IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0296851.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing community-level impacts of and responses to stay at home orders: The King County COVID-19 community study

Author

Listed:
  • Kathleen Moloney
  • Julio A Lamprea Montealegre
  • Tania M Busch Isaksen
  • Mallory Kennedy
  • Megan Archer
  • Carlos Contreras
  • Daaniya Iyaz
  • Juliette Randazza
  • Javier Silva
  • Nicole A Errett

Abstract

Background: At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) of unprecedented scope and duration were implemented to limit community spread of COVID-19. There remains limited evidence about how these measures impacted the lived experience of affected communities. This study captured the early impacts and coping strategies implemented in King County, Washington, one of the first U.S. communities impacted by COVID-19. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional web-based survey of 793 English- and Spanish-speaking adult King County residents from March 18, 2020 –May 30, 2020, using voluntary response sampling. The survey included close- and open-ended questions on participant demographics, wellbeing, protective actions, and COVID-19-related concerns, including a freeform narrative response to describe the pandemic’s individual-, family- and community-level impacts and associated coping strategies. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze close-ended questions, and qualitative content analysis methods were used to analyze free-form narrative responses. Results: The median age of participants was 45 years old, and 74% were female, 82% were White, and 6% were Hispanic/Latinx; 474 (60%) provided a qualitative narrative. Quantitative findings demonstrated that higher percentages of participants engaged in most types of COVID-19 protective behaviors after the stay-at-home order was implemented and schools and community spaces were closed, relative to before, and that participants tended to report greater concern about the pandemic’s physical health or healthcare access impacts than the financial or social impacts. Qualitative data analysis described employment or financial impacts (56%) and vitality coping strategies (65%), intended to support health or positive functioning. Conclusions: This study documented early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the NPIs implemented in response, as well as strategies employed to cope with those impacts, which can inform early-stage policy formation and intervention strategies to mitigate the negative impacts. Future research should explore the endurance and evolution of the early impacts and coping strategies throughout the multiyear pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathleen Moloney & Julio A Lamprea Montealegre & Tania M Busch Isaksen & Mallory Kennedy & Megan Archer & Carlos Contreras & Daaniya Iyaz & Juliette Randazza & Javier Silva & Nicole A Errett, 2024. "Assessing community-level impacts of and responses to stay at home orders: The King County COVID-19 community study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(2), pages 1-20, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0296851
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296851
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296851
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296851&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0296851?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Egger, Dennis & Miguel, Edward & Warren, Shana S. & Shenoy, Ashish & Collins, Elliott & Karlan, Dean & Parkerson, Doug & Mobarak, A. Mushfiq & Fink, Günther & Udry, Christopher & Walker, Michael & Hau, 2021. "Falling living standards during the COVID-19 crisis: Quantitative evidence from nine developing countries," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(6), pages 1-1.
    2. Andrew T Gloster & Demetris Lamnisos & Jelena Lubenko & Giovambattista Presti & Valeria Squatrito & Marios Constantinou & Christiana Nicolaou & Savvas Papacostas & Gökçen Aydın & Yuen Yu Chong & Wai T, 2020. "Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health: An international study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabio Fontana & Kelsey Bourbeau & Terence Moriarty & Michael Pereira da Silva, 2022. "The Relationship between Physical Activity, Sleep Quality, and Stress: A Study of Teachers during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-9, November.
    2. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Oseni, Gbemisola & Abanokova, Kseniya, 2025. "Educational inequalities during COVID-19: Results from longitudinal surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Hammond, James & Siegal, Kim & Milner, Daniel & Elimu, Emmanuel & Vail, Taylor & Cathala, Paul & Gatera, Arsene & Karim, Azfar & Lee, Ja-Eun & Douxchamps, Sabine & Tu, Mai Thanh & Ouma, Emily & Lukuyu, 2022. "Perceived effects of COVID-19 restrictions on smallholder farmers: Evidence from seven lower- and middle-income countries," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    4. Hai-Anh H. Dang & Cuong Viet Nguyen, 2024. "Agricultural Production as a Coping Strategy during the Covid-19 Pandemic? Evidence from Rural Viet Nam," Working Papers DP-2023-23, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    5. Brotherhood, Luiz & Cavalcanti, Tiago & Da Mata, Daniel & Santos, Cezar, 2022. "Slums and pandemics," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. Olive Umuhire Nsababera & Vibhuti Mendiratta & Hannah Sam, 2023. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Household Welfare in the Comoros: The Experience of a Small Island Developing State," Global Perspectives on Wealth and Distribution, in: Shirley Johnson-Lans (ed.), The Coronavirus Pandemic and Inequality, chapter 0, pages 141-195, Palgrave Macmillan.
    7. Emily Aiken & Suzanne Bellue & Dean Karlan & Christopher R. Udry & Joshua Blumenstock, 2021. "Machine Learning and Mobile Phone Data Can Improve the Targeting of Humanitarian Assistance," NBER Working Papers 29070, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Brunckhorst, Ben & Cojocaru, Alexandru & Kim, Yeon Soo & Kugler, Maurice, 2024. "Long COVID: The evolution of household welfare in developing countries during the pandemic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    9. Giulia Barletta & Finório Castigo & Eva‐Maria Egger & Michael Keller & Vincenzo Salvucci & Finn Tarp, 2022. "The impact of COVID‐19 on consumption poverty in Mozambique," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 771-802, May.
    10. Barker, Nathan & Davis, C. Austin & López-Peña, Paula & Mitchell, Harrison & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq & Naguib, Karim & Reimão, Maira Emy & Shenoy, Ashish & Vernot, Corey, 2023. "Migration and resilience during a global crisis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    11. Amira El-Shal & Eman Moustafa & Nada Rostom & Yasmine Abdelfattah, 2025. "Social Safety Nets and Food Insecurity in MENA in the Time of COVID-19," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 37(1), pages 1-28, February.
    12. Lecoutere, Els & van den Berg, Marrit & de Brauw, Alan, 2023. "Changes in women’s empowerment in the household, women’s diet diversity, and their relationship against the background of COVID-19 in southern Bangladesh," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Chakravorty, Bhaskar & Bhatiya, Apurav Yash & Imbert, Clément & Lohnert, Maximilian & Panda, Poonam & Rathelot, Roland, 2023. "Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on India’s rural youth: Evidence from a panel survey and an experiment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    14. Abate, Gashaw T. & de Brauw, Alan & Hirvonen, Kalle & Wolle, Abdulazize, 2023. "Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    15. Ilyass Dahmouni & Elnaz Kanani Kuchesfehani, 2022. "Necessity of Social Distancing in Pandemic Control: A Dynamic Game Theory Approach," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 237-257, March.
    16. Bicalho, Clara & Platas, Melina R. & Rosenzweig, Leah R., 2021. "“If we move, it moves with us:” Physical distancing in Africa during COVID-19," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    17. Günther Fink & Katharina Förtsch & Stefan Felder, 2023. "Subjective burden of government-imposed Covid-19 restrictions in Switzerland: Evidence from the 2022 LINK Covid-19 survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(7), pages 1-13, July.
    18. Berkouwer, Susanna & Biscaye, Pierre & Hsu, Eric & Kim, Oliver & Lee, Kenneth & Miguel, Edward & Wolfram, Catherine, 2023. "Money or Power? Choosing Covid-19 aid in Kenya," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).
    19. Lenore Manderson & Diego Chavarro & Blessings Kaunda-Khangamwa & Alexander Kagaha & Henry Zakumumpa, 2022. "Containing COVID-19 and the social costs on human rights in African countries," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    20. Regassa, Mekdim D. & Esenaliev, Damir & Tzvetkova, Milena & Baliki, Ghassan & Schreiner, Monika & Stojetz, Wolfgang & Brück, Tilman, 2024. "The impacts of exposure to COVID-19 on food security and diet diversity in Africa," IAAE 2024 Conference, August 2-7, 2024, New Delhi, India 344321, International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0296851. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.