Re:Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other di...
by peter_retief on Thursday March 26, 2020 @03:07AM
(#22691260)
There has also been a decrease in traffic accidents and violent crime.
This is data from hospital casualty units in South Africa
Re:Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other di...
by Swenrekcah on Thursday March 26, 2020 @03:33AM
(#22691363)
I’m purely guessing, but maybe the traffic deaths have decreased linearly with traffic, and violent crime in some porportion to gathering size.
That is to say, that it’s due to less activity and not a changed mindset.
Re:Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other di...
by ekianjo on Thursday March 26, 2020 @05:31AM
(#22691854)
I doubt traffic accidents and traffic have a linear correlation. I would assume it looks very different depending on the density of the traffic, i.e. not linear at all.
Re:Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other di...
by nroets on Thursday March 26, 2020 @03:24AM
(#22691333)
Maybe it's not due social distancing, but the economic uncertainty.
Re:Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other di...
by dcftoapv on Thursday March 26, 2020 @02:30AM
(#22691109)
Agreed, but this study can certainly be used as part of a larger triangulation.
A guy I worked with pointed out that this was happening in Japan about a month ago: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/21/national/influe...
It seems implausible that there has not been a significant change in the health-consciousness of the typical purchaser in the last month or two, vs. prior to that. I can't tell you what the change would be, but I find it highly implausible that it would be not at all different, given the biggest spike in public awareness of a health issue in several decades.
It's nice to see that Dalziel has thought of the issue, but the article doesn't tell us much about _how_ he accounted for that. I could think of ways, but I could also think of ways to screw it up, and it doesn't say in this article how he "ensured" that the effect is real.