Department of Social Medicine, Maastricht University, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht, Netherlands.
Department of Sexual Health, Infectious Diseases, and Environmental Health, Living Lab Public Health, Public Health Service South Limburg, Heerlen, Netherlands.
Front Public Health. 2024 Apr 18;12:1281072. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1281072. eCollection 2024.
Cross-border mobility (CBM) to visit social network members or for everyday activities is an important part of daily life for citizens in border regions, including the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion (EMR: neighboring regions from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany). We assessed changes in CBM during the COVID-19 pandemic and how participants experienced border restrictions.
Impact of COVID-19 on the EMR' is a longitudinal study using comparative cross-border data collection. In 2021, a random sample of the EMR-population was invited for participation in online surveys to assess current and pre-pandemic CBM. Changes in CBM, experience of border restrictions, and associated factors were analyzed using multinomial and multivariable logistic regression analysis.
Pre-pandemic, 82% of all 3,543 participants reported any CBM: 31% for social contacts and 79% for everyday activities. Among these, 26% decreased social CBM and 35% decreased CBM for everyday activities by autumn 2021. Negative experience of border restrictions was reported by 45% of participants with pre-pandemic CBM, and was higher (p < 0.05) in Dutch participants (compared to Belgian; aOR= 1.4), cross-border [work] commuters (aOR= 2.2), participants with cross-border social networks of friends, family or acquaintances (aOR= 1.3), and those finding the measures 'limit group size' (aOR= 1.5) and 'minimalize travel' (aOR= 2.0) difficult to adhere to and finding 'minimalize travel' (aOR= 1.6) useless.
CBM for social contacts and everyday activities was substantial in EMR-citizens, but decreased during the pandemic. Border restrictions were valued as negative by a considerable portion of EMR-citizens, especially when having family or friends across the border. When designing future pandemic control strategies, policy makers should account for the negative impact of CBM restrictions on their citizens.
跨境流动（CBM）以探望社交网络成员或进行日常活动是边境地区公民日常生活的重要组成部分，包括默兹-莱茵欧洲地区（EMR：来自荷兰、比利时和德国的邻国）。我们评估了 COVID-19 大流行期间 CBM 的变化情况，以及参与者对边境限制的体验。
“COVID-19 对 EMR 的影响”是一项使用比较跨境数据收集的纵向研究。2021 年，邀请 EMR 人群的随机样本参与在线调查，以评估当前和大流行前的 CBM。使用多项和多变量逻辑回归分析来分析 CBM 的变化、边境限制的体验以及相关因素。
在大流行前，所有 3543 名参与者中有 82%报告了任何 CBM：31%用于社交接触，79%用于日常活动。其中，26%的人减少了社交 CBM，35%的人减少了 2021 年秋季的日常 CBM。45%有大流行前 CBM 的参与者报告了对边境限制的负面体验，并且（p<0.05）荷兰参与者（与比利时相比；aOR=1.4）、跨境[工作]通勤者（aOR=2.2）、跨境朋友、家人或熟人社交网络的参与者（aOR=1.3）以及那些认为措施“限制团体规模”（aOR=1.5）和“尽量减少旅行”（aOR=2.0）难以遵守，以及认为“尽量减少旅行”（aOR=1.6）无用的参与者的比例更高。
EMR 公民的社交和日常活动 CBM 数量相当大，但在大流行期间有所减少。边境限制被相当一部分 EMR 公民视为负面，尤其是当他们有家人或朋友在边境另一边时。在制定未来的大流行控制策略时，政策制定者应考虑到对公民 CBM 限制的负面影响。
