COVID Border Accountability Project, a hand-coded global database of border closures introduced during 2020

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Mary A Shiraef, University of Notre Dame; Cora Hirst, Emory University; Mark A Weiss, Emory University; Sarah Naseer, Emory University; Nikolas Lazar, Emory University; Elizabeth Beling, Emory University; Erin Straight, Vanderbilt University; Lukas Feddern, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf; Noah Rusk Taylor, Emory University; Cayleigh Jackson, Emory University; William Yu, Emory University; Aadya Bhaskaran, Emory University; Layth Mattar, Emory University; Matthew Amme, COVID Border Accountability Project (COBAP); Maggie Shum, University of Notre Dame; Mary Louise Mitsdarffer, Rutgers University; Johanna Sweere, Charles River Associates; Susanna E Brantley, Duke University; Luis L Schenoni, Universität Konstanz; Colin Lewis-Black, University of Iowa
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-09-29
• Publisher: Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2021
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-01031-5
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Scientific Data
• Volume: 8
• Keywords: Viral infection; Politics
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Nursing; Political Science, General

Abstract

Quantifying the timing and content of policy changes affecting international travel and immigration is key to ongoing research on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the socioeconomic impacts of border closures. The COVID Border Accountability Project (COBAP) provides a hand-coded dataset of >1000 policies systematized to reflect a complete timeline of country-level restrictions on movement across international borders during 2020. Trained research assistants used pre-set definitions to source, categorize and verify for each new border policy: start and end dates, whether the closure is “complete” or “partial”, which exceptions are made, which countries are banned, and which air/land/sea borders were closed. COBAP verified the database through internal and external audits from public health experts. For purposes of further verification and future data mining efforts of pandemic research, the full text of each policy was archived. The structure of the COBAP dataset is designed for use by social and biomedical scientists. For broad accessibility to policymakers and the public, our website depicts the data in an interactive, user-friendly, time-based map.