The spatial diffusion mechanism of Health QR Code Policy in the context of COVID-19

As a public health emergency, the COVID-19 has led to a devastating consequence, such as casualties and property losses on a global scale. Since February 2020, in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic as well as to promote the resumption of work and production, governments at all levels across China successively decided to take action and introduce the Health QR (quick response) Code Policy. What is known is that the Health QR Code Policy has become an important means and practice for effectively preventing and controlling the disastrous epidemic in China up to now. Based on the Event History Analysis (EHA) of the diffusion time and influencing factors of 295 cities at and above the prefecture level in China, this paper explores the spatio-temporal process and mechanism of the rapid policy implementation in tackling the pandemic across China, what is worth paying attention to is that the policy was first initiated and adopted by a provincial government. The findings are as follows: (1) The cities with higher digitization and economic strength would have a faster response to adopt the Health QR Code Policy. (2) What is worth considering is that the "learning" and "competition" behaviors among governments of neighboring cities would speed up the diffusion of the Health QR Code Policy, while the vertical guidance pressure of provincial governments did not play a significant role. (3) During the COVID-19, policy entrepreneurs have played a significant role in public emergency and become a powerful force that can accelerate the diffusion of Health QR Code Policy. (4) The epidemic situation of each city would affect the transmission rate of the Health QR Code Policy. There is no doubt that the geographical distance from the epidemic hotspots would also affect the governments to adopt the Health QR Code Policy in a short period. This paper, by analyzing the diffusion motivations of the Health QR Code Policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, could provide a predominant summary of experience and policy suggestions for understanding the formulation of emergency policies as well as the diffusion mechanism in the context of public crisis. © 2022, Science Press. All rights reserved.

The persuasive role of the past: Policy feedback and citizens' acceptance of information communication technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

How can the enforcement of policies in the past influence a society's future adoption of information communication technologies (ICTs)? In this paper, we tackle this question by exploring how past e-governance policies influence citizens' willingness to use the health QR code, which is a COVID-19 tracing app widely used in China's pandemic control. Past policies regarding smart-city development in China involve two aspects: the construction of electronic infrastructure and the applications of specific technologies. Empirical analysis based on a nationwide dataset in China suggests that past policies exhibit persuasive effects and influence citizens' acceptance of the health QR code. Specifically, e-governance applications in cities significantly enhance citizens' acceptance through the demonstration of their usefulness. However, the construction of e-governance infrastructure per se does not have the same impact on citizens' acceptance. By connecting citizens' acceptance of new technology with past e-governance policies, the study illustrates a nuanced policy feedback mechanism through which past policies can substantially reshape public opinion by policy outcomes.

¿Cómo puede la aplicación de políticas en el pasado influir en la futura adopción de tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) en una sociedad? En este documento, abordamos esta pregunta explorando cómo las políticas de gobierno electrónico anteriores influyen en la voluntad de los ciudadanos de usar el código QR de salud, que es una aplicación de rastreo de COVID­19 ampliamente utilizada en el control de la pandemia en China. Las políticas anteriores con respecto al desarrollo de ciudades inteligentes en China involucran dos aspectos: la construcción de infraestructura electrónica y las aplicaciones de tecnologías específicas. El análisis empírico basado en un conjunto de datos a nivel nacional en China sugiere que las políticas anteriores exhiben efectos persuasivos e influyen en la aceptación del código QR de salud por parte de los ciudadanos. Específicamente, las aplicaciones de gobierno electrónico en las ciudades mejoran significativamente la aceptación de los ciudadanos a través de la demostración de su utilidad. Sin embargo, la construcción de infraestructura de gobierno electrónico per se no tiene el mismo impacto en la aceptación de los ciudadanos. Al conectar la aceptación de las nuevas tecnologías por parte de los ciudadanos con las políticas anteriores de gobierno electrónico, el estudio ilustra un mecanismo matizado de retroalimentación de políticas a través del cual las políticas anteriores pueden remodelar sustancialmente la opinión pública mediante los resultados de las políticas.

APHC: Auditable and Privacy Preserving Health QR Code Based on Blockchain

The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought great pain to people around the world. As the epidemic continuing, prevention and control measures become particularly important. Then, the health QR code has been designed to tracing and controlling the epidemic. Through the health code, the confirmed cases and close contacts will be traced quickly. However, the health code records a great deal of residents’ privacy information and if it is leaked, the consequences will be severe. Although some existing health code schemes preserve the privacy, but most of them either do not support fine-grained auditability or are centralized health code storage. Therefore, we propose an auditable and privacy-preserving health QR code scheme based on blockchain. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Government responsiveness and public acceptance of big-data technology in urban governance: Evidence from China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to nations and cities worldwide. Governments have adopted Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to rapidly control the spread of a novel coronavirus. As an innovative but controversial ICT-based tool, health QR code plays a vital role by assisting rapid contact tracing. Yet, whether and how citizens accept this policy tool remains an unknown theoretical and empirical question. In this paper, we study the sources that determine citizens' acceptance of health QR code in city governance. Based on a nation-wide online survey covering 28 major provincial-capital cities in China, we find that individual experiences and political identities affect citizens' acceptance of QR code. Even though public opinion regarding this issue is diverse, the government's responses to citizens' requests play a critical role in enhancing their acceptance of using QR code both in the current and future stages. Specifically, as the citizens perceive a higher level of city government responsiveness, they are less worried about privacy leaks and more likely to perceive the effectiveness of health QR code in improving public health, thus resulting in a higher acceptance. The results offer broad policy implications for smart cities and urban governance.

Measures Undertaken in China to Avoid COVID-19 Infection: Internet-Based, Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: In early 2020, over 80,000 cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were confirmed in China. Public prevention and control measures, along with efforts from all sectors of society, were undertaken to control and eliminate disease transmission. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes Chinese citizens' response to the epidemic, the preventive measures they implemented to avoid being infected, and the public strategies that were carried out by the government, health workers, etc. We also discuss the efficacy of these measures in controlling the epidemic in China. METHODS: Information on the responses and behaviors of Chinese citizens were collected through a cross-sectional, internet-based survey using Dingxiang Doctor's public account on WeChat. Information on public strategies implemented by all sectors of society to control the epidemic and data on new COVID-19 cases were collected from the internet, mainly from government websites. Standard descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. RESULTS: A total of 10,304 participants responded to the survey, with 10,198 valid responses; 74.1% (n=7557) were female and 25.9% (n=2641) were male. Overall, 98.2% (n=10,013) of participants paid high or very high attention to the epidemic, with WeChat being their main information source (n=9400, 92.2%). Over half the participants (n=5878, 57.7%) were confident that the epidemic could be curbed in China; 92.4% (n=9427) opened windows for ventilation more frequently than usual; 97.9% (n=9986) used masks in public; 95.7% (n=9759) avoided large crowds and stayed at home as much as possible; and 97.9% (n=9988) washed their hands more often than usual. Women were more likely to practice these behaviors than men (P<.001). With a series of strict public control measures, like nationwide health education campaigns, holiday extensions, the Examine and Approve Policy on the resumption of work, close management of working and living quarters, a health QR (Quick Response) code system, community screening, and social distancing policies, the number of new cases have decreased dramatically since February 12, 2020. CONCLUSIONS: The methods employed by Chinese citizens and authorities have effectively curtailed the spread of COVID-19, demonstrating that this pandemic can be brought under control as long as the right measures are taken.