Impact of dynamic self-protection intensity on the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study in Shenzhen based on medical resources

Owing to the high uptake of vaccines and the low mortality of the Omicron variants, the Chinese government has shifted away from the ‘dynamic zero-COVID’ policy, which used to be effective for controlling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic but with a high economic cost. This study proposes a Dynamic Self-Protection Intensity (DSPI) strategy, a liberalization policy can be used in the later stages of a pandemic. We investigate its impact on society particularly on the burden of medical needs. If citizens in Shenzhen have adopted the weak and strong DSPI strategies proposed in this paper at the beginning of the waiver of ‘dynamic zero-COVID’, it would effectively alleviate the run on medical resources by postponing the peak backwards to two or three lower peaks. This study also provides some insight into how to prevent and control future pandemic outbreaks.