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Researchers from around the globe are听studying the challenges and successes of social distancing policies

Since COVID-19鈥檚 discovery in Wuhan, China in Jan. 2020, one of the greatest challenges of managing its spread has been the patchwork-policy approach around the world鈥攆rom complete shutdown of borders like New Zealand鈥檚 to the initial attempt at 鈥渉erd immunity鈥� in Sweden.听

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, as part of a , though, hope to provide clarity about what policies actually worked.

The effort, , is a comparative analysis of the challenges and successes of mitigating COVID-19, looking at the effectiveness of social distancing policies and their epidemiological outcomes from country to country.

鈥淲hat will social distancing and masking do in a range of countries across the globe to stem the tide of COVID?鈥� asks Donna Goldstein, a CU Boulder anthropology professor and one of the project鈥檚 researchers.听

鈥淲hat I really continued to believe in about this project and what I love about it is, it really has at its core this comparative depth that can really show you what worked and what didn鈥檛 work where and what things fell apart.鈥�

On a Zoom call in April 2020, Alvarez, an assistant professor in the department of health and research methods, evidence and impact at McMaster University, presented the project to Goldstein and other researchers on the CONVERGE (National Science Foundation initiative housed at the CU Boulder Natural Hazards Center) collaborators Zoom call with the project鈥檚 leading question: What public physical distancing policies were implemented to combat SARS-CoV-2 and how did they influence the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2?

From there, some of the researchers, including Goldstein, decided to get involved.

The Canadian-based project brought together researchers from around the world to explore this multi-dimensional question through a series of individual country reports.听Each researcher was assigned to one or more countries to gather qualitative and quantitative data that highlighted five relevant categories that would give a partial story of how a country might respond鈥攇eographic, environmental, social, economic, demographic and health鈥攁long with the relevant COVID-19 policies, dating from when the WHO announced a Public Health Emergency to Aug. 30, 2020.

鈥淭his project felt very important, not only for the topics we were addressing but also in how we were addressing them,鈥� Anna Wynfield, a doctoral student in anthropology, said. 鈥淏ringing together researchers from fields including anthropology, public health, medicine, and other disciplines has allowed us to approach questions of policy guidance, implementation, and epidemiological outcomes in unique and collaborative ways.鈥�

Goldstein has carried out long-term anthropological research in Brazil, so she conducted interviews with policymakers and public health officials there to gain a better sense of what happened in the country relative to the COVID-19 response during the timeframe. Wynfield, on the other hand, explored Ireland鈥檚 pandemic response.听

鈥淔or Ireland, and in many jurisdictions around the world, having a cohesive and coordinated plan has been critical to mitigation,鈥� Wynfield said. 鈥淚sland countries like New Zealand have had certain geographic advantages in dealing with the pandemic. In Ireland, however, this was complicated by the fact that Ireland shares a border with Northern Ireland and policies differed between them.鈥�

The researchers hope that the thorough analysis of each country鈥檚 characteristics will help answer the main research question while also looking critically at political leadership, public adherence and the overall effectiveness of COVID-19 policies.听

鈥淲e really try to understand what worked and what didn鈥檛 work globally鈥攁nd why鈥攊n different places,鈥� Goldstein said. 鈥淲e can now鈥攈aving all this data about the difference in policies鈥攚eigh and compare the policy rollout and effectiveness across all these different domains.鈥�

To date, there are five published case reports: Ireland, Ontario, Sri Lanka, England and Singapore. More reports will follow in the coming months, including Goldstein鈥檚 report on Brazil. Throughout each country's analysis, however, the researchers found that successful COVID-19 mitigation starts with clear, cohesive messaging, public trust in leadership and financial aid to populations experiencing income loss.听

鈥淚t has been important to assess not only how decisions were made and communicated, but also how the public has adopted, or challenged, these measures,鈥� Wynfield said. 鈥淭o understand these dynamics, we looked holistically at how policy implementation has been supported in different places through economic support, trust in government, historical frameworks, health care infrastructure, centralized decision-making, and cohesive messaging.鈥�

Which is something that Brazil did not do well, Goldstein said.

鈥淎 lot of public health people really pointed at Jair Bolsonaro, current president of Brazil just like many people here would point at Trump as being the most critical, problematic aspect, politicizing a virus and confusing the messaging on what to do in the pandemic,鈥� Goldstein said.

While the initial data collection period has ended, the research continues as COVID-19 mutates and changes, and vaccines are distributed.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much complexity to what happened and what鈥檚 still happening. 鈥� The project鈥檚 a huge feat, but I think the bigger takeaway is that doing these global-scale projects while keeping an eye on all the local nuances that have occurred is difficult but worthwhile,鈥� Goldstein said, adding:听

鈥淚t鈥檚 a form of scientific research as well as an art form to have all of these conversations globally and locally with a range of people simultaneously, and then to write about what we have learned and how to move forward.鈥澨�