TITLE:
Optimal Control Strategies for Assessing the Impact of Medical Masks on COVID-19 Dynamics: Global Perspectives and Societal Well-Being
AUTHORS:
Amira Rachah
KEYWORDS:
Optimal Control, Medical Mask, COVID-19, Well-Being, Social Factors
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.12 No.3,
March
25,
2024
ABSTRACT: The pandemic crisis caused by the spread of the COVID-19
variants elicited how urgent is to establish
a robust mathematical model for effective policy decision-making. To investigate the effectiveness
of control measures like medical masks on the transmission dynamics of
COVID-19, more sophisticated mathematical models can be employed. The purpose
of this study is to investigate the
effectiveness of control measures, e.g., medical masks use on the transmission dynamics of COVID-19. In this work, we
have established a model that includes medical masks use in order to
study its ability to flatten the epidemic curve, taking into account
demographic rates (birth and death rates). The model was used to formulate an
optimal control study with the objective function of minimizing the number of
infected individuals and relative cost of the interventions associated with
medical masks use. The aim is to reduce the transmission of the virus in order
to keep the healthcare services below full capacity and to reduce the total
cumulative infected. The model was used to assess the importance of mask usage
in society by evaluating its impact on the spread of the virus in Norway, the
United States and India. Medical mask use
during COVID-19 significantly reshaped social norms while presenting diverse effects on individual well-being,
blending cultural, psychological, and health-related impacts.