Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 3, 2025

Large-Scale SARS-CoV-2 Testing Utilizing Saliva and Transposition Sample Pooling
Published on: June 23, 2022
SARS-CoV-2 suppression and early closure of bars and restaurants: a longitudinal natural experiment
Reo Takaku1, Izumi Yokoyama2, Takahiro Tabuchi3
1Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, Kunitachi, Japan. reo.takaku@r.hit-u.ac.jp.
Abstract:
Despite severe economic damage, full-service restaurants and bars have been closed in hopes of suppressing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 worldwide. This paper explores whether the early closure of restaurants and bars in February 2021 reduced symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 in Japan. Using a large-scale nationally representative longitudinal survey, we found that the early closure of restaurants and bars decreased the utilization rate among young persons (OR 0.688; CI95 0.515-0.918) and those who visited these places before the pandemic (OR 0.754; CI95 0.594-0.957). However, symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 did not decrease in these active and high-risk subpopulations. Among the more inactive and low-risk subpopulations, such as elderly persons, no discernible impacts are observed in both the utilization of restaurants and bars and the symptoms of SARS-CoV-2. These results suggest that the early closure of restaurants and bars without any other concurrent measures does not contribute to the suppression of SARS-CoV-2.
Related Concept Videos
Causality in Epidemiology
Censoring Survival Data
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs
Longitudinal Studies
Limits to Natural Selection

