The impact of mask-wearing in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 during the early phases of the pandemic.

Masks have been widely recommended as a precaution against COVID-19 transmission. Several studies have shown the efficacy of masks at reducing droplet dispersion in lab settings. However, during the early phases of the pandemic, the usage of masks varied widely across countries.

Preparing for a future COVID-19 wave: insights and limitations from a data-driven evaluation of non-pharmaceutical interventions in Germany.

To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, governments introduced strict Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPI) that restricted movement, public gatherings, national and international travel, and shut down large parts of the economy. Yet, the impact of the enforcement and subsequent loosening of these policies on the spread of COVID-19 is not well understood. Accordingly, we measure the impact of NPIs on mitigating disease spread by exploiting the spatio-temporal variations in policy measures across the 16 states of Germany.

Time course of cognitive training in Parkinson disease.

Background: People with Parkinson disease (PD) have difficulty initiating internally generated movements. We have shown that computer-based cognitive training can improve movement initiation. However, little is known about the optimal duration of training.