Instruct: Identify the main and secondary category of Arxiv papers based on the titles and abstracts
Query: Economic irreversibility in pandemic control processes: Rigorous
  modeling of delayed countermeasures and consequential cost increases   After the first lockdown in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, many countries
faced difficulties in balancing infection control with economics. Due to
limited prior knowledge, economists began researching this issue using
cost-benefit analysis and found that infection control processes significantly
affect economic efficiency. A UK study used economic parameters to numerically
demonstrate an optimal balance in the process, including keeping the infected
population stationary. However, universally applicable knowledge, which is
indispensable for the guiding principles of infection control, has not yet been
clearly developed because of the methodological limitations of simulation
studies. Here, we propose a simple model and theoretically prove the universal
result of economic irreversibility by applying the idea of thermodynamics to
pandemic control. This means that delaying infection control measures is more
expensive than implementing infection control measures early while keeping
infected populations stationary. This implies that once the infected population
increases, society cannot return to its previous state without extra
expenditures. This universal result is analytically obtained by focusing on the
infection-spreading phase of pandemics, and is applicable not just to COVID-19,
regardless of "herd immunity." It also confirms the numerical observation of
stationary infected populations in its optimally efficient process. Our
findings suggest that economic irreversibility is a guiding principle for
balancing infection control with economic effects.

13
The categories of this paper are: quant-ph
32
The categories of this paper are: atom-ph
16
The categories of this paper are: stat
15
The categories of this paper are: nucl-ex
36
The categories of this paper are: cmp-lg
21
The categories of this paper are: adap-org
14
The categories of this paper are: math-ph
8
The categories of this paper are: hep-ex
17
The categories of this paper are: q-fin
26
The categories of this paper are: bayes-an
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The categories of this paper are: solv-int
0
The categories of this paper are: hep-ph
34
The categories of this paper are: chem-ph
22
The categories of this paper are: chao-dyn
33
The categories of this paper are: plasm-ph
30
The categories of this paper are: q-alg