{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,25]],"date-time":"2026-04-25T01:42:25Z","timestamp":1777081345100,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,21]],"date-time":"2021-01-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1611187200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Social distancing has manifold effects and is used as a non-pharmacological measure to respond to pandemic situations such as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), especially in the absence of vaccines and other useful antiviral drugs. Governments around the globe have adopted and implemented a series of social distancing strategies. The efficacy of various policies and their comparative influence on mechanisms led by public actions and adoptions have not been examined. The differences in types and effective dates of various social distancing policies in various provinces\/territories of Pakistan constitute a pure ground to examine the causal effects of each COVID-19 policy. Using the location trends and population movement data released by Google, a quasi-experimental method was used to measure the impact of the government\u2019s various social distancing policies on the people\u2019s existence at home and their outside social mobility. Based on the magnitude and importance of policy influences, this research ranked six social distancing policies whose influence exceeded the effect of voluntary behavior. Our research outcomes describe that the trend of staying at home was firmly pushed by state-wide home order rather than necessary business closings and policies that were associated with public gathering restrictions. Strong government policies have a strong causal effect on reducing social interactions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph18030896","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,21]],"date-time":"2021-01-21T09:49:21Z","timestamp":1611222561000},"page":"896","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Untying the Precise Impact of COVID-19 Policy on Social Distancing Behavior"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6408-2848","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fakhar","family":"Shahzad","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9628-7496","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jianguo","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7293-4177","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Imran","family":"Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Management Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Punjab 63100, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7603-2824","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zeeshan","family":"Ahmad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Business Administration, Air University, Multan 66000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2391-6997","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Muhammad","family":"Shahbaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lyallpur Business School, Government College University Faisalabad, Punjab 38000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gralinski, L.E., and Menachery, V.D. (2020). Return of the coronavirus: 2019-nCoV. Viruses, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/v12020135"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"631","DOI":"10.1016\/S1473-3099(20)30190-0","article-title":"Scientific and ethical basis for social-distancing interventions against COVID-19","volume":"20","author":"Lewnard","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Adhanom Ghebreyesus, T. (2020, May 18). WHO Director-General\u2019s Opening Remarks at the Media Briefing on COVID-19. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/dg\/speeches\/detail\/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"582","DOI":"10.1080\/22221751.2020.1735265","article-title":"Diagnosis and clinical management of severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection: An operational recommendation of Peking Union Medical College Hospital (V2.0): Working Group of 2019 Novel Coronavirus, Peking Union Medical Colle","volume":"9","author":"Li","year":"2020","journal-title":"Emerg. Microbes Infect."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Qian, M., and Jiang, J. (2020). COVID-19 and social distancing. J. Public Health.","DOI":"10.1007\/s10389-020-01321-z"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rusu, M.-L. (2020, January 20). Social Distancing in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Proceedings of the International Conference Knowledge-Based Organization, Sibiu, Romania.","DOI":"10.2478\/kbo-2020-0100"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shahzad, F., Du, J., Khan, I., Fateh, A., Shahbaz, M., Abbas, A., and Wattoo, M.U. (2020). Perceived Threat of COVID-19 Contagion and Frontline Paramedics\u2019 Agonistic Behaviour: Employing a Stressor\u2013Strain\u2013Outcome Perspective. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 17.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17145102"},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"9","article-title":"Covid-19: Social distancing or social isolation?","volume":"369","author":"Gupta","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kaya, T. (2020). The changes in the effects of social media use of Cypriots due to COVID-19 pandemic. Technol. Soc., 63.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.techsoc.2020.101380"},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"S21","article-title":"Social distancing: A non-pharmacological intervention for COVID-19","volume":"70","author":"Mal","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Pak. Med. Assoc."},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"1","article-title":"The Immediate Effect of COVID-19 Policies on Social Distancing Behavior in the United States","volume":"20057356","author":"Abouk","year":"2020","journal-title":"SSRN Electron. J."},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"1","article-title":"The effect of COVID-19 and subsequent social distancing on travel behavior","volume":"5","year":"2020","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Interdiscip. Perspect."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"493","DOI":"10.1126\/science.abb4218","article-title":"The effect of human mobility and control measures on the COVID-19 epidemic in China","volume":"368","author":"Kraemer","year":"2020","journal-title":"Science (80-)"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"638","DOI":"10.1126\/science.abb6105","article-title":"An investigation of transmission control measures during the first 50 days of the COVID-19 epidemic in China","volume":"368","author":"Tian","year":"2020","journal-title":"Science (80-)"},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"1","article-title":"Should Low-Income Countries Impose the Same Social Distancing Guidelines as Europe and North America to halt the spread of COVID19?","volume":"April","year":"2020","journal-title":"Yale Univ."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wilson, D.J. (2020). Weather, Social Distancing, and the Spread of COVID-19. medRxiv.","DOI":"10.1101\/2020.07.23.20160911"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Askitas, N., Tatsiramos, K., and Verheyden, B. (2020). Lockdown strategies, mobility patterns and COVID-19. arXiv.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.3619687"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1237","DOI":"10.1377\/hlthaff.2020.00608","article-title":"Strong Social Distancing Measures in The United States Reduced The COVID-19 Growth Rate","volume":"39","author":"Courtemanche","year":"2020","journal-title":"Health Aff."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.1007\/s11135-009-9281-4","article-title":"The use of quasi-experiments in the social sciences: A content analysis","volume":"45","author":"Aussems","year":"2011","journal-title":"Qual. Quant."},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"77482","article-title":"Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand","volume":"10","author":"Ferguson","year":"2020","journal-title":"Imp. Coll. Lond."}],"container-title":["International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/18\/3\/896\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T05:13:22Z","timestamp":1760159602000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/18\/3\/896"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,21]]},"references-count":20,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2]]}},"alternative-id":["ijerph18030896"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijerph18030896","relation":{},"ISSN":["1660-4601"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1660-4601","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,21]]}}}