. Here, we examine multi-year (2015-2020) daily time-series data derived from NASA's Black Marble VIIRS nighttime lights product (VNP46A2) covering 584 urban areas, in 17 countries in the Middle East to understand how communities have adhered to COVID-19 measures in the first 4 months of the pandemic. Nighttime lights capture the onset of national curfews and lockdowns well, but also expose the inconsistent response to control measures both across and within countries. In conflict-afflicted countries, low adherence to lockdowns and curfews was observed, highlighting the compound health and security threats that fragile states face. Our findings show how satellite measurements can aid in assessing the public response to physical distancing policies and the socio-cultural factors that shape their success, especially in fragile and data-sparse regions.
针对 COVID-19 大流行，世界各国政府已采取广泛的身体距离措施来预防和控制病毒传播。关于这些措施导致的人口活动大规模变化的定量、空间分解信息极其稀缺，特别是在欧洲和美国以外的地区。公共卫生机构在制定控制措施时，往往必须根据有限的、针对特定地区的数据来决定如何影响社会行为、暴露模式和感染结果。新一代星载低光成像仪——可见红外成像辐射计套件日夜带（VIIRS DNB）具有跟踪人类活动变化的潜力，但该功能尚未应用于对 COVID-19 应对措施的跨国分析。在这里，我们研究了来自美国宇航局的“黑宝石”VIIRS 夜间灯光产品（VNP46A2）的多年（2015-2020 年）逐日时间序列数据，这些数据覆盖了中东 17 个国家的 584 个城市，以了解在大流行的头 4 个月里，社区如何遵守 COVID-19 措施。夜间灯光很好地捕捉到了国家宵禁和封锁的开始，但也暴露了国家之间和国家内部对控制措施的不一致反应。在受冲突影响的国家，观察到对封锁和宵禁的低遵守率，突出了脆弱国家面临的复杂健康和安全威胁。我们的研究结果表明，卫星测量如何有助于评估公众对身体距离政策的反应，以及塑造这些政策成功的社会文化因素，特别是在脆弱和数据稀缺的地区。
