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Correcting the Reproduction Number for Time-Varying Tests: a Proposal and an Application to COVID-19 in France

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Abstract

We provide a novel way to correct the effective reproduction number for the time-varying amount of tests, using the acceleration index (Baunez et al., 2021) as a simple measure of viral spread dynamics. Not correcting results in the reproduction number being a biased estimate of viral acceleration and we provide a formal decomposition of the resulting bias, involving the useful notions of test and infectivity intensities. When applied to French data for the COVID-19 pandemic (May 13, 2020 - October 26, 2022), our decomposition shows that the reproduction number, when considered alone, characteristically underestimates the resurgence of the pandemic, compared to the acceleration index which accounts for the time-varying volume of tests. Because the acceleration index aggregates all relevant information and captures in real time the sizable time variation featured by viral circulation, it is a more parsimonious indicator to track the dynamics of an infectious disease outbreak in real time, compared to the equivalent alternative which would combine the reproduction number with the test and infectivity intensities.

Suggested Citation

  • Christelle Baunez & Michaël Degoulet & Stéphane Luchini & Matteo L. Pintus, 2022. "Correcting the Reproduction Number for Time-Varying Tests: a Proposal and an Application to COVID-19 in France," AMSE Working Papers 2210, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France, revised Jan 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2210
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    1. C. Baunez & Mickael Degoulet & Stéphane Luchini & Patrick Pintus & Miriam Teschl, 2020. "Sub-National Allocation of COVID-19 Tests: An Efficiency Criterion with an Application to Italian Regions," Post-Print hal-03140005, HAL.
    2. Christelle Baunez & Mickael Degoulet & Stéphane Luchini & Patrick A Pintus & Miriam Teschl, 2021. "Tracking the dynamics and allocating tests for COVID-19 in real-time: An acceleration index with an application to French age groups and départements," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-21, June.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; reproduction number; testing; acceleration index; real-time analysis; France;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management

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