… A team of researchers at Oxford University has developed a single metric – a “Stringency Index” – to compare the overall national government responses to the pandemic across different states. The higher the stringency score, the more steps the country has taken across seven policy areas for responding to COVID-19: school closings; workplace closings; canceling public events; closing public transport; international travel restrictions; internal travel restrictions; and public information campaigns.
While it is impossible to fully summarize and compare government responses to such a multi-faceted challenge in a single number, the Index provides an interesting early way to explore and compare national pandemic policy responses worldwide. It also provides an opportunity to explore possible relationships between the “stringency” of policy responses and levels of public approval for the government handling of the crisis. CONT.
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