Curfew: Effective or not?

Is the implementation of curfew during the pandemic effective to minimize the virus spread.

As we are currently experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year now, there are various health protocols that are implemented which includes the curfew. Most people may have thought “Why do we need curfew?” “Is the virus only around during the night?” and other questions that are doubting the effectiveness of curfew.

Does the implementation of curfew hours help in minimizing the virus spread these days? To begin with, as stated in Oxford Dictionary, curfew is a regulation that requires people to remain inside their residence during a certain period of time which us usually at night. 

According to an article written by N. Schimelpfening (2020), curfew can help stop the spread of COVID-19. Since people are required to inside their homes during a certain timeframe in a day, we can reduce the number of contacts with people outside our households that are possibly infected by the virus. To say that the implementation of curfew hours does help during the pandemic is very difficult. As stated by Ira Longini, a biostatistician at University of Florida, curfews are an effective approach to halt the pandemic in general. However, he admitted that his point of view is based on intuition. 

Dr. Longini stated, “Scientific intuition does tell you something.” “It’s just that you can't quantify it very well.” An epidemiologist and professor emeritus at Ryerson University, Timothy Sly, also claims that curfews can be useful under right conditions. 

According to Sly, curfews can restrict the possibly asymptomatic and healthy from mixing at establishments such as night clubs, which are known super spreaders of the virus, but they can also reduce the amount of time and space available to get things done throughout the day. Also, with the curfew, a greater number of people will be outside during the day but to get other things done (like work) which will make the implementation of night curfew useless.

Curfews, according to Sly, must be set based on local and municipal assessments in order to be effective. According to him, the virus cannot survive in warm temperatures for long periods of time, and some parts of the world where happy hours and post-work bar culture are less common may not require such limits.So, does the implementation of curfew hours help in minimizing the virus spread these days? Some articles claims that it does while the others says the opposite. There are also saying that it depends. The main idea of implementing the curfew is to reduce the contact of people with those who are infected with the virus and so, it will not spread in a fast pace.

Source:

 Schimelpfening, N. (2020, December 1). Yes, curfews can help stop the spread of covid-19. here's how. Healthline. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://www.healthline.com/health-news/yes-curfews-can-help-stop-the-spread-of-covid-19-heres-how. 

Bensadoun, E. (2020, August 5). Done properly, night curfews can be helpful in curbing coronavirus outbreaks, experts say. Global News. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://www.google.com/amp/s/globalnews.ca/news/7252181/coronavirus-night-curfews-melbourne/amp/. 

Curfew. Oxford Reference. (n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095654513. 

Kolata, G. (2021, January 23). Do Curfews Slow The Coronavirus? The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/health/coronavirus-curfews.html.