The fight against COVID-19: Effectiveness, efficiency, and trade-offs – Stock-taking and lessons for the final spurt

More than one year of COVID-containment measures have yielded a rich collection of practical experiences across the globe. The measures adopted evolved through learning-by-doing, also peer-learning played a role. While containment measures were initially focusing on the preservation of public physical health (“whatever the cost”), tradeoffs with economic costs, civil liberties, children’s education and mental wellbeing moved increasingly in the focus later on. Furthermore, resource scarcity and challenges of their employment and distribution have substantially constrained the choice of containment decisions (initially masks, FFP2 masks, tests, vaccinations). Finally, diminishing public acceptance of containment measures has influenced the effectiveness of measures over time. Bearing in mind that an assessment of “effectiveness” and “efficiency” requires a clear view on the underlying aim(s) of measures, this workshop provides an overview of existing state-of-the-art theoretical and empirical research as well as practical experiences of what has so far emerged to work best.

Scientific committee: Ernest Gnan, OeNB and SUERF; Peter Klimek, Medical University of Vienna and CSH Vienna; Martin Schneider, OeNB; Stefan Thurner, CSH Vienna; Klaus Vondra, OeNB.