Did border closures slow SARS-CoV-2?

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Mary A. Shiraef, University of Notre Dame; Paul Friesen, University of Notre Dame; Lukas Feddern, University of Konstanz; Mark A. Weiss, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-02-01
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2022.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05482-7
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Scientific Reports
• Volume: 12
• Grant/Funding Information: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
• Keywords: Immunology; Health economics; SARS-CoV-2; Disease prevention
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Political Science, General; Health Sciences, Health Care Management

Abstract

Despite the economic, social, and humanitarian costs of border closures, more than 1000 new international border closures were introduced in response to the 2020–2021 pandemic by nearly every country in the world. The objective of this study was to examine whether these border closures reduced the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Prior to 2020, the impacts of border closures on disease spread were largely unknown, and their use as a pandemic policy was advised against by international organizations. We tested whether they were helpful in reducing spread by using matching techniques on our hand-coded COVID Border Accountability Project (COBAP) Team database of international closures, converted to a time-series cross-sectional data format. We controlled for national-level internal movement restrictions (domestic lockdowns) using the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) time-series data. We found no evidence in favor of international border closures, whereas we found a strong association between national-level lockdowns and a reduced spread of SARS-CoV-2 cases. More research must be done to evaluate the byproduct effects of closures versus lockdowns as well as the efficacy of other preventative measures introduced at international borders.