Spatial Applications Division, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
I-Biostat, Data Science Institute, Universiteit Hasselt, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 12;19(16):9968. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19169968.
Belgium is a geographically small country bordered by The Netherlands, France, Germany, and Luxembourg, with intense transborder mobility, defined as mobility in the border regions with neighboring countries. It is therefore of interest to examine how the 14-day COVID-19 confirmed case incidence in the border regions is influenced by that of the adjacent regions in the neighboring countries and thus, whether and how it differs from that in the adjacent non-border regions within Belgium. To this end, the 14-day COVID-19 confirmed case incidence is studied at the level of Belgian provinces, well-defined border areas within Belgium, and adjacent regions in the neighboring countries. Auxiliary information encompasses work-related border traffic, travel rates, the proportion of people with a different nationality, the stringency index of the non-pharmaceutical interventions, and the degree of urbanization at the level of the municipality. Especially in transnational urbanized areas such as between the Belgian and Dutch provinces of Limburg and between the Belgian province of Antwerp and the Dutch province of North Brabant, the impact on incidence is visible, at least at some points in time, especially when the national incidences differ between neighboring countries. In contrast, the intra-Belgian language border regions show very little transborder impact on the incidence curves, except around the Brussels capital region, leading to various periods where the incidences are very different in the Dutch-speaking north and the French-speaking south of Belgium. Our findings suggest that while travel restrictions may be needed at some points during a pandemic, a more fine-grained approach than merely closing national borders may be considered. At the same time, in border regions with considerable transborder mobility, it is recommended to coordinate the non-pharmaceutical interventions between the authorities of the various countries overlapping with the border region. While this seems logical, there are clear counterexamples, e.g., where non-essential shops, restaurants, and bars are closed in one country but not in the neighboring country.
比利时是一个地理位置小的国家，与荷兰、法国、德国和卢森堡接壤，跨境流动性很强，定义为与邻国边境地区的流动性。因此，研究边境地区 14 天 COVID-19 确诊病例发生率受邻国相邻地区的影响，以及它是否与比利时境内相邻非边境地区的发生率不同，这是很有意义的。为此，在比利时省级、比利时境内明确界定的边境地区和邻国相邻地区的层面上研究了 14 天 COVID-19 确诊病例发生率。辅助信息包括与工作有关的边境交通、旅行率、具有不同国籍的人的比例、非药物干预的严格指数以及市一级的城市化程度。特别是在像比利时林堡省和荷兰北布拉班特省之间以及比利时安特卫普省和荷兰北布拉班特省之间这样的跨国城市化地区，至少在某些时候，对发病率有明显的影响，尤其是当邻国之间的国家发病率不同时。相比之下，在比利时境内讲不同语言的边境地区，对发病率曲线的跨境影响很小，除了布鲁塞尔首都地区附近，导致在比利时北部讲荷兰语和南部讲法语地区的发病率在不同时期有很大差异。我们的研究结果表明，虽然在大流行期间可能需要在某些时候实施旅行限制，但可能需要考虑比仅仅关闭国界更精细的方法。同时，在跨境流动性很强的边境地区，建议协调跨越边境地区的各国当局之间的非药物干预措施。虽然这似乎合乎逻辑，但也有明显的反例，例如，在一个国家，非必要的商店、餐馆和酒吧关闭，但在邻国却没有关闭。
