Non-intended health, economic and social effects of the COVID-19 epidemic control decisions: Lessons from SHARE (SHARE-COVID19)

Project Information

SHARE-COVID19

Grant agreement ID: 101015924

DOI

10.3030/101015924

Project closed

EC signature date 30 October 2020

Start date 1 November 2020

End date 30 June 2024

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Health, demographic change and well-being

Total cost

€ 6 847 680,25

EU contribution

€ 6 847 680,25

Coordinated by

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - SHARE-COVID19 (Non-intended health, economic and social effects of the COVID-19 epidemic control decisions: Lessons from SHARE (SHARE-COVID19))

Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2024-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The non-intended consequences of the epidemic control decisions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic are huge and affect the well-being of European citizens in terms of economics, social relationships and health. Europe is experiencing the largest recession since WWII; mobility, one of our basic rights, has been interrupted; social contacts have been reduced to a minimum; people have avoided seeking medical treatment in fear of infection.
The overarching objective of this project is to understand these non-intended consequences and to devise improved health, economic and social policies. In our policy recommendations, we strive to make healthcare systems and societies in the EU more resilient to pandemics in terms of prevention, protection and treatment of the population 50+ that includes a particularly vulnerable part of the population. The project aims to identify healthcare inequalities before, during and after the pandemic; to understand the lockdown effects on health and health behaviours; to analyse labour market implications of the lockdown; to assess the impacts of pandemic and lockdown on income and wealth inequality; to mitigate the effects of epidemic control decisions on social relationships; to optimise future epidemic control measures by taking the geographical patterns of the disease and their relationship with social patterns into account; and to better manage housing and living arrangements choices between independence, co-residence or institutionalisation.
The project is of utmost importance to our society as it transforms the insights of the SHARE team about the effects of COVID-19 into concrete policy advice. It pursues a transdisciplinary and internationally comparative approach by exploiting the data sources of the SHARE research infrastructure covering all EU MS. Combined with data from previous waves, the SHARE Corona Survey underpins SHARE’s socioeconomic impact in many fields. The project’s team represents medicine, public health, economics and sociology and has worked together for many years. It is experienced in translating data analysis into concrete policy advice. The project’s policy recommendations are targeted at policy makers in the Commission and in national ministries as well as at national and international NGOs and social organisations.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Accomplishments in RP1:
- WP1: The survey was carried out from June to August 2021 and yielded 50,490 interviews in 28 countries.
- WP2: Results show significant differences in accessing healthcare due to economic and medical vulnerabilities. Limited access to health care was more common for the occupationally active, women, the more educated and those living in urban areas.
- WP3: Results show that there was a slightly higher risk of feeling lonely. In contrast, fewer participants felt ‘sad or depressed’, and fewer had sleeping problems. Stricter policies correlated with higher prevalence of protective behaviour.
- WP4: Results show that job characteristics have been major determinants of the probability of undergoing work interruptions and their duration. Women, self-employed and less educated workers have been negatively affected by the pandemic.
- WP5: Results show that that education and income before the pandemic have a protective role, and so does being past retirement age. For households under retirement age, the pandemic has exacerbated inequalities.
- WP6: Results show that providing personal care to parents increased in almost all European countries, while care to children decreased. In most countries, difficulties in receiving home care services from professional providers were reported. Face-to-face network contact significantly reduced negative mental health changes while electronic contact significantly increased them. Older Europeans responded strongly to the recommended protective behaviour measures, mostly due to fear of infection.
- WP7: These data will now be fed into epidemiological models of the SEIR type. First results from WP7 show that older Europeans across the continent have reduced their daily activities quite substantially during the pandemic.
- WP8: Results show that the mental well-being of couples suffered, the one of single persons living with others (typically their children) improved. Living in a city became detrimental, especially in apartments. Excess mortality in nursing homes is observed in Central and Eastern European countries.
- WP9: The WP has been responsible for the development of the questionnaire for the second round of the SHARE Corona Survey, data release, and dissemination. The new data was cleaned and linked it with the SHARE base panel to prepare the release of the data.
- WP10: The subwebsite for the SHARE-COVID19 project findings was created. Dissemination takes place via newsletter, social media or press release. Project members gave numerous interviews and talks presenting the initial results. The project fostered exchange with several projects and research networks.

Accomplishments in RP2:
- A total of 35 papers were published or accepted for publication
- In addition, 32 chapters for the draft of the First Results Book "Social, health, and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the epidemiological control measures. First results from SHARE Corona Waves 1 and 2" were prepared
- 2 project conferences on refined analyses with data from SHARE Corona Survey 1 (milestones 4) and SHARE Corona Survey 2 (milestone 5) were organized by WP1
- 6 national and international user workshops were provided to the research community

Accomplishments in RP3:
- A total of 73 publications
- The WPs have published 59 papers; 12 more are in preperation/submitted (the papers of WP4 without indication of journal/year/status are not included here)
Conferences:
- 2 project conferences organized by WP1
- 13 external conferences/workshops

During the fourth and final reporting period, the project accomplished the following tasks:
Publications:
- A total of 35 publications in the last reporting period
- Some more are in preparation or submitted.
- The First Results Book was published.
- Overall, 234 publications during the entire project duration
Data:
- SHARE Release 9.0.0 was used to generate the merged dataset containg pre-pandemic data, both rounds of SCS and post-pandemic Wave 9 data.
Conferences:
- The Final Dissemination Conference took place in Brussels on 26 June 2024.
- 9 external conferences/workshops/meetings

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Our expectations of impact on scientists, policy makers and social organisations are still relevant. SHARE keeps increasing its user count. Currently, SHARE has almost 20,000 registered users from 76 countries and from a broad range of organisations and disciplines. With the data releases of the SHARE Corona Survey data, the publication count has even increased faster. Hence, this project had additional large impact on the research landscape well beyond the direct effects of this project. Along with all findings to date and despite the project end, we are confident that scientists will deliver more policy-relevant results that are related to the non-intended effects of the epidemic control measures on older people’s physical and mental health, health behaviours, healthcare usage, employment and working conditions, income, social relationships, and housing and living arrangements.

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