Download This PaperHighways and Health Outcomes: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic in Appalachia
21 Pages Posted: 7 Dec 2022
Abstract
Highways provide linkages between communities, open new markets, and contribute to economic development. They also increase the efficiency of disease transmission between locations. Once a highway is in place and pathogens are moving back and forth between regions, a pathogen equilibrium may obtain. Though arterial highways might not connect more remote regions directly, the shorter transit time to more distant urban centers will link them as well. This paper on COVID-19 infections and mortality in the mostly rural Appalachia Region adds to the literature on health outcomes and transportation infrastructure through a natural experiment that demonstrates a highway neutral pathogen spread for both infection and mortality rates. Only when attractors, such as prisons, significantly increase the flow of traffic is there an infection incidence response. These results have policy implications for the efficacious use of limited public health resources.
Note:
Funding Information: I would like to thank Martin Sartorius and the Lowe Institute at Claremont McKenna College for providing seed funding and support for the initial data collection.
Declaration of Interests: None to declare.
Keywords: H4, I1, R1, R
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation