TY - JOUR
T1 - Trend change of the transmission route of COVID-19–related symptoms in Japan
AU - Eguchi, A.
AU - Yoneoka, D.
AU - Shi, S.
AU - Tanoue, Y.
AU - Kawashima, T.
AU - Nomura, S.
AU - Matsuura, K.
AU - Makiyama, K.
AU - Ejima, K.
AU - Gilmour, S.
AU - Nishiura, H.
AU - Miyata, H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (H29-Gantaisaku-ippan 009). The funding organisation had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data; preparation, review or approval of the manuscript or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s)
PY - 2020/10
Y1 - 2020/10
N2 - Objectives: The Japanese prime minister declared a state of emergency on April 7 2020 to combat the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This declaration was unique in the sense that it was essentially driven by the voluntary restraint of the residents. We examined the change of the infection route by investigating contact experiences with COVID-19–positive cases. Study design: This study is a population-level questionnaire-based study using a social networking service (SNS). Methods: To assess the impact of the declaration, this study used population-level questionnaire data collected from an SNS with 121,375 respondents (between March 27 and May 5) to assess the change in transmission routes over the study period, which was measured by investigating the association between COVID-19–related symptoms and (self-reported) contact with COVID-19–infected individuals. Results: The results of this study show that the declaration prevented infections in the workplace, but increased domestic infections as people stayed at home. However, after April 24, workplace infections started to increase again, driven by the increase in community-acquired infections. Conclusions: While careful interpretation is necessary because our data are self-reported from voluntary SNS users, these findings indicate the impact of the declaration on the change in transmission routes of COVID-19 over time in Japan.
AB - Objectives: The Japanese prime minister declared a state of emergency on April 7 2020 to combat the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This declaration was unique in the sense that it was essentially driven by the voluntary restraint of the residents. We examined the change of the infection route by investigating contact experiences with COVID-19–positive cases. Study design: This study is a population-level questionnaire-based study using a social networking service (SNS). Methods: To assess the impact of the declaration, this study used population-level questionnaire data collected from an SNS with 121,375 respondents (between March 27 and May 5) to assess the change in transmission routes over the study period, which was measured by investigating the association between COVID-19–related symptoms and (self-reported) contact with COVID-19–infected individuals. Results: The results of this study show that the declaration prevented infections in the workplace, but increased domestic infections as people stayed at home. However, after April 24, workplace infections started to increase again, driven by the increase in community-acquired infections. Conclusions: While careful interpretation is necessary because our data are self-reported from voluntary SNS users, these findings indicate the impact of the declaration on the change in transmission routes of COVID-19 over time in Japan.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Contact experience with COVID-19 cases
KW - Japan
KW - Social network service
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U2 - 10.1016/j.puhe.2020.08.020
DO - 10.1016/j.puhe.2020.08.020
M3 - Article
C2 - 32980782
AN - SCOPUS:85091384735
SN - 0033-3506
VL - 187
SP - 157
EP - 160
JO - Public Health
JF - Public Health
ER -
