Yang, BingyiHuang, Angkana T.Garcia-Carreras, BernardoHart, William E.Staid, AndreaHitchings, Matt D. T.Lee, Elizabeth C.Howe, Chanelle J.Grantz, Kyra H.Wesolowksi, AmyLemaitre, Joseph ChadiRattigan, SusanMoreno, CarlosBorgert, Brooke A.Dale, CelesteQuigley, NicoleCummings, AndrewMcLorg, AlizeeLoMonaco, KaeleneSchlossberg, SarahBarron-Kraus, DrewShrock, HarrisonLessler, JustinLaird, Carl D.Cummings, Derek A. T.2021-07-172021-07-172021-07-172021-06-1110.1038/s41467-021-23865-8https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/180118WOS:000663756500009Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) remain the only widely available tool for controlling the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We estimated weekly values of the effective basic reproductive number (R-eff) using a mechanistic metapopulation model and associated these with county-level characteristics and NPIs in the United States (US). Interventions that included school and leisure activities closure and nursing home visiting bans were all associated with a median R-eff below 1 when combined with either stay at home orders (median R-eff 0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.58-1.39) or face masks (median R-eff 0.97, 95% CI 0.58-1.39). While direct causal effects of interventions remain unclear, our results suggest that relaxation of some NPIs will need to be counterbalanced by continuation and/or implementation of others. Disentangling the impacts of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 transmission is challenging as they have been used in different combinations across time and space. This study shows that, early in the epidemic, school/daycare closures and stopping nursing home visits were associated with the biggest reduction in transmission in the United States.Multidisciplinary SciencesScience & Technology - Other Topicsr-packagecovid-19text::journal::journal article::research article