Social Distancing and Contagion in a Discrete Choice Model of COVID-19

We present an epidemic model in which heterogenous agents choose whether to enact
social distancing practices. The policy maker decides on the timing and the extent of
policies that incentivise social distancing. We evaluate the consequences of
interventions and find that: (i) the timing of intervention is paramount in slowing the
contagion, and (ii) a delay cannot be compensated by stronger measures.