Presentation Schedule
Transportation Flow and COVID-19 Transmission in Taiwan (104123)
Saturday, 9 May 2026 15:45
Session: Poster Session
Room: Hall B5 Foyer
Presentation Type: Poster Presentation
Because Taiwan experienced a large-scale outbreak of Taiwan’s COVID-19 pandemic later than in most of the world, this study takes advantage of the unique circumstance to examine the relationship between human mobility and viral transmission without a stringent lockdown by using daily township-level data from March 1, 2022, to March 21, 2023, includes new confirmed cases, highway passenger car volume, and railway ridership, while controlling for socioeconomic and atmospheric variables. We first employ spatial autocorrelation analysis to identify the geographic patterns in case distribution and then construct a dynamic Spatial Durbin panel model to disentangle the direct, indirect, and total effects of traffic flows on transmission. The analysis also compares results from two spatial weights matrices: a binary contiguity matrix (based on geographic boundaries) and an income-weighted matrix (reflecting economic intensity). Empirical findings show that railway passenger volume had a significant positive total effect on viral spread, mainly driven by indirect, cross-regional infection risks. In contrast, the direct effect of passenger car traffic was negative in the geographic model but became significantly positive when accounting for economic linkages, suggesting that in economically integrated areas, local gathering facilitated by personal vehicles may have unintentionally fueled local transmission. In conclusion, the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic is determined not only by human mobility but also by transportation modes, population clustering, and the nature of regional connections, suggesting that transportation-related pandemic control policies may need to be context-specific and tailored to local conditions to effectively balance public health with economic activity.
Authors:
Ya-Ming Liu, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
Wu-Yung Tseng, Taiwan Research Institute, Taiwan
About the Presenter(s)
Professor Ya-Ming Liu is currently a Professor of Economics at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan
See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule
Conference Comments & Feedback
Place a comment using your LinkedIn profileShare this Presentation
Comments
Powered by WP LinkPress