Timing, extent and outcomes of public health measures in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel and a comparative analysis by socioeconomic indices

Ginzburg, Amit; Barasche-Berdah, Deborah; Manor, Orly; Levine-Schnur, Ronit; Paltiel, Ora; Levine, Hagai

doi:10.1186/s13584-022-00549-2

Israel Journal of Health Policy Research

Table 2 Association of Democracy Index Scores, GDP per capita and Trust levels with median time-to-measure implementation

From: Timing, extent and outcomes of public health measures in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel and a comparative analysis by socioeconomic indices

Measure/Pre-pandemic characteristic	High democracy level^a (n = 19*)		Low democracy level^a (n = 31* including Israel)		p value**	High GDP^b(n = 21* including Israel)		Low GDP (n = 29*)		p value**	High trust index^c (n = 20*)		Low trust index (n = 28* including Israel)		p-value**
Measure/Pre-pandemic characteristic	# of countries	Days (median [IQR])	# of countries	Days (median [IQR])	p value**	# of countries	Days (median [IQR])	# of countries	Days (median [IQR])	p value**	# of countries	Days (median [IQR])	# of countries	Days (median [IQR])	p-value**
Primary school closure	16	4 [(− 1.5)–9.5]	31	− 3 [(− 7)–1]	0.012	18	5.5 [(− 0.5)–12]	29	− 3 [(− 6.5)–(− 0.5)]	0.002	17	6 [0–11]	28	− 2.5 [(− 6)–0.25]	0.001
Secondary schools	18	5 [(− 0.5)–10]	31	− 3 [(− 7)–1]	0.006	20	5.5 [0–11.5]	29	− 3 [(− 6.5)–(− 0.5)]	0.001	19	6 [0–10]	28	− 2.5 [(− 6)–0.25]	0.001
Selective entry restrictions	7	0 [(− 38)–6]	18	− 28.5 [(− 41.25)–(− 5.5)]	0.064	10	− 34.5 [(− 39)–1.5]	15	− 19 [(− 41)–(− 4)]	1.000	10	− 18.5 [(− 38)–6]	15	− 21 [(− 42)−(− 4)]	0.261
Border closure	16	8 [4.25–10.75]	27	0 [(−5)−8]	0.034	17	9 [5.5–13.5]	26	− 0.5 [(− 5)–3.5]	0.001	17	9 [5.5–13.5]	24	− 0.5 [(− 4.75)–4.5]	0.001
Cancellation of mass events	19	1 [(− 4)–5]	30	−3 [(− 8.5)–6.25]	0.192	21	3 [(− 5)–8]	28	− 3.5 [(− 8)–4]	0.091	20	4 [(− 3)–8.75]	27	− 4 [(− 8)–3]	0.022
Social gatherings limited to less than 100	19	7 [0–13]	25	5 [(− 3)-10.5]	0.117	21	8 [4–17.5]	23	− 1 [(− 6)–7]	0.001	20	8.5 [5–18.5]	22	− 1 [(− 3)–7]	0.001
Social gatherings limited to less than 10	13	13 [6–17.5]	23	8 [3–13]	0.115	17	15 [9–19]	19	7 [(− 1)–9]	0.002	16	14.5 [9.75–19]	19	7 [(− 1)–10]	0.001
Restaurants closed	18	8.5 [4.75–12.25]	25	2 [(− 1)–9.5]	0.082	19	9 [5–13]	24	1.5 [(− 1.75)–7.75]	0.005	17	9 [7.5–13.5]	25	1 [(− 1.5)–7.5]	0.001
Non-essential businesses closed	12	9 [7.25–11.75]	22	5.5 [(− 0.25)–11.5]	0.118	14	9 [(6.5–13.75)]	20	5.5 [(− 0.75)–10]	0.027	12	10 [8.25–15.25]	21	5 [(− 1)–7]	0.002
Lockdown	7	12 [7–15]	18	6.5 [2–13.25]	0.141	9	13 [6–15.5]	16	6.5 [0–11.25]	0.074	8	12.5 [8.25–15.5]	17	6 [1–11.5]	0.066

*Only countries who implemented the measures were included in the analysis
**p-values obtained using the Mann-Whitney test. p-values in bold are considered significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons
^aHigh democracy level > 8.055; low democracy level ≤ 8.055
^bHigh GDP per capita > 40,370.4 USD; low GDP per capita ≤ 40,370.4 USD
^cHigh trust index > 33.70; low trust index ≤ 33.70

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ISSN: 2045-4015

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