The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between public protests and county-level, novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) hospitalization rates across California. Publicly available data were included in the analysis from 55 of 58 California state counties (29 March–14 October 2020). Mixed-effects negative binomial regression models were used to examine the relationship between daily county-level COVID-19 hospitalizations and two main exposure variables: any vs. no protests and 1 or >1 protest vs. no protests on a given county-day. COVID-19 hospitalizations were used as a proxy for viral transmission since such rates are less sensitive to temporal changes in testing access/availability. Models included covariates for daily county mobility, county-level characteristics, and time trends. Models also included a county-population offset and a two-week lag for the association between exposure and outcome. No significant associations were observed between protest exposures and COVID-19 hospitalization rates among the 55 counties. We did not find evidence to suggest that public protests were associated with COVID-19 hospitalization within California counties. These findings support the notion that protesting during a pandemic may be safe, ostensibly, so long as evidence-based precautionary measures are taken.
【저자키워드】 California, mixed-effects models, novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) hospitalization, public protests, county-level, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, pandemic, Hospitalization, outcome, novel coronavirus disease, Characteristics, Model, COVID-19 hospitalization, Viral transmission, association, Evidence, Analysis, Safe, Support, available data, measure, covariate, were used, less, changes in, binomial regression model, offset, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 novel, Public, protest,