The drivers of policies to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Europe

While many articles have analyzed the effectiveness of the policies that aimed to limit the spread of COVID-19, very little research work has examined the determinants that drove these policies. Therefore, we proposed to study the determinants that led government authorities to implement more or less restrictive policies to limit the spread of the pandemic. Using the COVID-19 stringency index, we highlighted a positive effect of the incidence rate on the stringency level. Patient capacity in intensive care units was also a key variable. This is indicative of the capacity of countries to have a sufficient and appropriate health system to absorb such pandemic crises. On the other hand, we show that epidemiological data regarding the risk of excess mortality (diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular pathologies) had a negative effect. We conclude by recalling the importance of policy coordination between countries when it comes to lowering the stringency levels of measures, in order to avoid a resurgence of the epidemic.