Department of Housing and Environmental Design, Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan.
PLoS One. 2022 Sep 1;17(9):e0267335. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267335. eCollection 2022.
Control of human mobility is one of the most effective measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the imposition of emergency restrictions had significant negative impacts on citizens' daily lives. As vaccination progresses, we need to consider more effective measures to control the spread of the infection. The research question of this study is as follows: Does the control of home range correlate with a reduction in the number of infected people during the COVID-19 pandemic? This study aims to clarify the correlation between home range and the number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ibaraki City. Home ranges are analyzed by the Minimum Convex Polygon method using mobile phone GPS location history data. We analyzed the time series cross-correlation between home range lengths and the number of infected people. Results reveal a slight positive correlation between home range and the number of infected people after one week during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding home range length, the cross-correlation coefficient is 0.4030 even at a lag level of six weeks, which has the most significant coefficient. Thus, a decrease in the home range is a weak factor correlated with a reduction in the number of infected people. This study makes a significant contribution to the literature by evaluating key public health challenges from the perspective of controliing the spread of the COVID-19 infectuion. Its findings has implications for policy makers, practitioners, and urban scientists seeking to promote urban sustainability.
控制人员流动是预防 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）传播的最有效措施之一。然而，紧急限制的实施对公民的日常生活产生了重大负面影响。随着疫苗接种的进展，我们需要考虑更有效的措施来控制感染的传播。本研究的研究问题如下：居住范围的控制是否与 COVID-19 大流行期间感染人数的减少相关？本研究旨在阐明居住范围与茨城县 COVID-19 大流行期间 SARS-CoV-2 感染人数之间的相关性。使用手机 GPS 位置历史数据，通过最小凸多边形法分析居住范围。我们分析了居住范围长度和感染人数之间的时间序列交叉相关性。结果表明，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，居住范围与感染人数在一周后存在轻微的正相关。关于居住范围长度，交叉相关系数在滞后六周时甚至达到 0.4030，这是最显著的系数。因此，居住范围的缩小与感染人数的减少是一个弱相关因素。本研究从控制 COVID-19 感染传播的角度评估了关键的公共卫生挑战，为文献做出了重要贡献。其研究结果对寻求促进城市可持续性的政策制定者、从业人员和城市科学家具有重要意义。
