From Node to Network: Weaving A Global Perspective on Efficacy and Costs of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions

Abstract

Non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) policies, ranging from mild intervention to total isolation, were implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe. We adopt a systematic approach to guide policymakers in deployment of NPI policies to mitigate the pandemic's effects while maintaining a proper balance on their social and economic impacts. The optimal timings to enact and to end a policy depend both on the strictness of the policy and the transmissibility of the virus. Our results show that the strict policy is not always the most effective to mitigate the disease, while other modest NPIs can function better especially when the virus is highly transmissible. If an NPI can only be applied for a limited period due to economic and social constraints, it is always suboptimal to implement it at the pandemic's onset.