Citizen Behavior & Health Indicators in Israel During COVID-19: A Systematic Analysis of data over time

The management of the COVID-19 pandemic involves the interaction and collaboration of three key players: the citizens, policy and decision makers and the healthcare system. The main goal is to find the fragile balance between keeping an open society, a working economy and saving lives. SARS-COV-2 is known to be highly contagious, with a potential for severe health complications, especially in the elderly. In this paper we analyze changes in Israel, in health outcomes and citizen behavior, from the initial stages of the pandemic (March 2020) until the beginning of mass vaccination (December 2021). This perspective includes the impact of government’s policies (lockdowns and re-openings) on levels of morbidity. We used official national health data and Google Mobility data to examine these changes. Several models are used to analyze their mutual effects. Results show that public behavior changed over time to a lesser degree than health related data. The implications to policy formulation are also discussed. The main point in the paper is that data driven policy is much needed in conditions of pandemics.