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Full-Text Articles in Public Health
Individually Optimal Choices Can Be Collectively Disastrous In Covid-19 Disease Control, Madison Stoddard, Debra Van Egeren, Kaitlyn E. Johnson, Smriti Rao, Josh Furgeson, Douglas E. White, Ryan P. Nolan, Natasha Hochberg, Arijit Chakravarty
Individually Optimal Choices Can Be Collectively Disastrous In Covid-19 Disease Control, Madison Stoddard, Debra Van Egeren, Kaitlyn E. Johnson, Smriti Rao, Josh Furgeson, Douglas E. White, Ryan P. Nolan, Natasha Hochberg, Arijit Chakravarty
Economics, Finance and International Business Department Faculty Works
Background: The word 'pandemic' conjures dystopian images of bodies stacked in the streets and societies on the brink of collapse. Despite this frightening picture, denialism and noncompliance with public health measures are common in the historical record, for example during the 1918 Influenza pandemic or the 2015 Ebola epidemic. The unique characteristics of SARS-CoV-2-its high basic reproduction number (R0), time-limited natural immunity and considerable potential for asymptomatic spread-exacerbate the public health repercussions of noncompliance with interventions (such as vaccines and masks) to limit disease transmission. Our work explores the rationality and impact of noncompliance with measures aimed at …