Testing for Endogeneity of Covid-19 Patient Assignments*

Abstract

A considerable number of individuals infected by COVID-19 died in self-isolation. This paper uses a graphical inference method to examine if patients were endogenously assigned to self-isolation during the early phase of COVID-19 epidemic in Ontario. The endogeneity of patient assignment is evaluated from a dependence measure revealing relationships between patients’ characteristics and their location at the time of death. We test for absence of assignment endogeneity in daily samples and study the dynamic of endogeneity. This methodology is applied to patients’ characteristics, such as age, gender, location of the diagnosing health unit, presence of symptoms, and underlying health conditions.