{"title":"人类粪便和公共厕所在 COVID-19 传播中的关键作用:来自中国的证据","authors":"Qiuyun Wang, Lu Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2021.103350","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The surprising spread speed of the COVID-19 pandemic creates an urgent need for investigating the transmission chain or transmission pattern of COVID-19 beyond the traditional respiratory channels. This study therefore examines whether human feces and public toilets play a critical role in the transmission of COVID-19. First, it develops a theoretical model that simulates the transmission chain of COVID-19 through public restrooms. Second, it uses stabilized epidemic data from China to empirically examine this theory, conducting an empirical estimation using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model with appropriate instrumental variables (IVs). This study confirms that the wastewater directly promotes the transmission of COVID-19 within a city. However, the role of garbage in this transmission chain is more indirect in the sense that garbage has a complex relationship with public toilets, and it promotes the transmission of COVID-19 within a city through interaction with public toilets and, hence, human feces. These findings have very strong policy implications in the sense that if we can somehow use the ratio of public toilets as a policy instrument, then we can find a way to minimize the total number of infections in a region. As shown in this study, pushing the ratio of public toilets (against open defecation) to the local population in a city to its optimal level would help to reduce the total infection in a region.</p>","PeriodicalId":22307,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":11.7000,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8433098/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"On the Critical Role of Human Feces and Public Toilets in the Transmission of COVID-19: Evidence from China.\",\"authors\":\"Qiuyun Wang, Lu Liu\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.scs.2021.103350\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p><p>The surprising spread speed of the COVID-19 pandemic creates an urgent need for investigating the transmission chain or transmission pattern of COVID-19 beyond the traditional respiratory channels. This study therefore examines whether human feces and public toilets play a critical role in the transmission of COVID-19. First, it develops a theoretical model that simulates the transmission chain of COVID-19 through public restrooms. Second, it uses stabilized epidemic data from China to empirically examine this theory, conducting an empirical estimation using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model with appropriate instrumental variables (IVs). This study confirms that the wastewater directly promotes the transmission of COVID-19 within a city. However, the role of garbage in this transmission chain is more indirect in the sense that garbage has a complex relationship with public toilets, and it promotes the transmission of COVID-19 within a city through interaction with public toilets and, hence, human feces. These findings have very strong policy implications in the sense that if we can somehow use the ratio of public toilets as a policy instrument, then we can find a way to minimize the total number of infections in a region. As shown in this study, pushing the ratio of public toilets (against open defecation) to the local population in a city to its optimal level would help to reduce the total infection in a region.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":22307,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Sustainable Cities and Society\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":11.7000,\"publicationDate\":\"2021-12-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8433098/pdf/\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Sustainable Cities and Society\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"5\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103350\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"工程技术\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"2021/9/11 0:00:00\",\"PubModel\":\"Epub\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"Engineering\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Sustainable Cities and Society","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103350","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2021/9/11 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Engineering","Score":null,"Total":0}
On the Critical Role of Human Feces and Public Toilets in the Transmission of COVID-19: Evidence from China.
The surprising spread speed of the COVID-19 pandemic creates an urgent need for investigating the transmission chain or transmission pattern of COVID-19 beyond the traditional respiratory channels. This study therefore examines whether human feces and public toilets play a critical role in the transmission of COVID-19. First, it develops a theoretical model that simulates the transmission chain of COVID-19 through public restrooms. Second, it uses stabilized epidemic data from China to empirically examine this theory, conducting an empirical estimation using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model with appropriate instrumental variables (IVs). This study confirms that the wastewater directly promotes the transmission of COVID-19 within a city. However, the role of garbage in this transmission chain is more indirect in the sense that garbage has a complex relationship with public toilets, and it promotes the transmission of COVID-19 within a city through interaction with public toilets and, hence, human feces. These findings have very strong policy implications in the sense that if we can somehow use the ratio of public toilets as a policy instrument, then we can find a way to minimize the total number of infections in a region. As shown in this study, pushing the ratio of public toilets (against open defecation) to the local population in a city to its optimal level would help to reduce the total infection in a region.
期刊介绍:
Sustainable Cities and Society (SCS) is an international journal focusing on fundamental and applied research aimed at designing, understanding, and promoting environmentally sustainable and socially resilient cities.