Date of Graduation

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Industrial Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Zhang, Shengfan

Committee Member/Reader

Liu, Xiao

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 has created a major crisis across the world since its start in 2019, and its influence on every realm of society is undeniable. Globally, more than 500 million cases have been recorded since March 2020, with almost 6 million deaths. In the wake of this crisis, many governments and health organizations have taken steps and precautions to mitigate its spread. These steps involve public mandates of information, reducing frequency of personal contact, and use of masks to minimize the risk of transmission. Current access to mobility data released from Google detailing population movements has provided a great opportunity to quantify the correlation between COVID-19 mandates and health policies on community traveling and COVID spread. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between population mobility and the COVID pandemic, specifically focusing on the state of Arkansas. Three main types of mobility changes and various indicators of COVID spread were examined from available data ranging from March of 2020 to March of 2022. We employed various statistical methods including discontinued regression, causality tests, and mixed regression models to better understand how implemented COVID safety polices relate to a population’s aggregate mobility, and to estimate the subsequent correlation between population mobility and COVID-19 spread within counties in Arkansas.

Keywords

Regression; COVID-19; Mobility; Arkansas

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