Published February 17, 2021 | Version v2
Preprint Open

Outdoor activities in the time of COVID-19 and its implications for exposure to vector-borne diseases in the United States

Creators

  • 1. Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, Washington State University, WA, USA
  • 2. Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA
  • 3. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, NY, USA
  • 4. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
  • 5. Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin – Madison, WI, USA
  • 6. National Institute for Human Resilience, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
  • 7. School of Geography, Development & Environment, University of Arizona, AZ, USA
  • 8. College of Business and Public Policy, University of Alaska Anchorage, AK, USA

Description

Unintended consequences of human behavioral changes induced by governmental and individual responses to COVID-19 risk are yet to be fully realized. Herein, we evaluated changes in outdoor activity patterns during the spring and summer of 2020 vs. 2019 in the Northeast and Midwest United States. We used self-reported data from daily surveys available through a smartphone application, The Tick App. We simultaneously assessed changes in exposure to tick vectors in relation to changes in outdoor recreation. We observed a 30% increase in self-reported tick encounters during the spring and summer of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, and a two-fold increase in outdoor activities. We observed a shift towards peridomestic activities in 2020; while peridomestic activities doubled after stay-at-home measures were first implemented, recreational activities in green spaces initially decreased and only increased towards when mobility restrictions were relaxed, leading to a 18% increase in 2020. The timing of the initial shift in outdoor activities coincides with COVID-19 stay-at-home orders in the United States, suggesting changes in tick exposure were influenced by 2020 COVID-19-driven behavioral changes. Our findings suggest that public health response should also address competing hazards from COVID-19 related outdoor exposure.

Notes

This is a preliminary working paper. It has not been peer reviewed.

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