Substantial impact of mobility restrictions on reducing COVID-19 incidence in Italy in 2020.

BACKGROUND: Italy was the first country after China to be severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, in early 2020. The country responded swiftly to the outbreak with a nationwide two-step lockdown, the first one light and the second one tight. By analyzing 2020 national mobile phone movements, we assessed how lockdown compliance influenced its efficacy. METHODS: We measured individual mobility during the first epidemic wave with mobile phone movements tracked through carrier networks, and related this mobility to daily new SARS-CoV-2 infections, hospital admissions, intensive care admissions and deaths attributed to COVID-19, taking into account reason for travel (work-related or not) and the means of transport. RESULTS: The tight lockdown resulted in an 82% reduction in mobility for the entire country and was effective in swiftly curbing the outbreak as indicated by a shorter time-to-peak of all health outcomes, particularly for provinces with the highest mobility reductions and the most intense COVID-19 spread. Reduction of work-related mobility was accompanied by a nearly linear benefit in outbreak containment; work-unrelated movements had a similar effect only for restrictions exceeding 50%. Reduction in mobility by car and by airplane was nearly linearly associated with a decrease in most COVID-19 health outcomes, while for train travel reductions exceeding 55% had no additional beneficial effects. The absence of viral variants and vaccine availability during the study period eliminated confounding from these two sources. CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to the COVID-19 tight lockdown during the first wave in Italy was high and effective in curtailing the outbreak. Any work-related mobility reduction was effective, but only high reductions in work-unrelated mobility restrictions were effective. For train travel, there was a threshold above which no further benefit occurred. These findings could be particular to the spread of SARS-CoV-2, but might also apply to other communicable infections with comparable transmission dynamics.

Proposals for Improving Mobility in the City of Pardubice and its Surroundings Through Selected Measures

Currently, the main topic of public transport entities is the effort to make this service more attractive. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been significant declines in passenger transport due to the forced decline in mobility. It is still appropriate to look for various solutions and measures to bring public transport back to the forefront of means of transport within the city. The authors of the article, using various measures and solutions, which they deal with in their dissertations, propose to improve mobility by public transport within the city of Pardubice and its surroundings. The proposals will be addressed, for example, in terms of synergies between urban public and regional / suburban transport (eg integrated transport systems), preferential measures for urban public transport vehicles on local roads, or synergies between urban public and individual transport (eg. parking systems). The aim of the article is, in addition to the mentioned proposals, also to point out weaknesses in the determined infrastructure. © 2021 Kaunas University of Technology. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Interurban Mobility in University Students: Motivation and Ecological Impact.

The management of mobility in large cities is a complex issue of great interest due to its economic, social, and environmental impact. In this work, the interurban mobility of engineering students from two campuses of the University of Seville is studied. Specifically, this work carries out an analysis of the preferences of students in terms of mobility to their study centres and determines the environmental impact of such mobility in terms of kg of CO2 per student. Three constructs can be found to describe the motivation for their choice of transport: those related to comfort and speed, those related to sustainability and price, and those related to safety. Based on the responses obtained, groups of students are established that enable the design of specific actions in accordance with each of the profiles. From the analysis of the results obtained, recommendations are made for policymakers, and a reflection is given on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this issue.