Emotional Adaptation During A Crisis: Decline in Anxiety and Depression After the Initial Weeks of COVID-19 in the United States (preprint)

Objective: Crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic are known to exacerbate depression and anxiety, though their temporal trajectories remain unclear. The present study aims to investigate fluctuations in depression and anxiety using COVID-19 as a model crisis. Methods: 1,512 adults living in the U.S. enrolled in this online study on April 2nd, 2020 and were assessed weekly for 10 weeks (until June 4th, 2020; final n=537). Depression and anxiety were measured using the Zung Self-Rating Depression scale and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (state subscale), respectively, along with demographic and COVID-related questions. Mixed-effects linear regression models were used to examine factors contributing to longitudinal changes in depression and anxiety. Results: Depression and anxiety levels were high in early April, but declined over time (F(9,4824)=17.53, p

Containment of future waves of COVID-19: simulating the impact of different policies and testing capacities for contact tracing, testing, and isolation (preprint)

We used multi-agents simulations to estimate the testing capacity required to find and isolate a number of infections sufficient to break the chain of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Depending on the mitigation policies in place, a daily capacity between 0.7 to 3.6 tests per thousand was required to contain the disease. However, if contact tracing and testing efficacy dropped below 60% (e.g. due to false negatives or reduced tracing capability), the number of infections kept growing exponentially, irrespective of any testing capacity. Under these conditions, the population's geographical distribution and travel behaviour could inform sampling policies to aid a successful containment.