Wang Jaesun
Department of Public Administration, Kangwon National University (Samcheok Campus), Samcheok-si 25913, Kangwon State, Republic of Korea.
Healthcare (Basel). 2025 Apr 22;13(9):959. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13090959.
The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked the need for appropriate government responses in health-disaster situations worldwide. This study analyzes the impact of governments' non-pharmaceutical measures on the number of deaths from COVID-19. In particular, it further analyzes how trust in government moderates government measures. Through this analysis, this study aims to explore the government's appropriate role in overcoming future health disasters by understanding the effectiveness of government measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study collected and analyzed national data provided by various international organizations for countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). To estimate the relationship between various policy measures and COVID-19 related deaths, it employed panel data analysis using random effects, since only three years of data, ranging from 2020 to 2022, were utilized. The main findings of this study are as follows. First, suppression measures which include measures that place relatively stronger restrictions on people's behavior were directly related to decreases in the number of total deaths. However, mitigation measures which consisted of weak-intensity measures were directly related to increases in the number of deaths. Second, higher levels of trust in government were directly related to decreased numbers of deaths. Finally, the moderating effect of government trust on suppression measures was not tested, but the moderating effect on mitigation measures was confirmed. : This study presents the following implications. First, governments' non-pharmaceutical measures in times of pandemic need to consider various environmental factors of the country. Second, trust in government can be an important environmental condition in overcoming health-disaster situations. In particular, trust in government weakens the side effects that can be caused by government measures. Third, suppression methods that directly affect people's movement and daily life had a positive association with decreases in the number of total deaths, and the correlations of these measures in overcoming the health-disaster situation were confirmed.
新冠疫情引发了全球各国政府在卫生灾难情况下做出适当应对的需求。本研究分析了政府的非药物措施对新冠死亡人数的影响。具体而言，进一步分析了对政府的信任如何调节政府措施。通过这一分析，本研究旨在通过了解政府应对新冠疫情措施的有效性，探索政府在应对未来卫生灾难中的适当作用。本研究收集并分析了各种国际组织为经济合作与发展组织（经合组织）国家提供的国家数据。为了估计各种政策措施与新冠相关死亡之间的关系，由于仅使用了2020年至2022年这三年的数据，因此采用了随机效应面板数据分析。本研究的主要发现如下。第一，包括对人们行为施加相对更强限制措施的抑制措施与总死亡人数的减少直接相关。然而，由弱强度措施组成的缓解措施与死亡人数的增加直接相关。第二，对政府的信任程度越高，与死亡人数的减少直接相关。最后，未检验政府信任对抑制措施的调节作用，但证实了其对缓解措施的调节作用。本研究提出了以下启示。第一，政府在疫情期间的非药物措施需要考虑该国的各种环境因素。第二，对政府的信任可能是克服卫生灾难情况的重要环境条件。特别是，对政府的信任会减弱政府措施可能带来的副作用。第三，直接影响人们行动和日常生活的抑制方法与总死亡人数的减少呈正相关，并且证实了这些措施在克服卫生灾难情况中的相关性。
