However, economic epidemiology also encompasses other ideas, including the role of externalities, global disease commons and how individuals’ incentives can influence the outcome and cost of health interventions.
[3][4][5][6] Alternatively, the waning of perceived risk, either through the diminution of prevalence or the introduction of a vaccine, may lead to increases in risky behavior.
For example, models suggested that the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which significantly reduced the morbidity and mortality associated with HIV/AIDS, may lead to increases in the incidence of HIV as the perceived risk of HIV/AIDS decreased.
[citation needed] Although STDs are logical targets for examining the role of human behavior in a modeling framework, personal actions are important for other infectious diseases as well.
[10] Even small reductions in the contact rate can be important, especially for diseases like influenza or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Epidemiologists at the time realized that the disease was spread through one's decisions around sex, and reasoned that it must then be considered an endogenous variable within the Nash-Equilibrium, therefor linking this with economics as the outcomes could then be predicted.
[24] Both Economics and Epidemiology however have influence from Utilitarianism in the form of, "doing the most good for the most people" or cost-benefit analysis as both fields of study hope to find net positives in the outcomes of their decisions.
[26] Somewhat similar to John Snow discovering the vector for cholera through water pumps, epidemiologists were able to track community spread of COVID-19 through municipal wastewater systems.
[28] Despite the shortcomings of Gross Domestic Product in this scenario it serves as a decent variable to describe the lost economic output due to these excess deaths.
Both of these situations can have positive and negative outcomes; whether it's getting additional assistance from the enhanced unemployment benefits for the greater part of 2021, or working from home with poor internet connectivity or no dedicated workspace.
A 2020 cross-sectional study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine Journal performed blood testing on a convenience sample in 10 geographic sites across the United States and found that based on seroprevalence there were 10 times more cases than was being reported.