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Shubin M, Brustad HK, Midtbø JE, Günther F, Alessandretti L, Ala-Nissila T, Scalia Tomba G, Kivelä M, Chan LYH, Leskelä L. The influence of cross-border mobility on the COVID-19 epidemic in Nordic countries. PLoS Comput Biol 2024; 20:e1012182. [PMID: 38865414 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 05/20/2024] [Indexed: 06/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Restrictions of cross-border mobility are typically used to prevent an emerging disease from entering a country in order to slow down its spread. However, such interventions can come with a significant societal cost and should thus be based on careful analysis and quantitative understanding on their effects. To this end, we model the influence of cross-border mobility on the spread of COVID-19 during 2020 in the neighbouring Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. We investigate the immediate impact of cross-border travel on disease spread and employ counterfactual scenarios to explore the cumulative effects of introducing additional infected individuals into a population during the ongoing epidemic. Our results indicate that the effect of inter-country mobility on epidemic growth is non-negligible essentially when there is sizeable mobility from a high prevalence country or countries to a low prevalence one. Our findings underscore the critical importance of accurate data and models on both epidemic progression and travel patterns in informing decisions related to inter-country mobility restrictions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikhail Shubin
- Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | | | - Jørgen Eriksson Midtbø
- Department of Method Development and Analytics, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Felix Günther
- Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Tapio Ala-Nissila
- Quantum Technology Finland Center of Excellence, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
- Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Department of Mathematical Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Gianpaolo Scalia Tomba
- Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Mathematics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Mikko Kivelä
- Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | - Louis Yat Hin Chan
- Department of Method Development and Analytics, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Lasse Leskelä
- Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
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2
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Mora BB, Guisan A, Alexander JM. Uncovering Broad Macroecological Patterns by Comparing the Shape of Species' Distributions along Environmental Gradients. Am Nat 2024; 203:124-138. [PMID: 38207136 PMCID: PMC7616097 DOI: 10.1086/727518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
AbstractSpecies' distributions can take many different forms. For example, fat-tailed or skewed distributions are very common in nature, as these can naturally emerge as a result of individual variability and asymmetric environmental tolerances, respectively. Studying the basic shape of distributions can teach us a lot about the ways climatic processes and historical contingencies shape ecological communities. Yet we still lack a general understanding of how their shapes and properties compare to each other along gradients. Here, we use Bayesian nonlinear models to quantify range shape properties in empirical plant distributions. With this approach, we are able to distil the shape of plant distributions and compare them along gradients and across species. Studying the relationship between distribution properties, we revealed the existence of broad macroecological patterns along environmental gradients-such as those expected from Rapoport's rule and the abiotic stress limitation hypothesis. We also find that some aspects of the shape of observed ranges-such as kurtosis and skewness of the distributions-could be intrinsic properties of species or the result of their historical contexts. Overall, our modeling approach and results untangle the general shape of plant distributions and provide a mapping of how this changes along environmental gradients.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Antoine Guisan
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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3
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Liu P, Zheng Y. Heavy-tailed distributions of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in spatiotemporal space. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0294445. [PMID: 37988387 PMCID: PMC10662771 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023] Open
Abstract
This paper conducts a systematic statistical analysis of the characteristics of the geographical empirical distributions for the numbers of both cumulative and daily confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths at county, city, and state levels over a time span from January 2020 to June 2022. The mathematical heavy-tailed distributions can be used for fitting the empirical distributions observed in different temporal stages and geographical scales. The estimations of the shape parameter of the tail distributions using the Generalized Pareto Distribution also support the observations of the heavy-tailed distributions. According to the characteristics of the heavy-tailed distributions, the evolution course of the geographical empirical distributions can be divided into three distinct phases, namely the power-law phase, the lognormal phase I, and the lognormal phase II. These three phases could serve as an indicator of the severity degree of the COVID-19 pandemic within an area. The empirical results suggest important intrinsic dynamics of a human infectious virus spread in the human interconnected physical complex network. The findings extend previous empirical studies and could provide more strict constraints for current mathematical and physical modeling studies, such as the SIR model and its variants based on the theory of complex networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng Liu
- School of Information, Xi’an University of Finance and Economics, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P. R. China
| | - Yanyan Zheng
- School of Management, Xi’an Polytechnic University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P. R. China
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4
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Murari A, Gelfusa M, Craciunescu T, Gelfusa C, Gaudio P, Bovesecchi G, Rossi R. Effects of environmental conditions on COVID-19 morbidity as an example of multicausality: a multi-city case study in Italy. Front Public Health 2023; 11:1222389. [PMID: 37965519 PMCID: PMC10642182 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1222389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), broke out in December 2019 in Wuhan city, in the Hubei province of China. Since then, it has spread practically all over the world, disrupting many human activities. In temperate climates overwhelming evidence indicates that its incidence increases significantly during the cold season. Italy was one of the first nations, in which COVID-19 reached epidemic proportions, already at the beginning of 2020. There is therefore enough data to perform a systematic investigation of the correlation between the spread of the virus and the environmental conditions. The objective of this study is the investigation of the relationship between the virus diffusion and the weather, including temperature, wind, humidity and air quality, before the rollout of any vaccine and including rapid variation of the pollutants (not only their long term effects as reported in the literature). Regarding them methodology, given the complexity of the problem and the sparse data, robust statistical tools based on ranking (Spearman and Kendall correlation coefficients) and innovative dynamical system analysis techniques (recurrence plots) have been deployed to disentangle the different influences. In terms of results, the evidence indicates that, even if temperature plays a fundamental role, the morbidity of COVID-19 depends also on other factors. At the aggregate level of major cities, air pollution and the environmental quantities affecting it, particularly the wind intensity, have no negligible effect. This evidence should motivate a rethinking of the public policies related to the containment of this type of airborne infectious diseases, particularly information gathering and traffic management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Murari
- Consorzio RFX (CNR, ENEA, INFN, Università di Padova, Acciaierie Venete SpA), Padua, Italy
- Istituto per la Scienza e la Tecnologia dei Plasmi, CNR, Padua, Italy
| | - Michela Gelfusa
- Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
| | - Teddy Craciunescu
- National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Măgurele, Romania
| | - Claudio Gelfusa
- Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
| | - Pasquale Gaudio
- Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
| | - Gianluigi Bovesecchi
- Department of Enterprise Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
| | - Riccardo Rossi
- Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
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5
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He Y, Martinez L, Ge Y, Feng Y, Chen Y, Tan J, Westbrook A, Li C, Cheng W, Ling F, Cheng H, Wu S, Zhong W, Handel A, Huang H, Sun J, Shen Y. Social Mixing and Network Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients Before and After Widespread Interventions: A Population-based Study. Epidemiol Infect 2023; 151:1-38. [PMID: 37577939 PMCID: PMC10540215 DOI: 10.1017/s0950268823001292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Revised: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/15/2023] Open
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 rapidly spreads among humans via social networks, with social mixing and network characteristics potentially facilitating transmission. However, limited data on topological structural features has hindered in-depth studies. Existing research is based on snapshot analyses, preventing temporal investigations of network changes. Comparing network characteristics over time offers additional insights into transmission dynamics. We examined confirmed COVID-19 patients from an eastern Chinese province, analyzing social mixing and network characteristics using transmission network topology before and after widespread interventions. Between the two time periods, the percentage of singleton networks increased from 38.9 to 62.8 ; the average shortest path length decreased from 1.53 to 1.14 ; the average betweenness reduced from 0.65 to 0.11 ; the average cluster size dropped from 4.05 to 2.72 ; and the out-degree had a slight but nonsignificant decline from 0.75 to 0.63 Results show that nonpharmaceutical interventions effectively disrupted transmission networks, preventing further disease spread. Additionally, we found that the networks’ dynamic structure provided more information than solely examining infection curves after applying descriptive and agent-based modeling approaches. In summary, we investigated social mixing and network characteristics of COVID-19 patients during different pandemic stages, revealing transmission network heterogeneities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuncong He
- School of Mathematics, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Leonardo Martinez
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, USA
| | - Yang Ge
- School of Health Professions, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, USA
| | - Yan Feng
- Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yewen Chen
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, USA
| | - Jianbin Tan
- School of Mathematics, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Adrianna Westbrook
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, USA
| | - Changwei Li
- Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, USA
| | - Wei Cheng
- Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, China
| | - Feng Ling
- Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, China
| | - Huimin Cheng
- Department of Statistics, University of Georgia, Athens, USA
| | - Shushan Wu
- Department of Statistics, University of Georgia, Athens, USA
| | - Wenxuan Zhong
- Department of Statistics, University of Georgia, Athens, USA
| | - Andreas Handel
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, USA
| | - Hui Huang
- Center for Applied Statistics and School of Statistics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
| | - Jimin Sun
- Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ye Shen
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, USA
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6
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Walker J, Tran T, Lappe B, Gastanaduy P, Paul P, Kracalik IT, Fields VL, Lopez A, Schwartz A, Lewis NM, Tate JE, Kirking HL, Hall AJ, Pevzner E, Khong H, Smithee M, Lowry J, Dunn A, Kiphibane T, Tran CH. Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and superspreading in Salt Lake County, Utah, March-May 2020. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0275125. [PMID: 37352280 PMCID: PMC10289415 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2022] [Accepted: 09/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/25/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding the drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission can inform the development of interventions. We evaluated transmission identified by contact tracing investigations between March-May 2020 in Salt Lake County, Utah, to quantify the impact of this intervention and identify risk factors for transmission. METHODS RT-PCR positive and untested symptomatic contacts were classified as confirmed and probable secondary case-patients, respectively. We compared the number of case-patients and close contacts generated by different groups, and used logistic regression to evaluate factors associated with transmission. RESULTS Data were collected on 184 index case-patients and up to six generations of contacts. Of 1,499 close contacts, 374 (25%) were classified as secondary case-patients. Decreased transmission odds were observed for contacts aged <18 years (OR = 0.55 [95% CI: 0.38-0.79]), versus 18-44 years, and for workplace (OR = 0.36 [95% CI: 0.23-0.55]) and social (OR = 0.44 [95% CI: 0.28-0.66]) contacts, versus household contacts. Higher transmission odds were observed for case-patient's spouses than other household contacts (OR = 2.25 [95% CI: 1.52-3.35]). Compared to index case-patients identified in the community, secondary case-patients identified through contract-tracing generated significantly fewer close contacts and secondary case-patients of their own. Transmission was heterogeneous, with 41% of index case-patients generating 81% of directly-linked secondary case-patients. CONCLUSIONS Given sufficient resources and complementary public health measures, contact tracing can contain known chains of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Transmission is associated with age and exposure setting, and can be highly variable, with a few infections generating a disproportionately high share of onward transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Walker
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Tiffany Tran
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Brooke Lappe
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Paul Gastanaduy
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Prabasaj Paul
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Ian T. Kracalik
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Victoria L. Fields
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
- Epidemic Intelligence Service, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Adriana Lopez
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Amy Schwartz
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Nathaniel M. Lewis
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
- Epidemic Intelligence Service, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
- Utah Department of Health, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Jacqueline E. Tate
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Hannah L. Kirking
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Aron J. Hall
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Eric Pevzner
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Ha Khong
- Salt Lake County Health Department, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Maureen Smithee
- Salt Lake County Health Department, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Jason Lowry
- Salt Lake County Health Department, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Angela Dunn
- Utah Department of Health, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Tair Kiphibane
- Salt Lake County Health Department, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Cuc H. Tran
- COVID-19 Response Team, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
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7
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Penn MJ, Laydon DJ, Penn J, Whittaker C, Morgenstern C, Ratmann O, Mishra S, Pakkanen MS, Donnelly CA, Bhatt S. Intrinsic randomness in epidemic modelling beyond statistical uncertainty. COMMUNICATIONS PHYSICS 2023; 6:146. [PMID: 38665405 PMCID: PMC11041706 DOI: 10.1038/s42005-023-01265-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 06/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Uncertainty can be classified as either aleatoric (intrinsic randomness) or epistemic (imperfect knowledge of parameters). The majority of frameworks assessing infectious disease risk consider only epistemic uncertainty. We only ever observe a single epidemic, and therefore cannot empirically determine aleatoric uncertainty. Here, we characterise both epistemic and aleatoric uncertainty using a time-varying general branching process. Our framework explicitly decomposes aleatoric variance into mechanistic components, quantifying the contribution to uncertainty produced by each factor in the epidemic process, and how these contributions vary over time. The aleatoric variance of an outbreak is itself a renewal equation where past variance affects future variance. We find that, superspreading is not necessary for substantial uncertainty, and profound variation in outbreak size can occur even without overdispersion in the offspring distribution (i.e. the distribution of the number of secondary infections an infected person produces). Aleatoric forecasting uncertainty grows dynamically and rapidly, and so forecasting using only epistemic uncertainty is a significant underestimate. Therefore, failure to account for aleatoric uncertainty will ensure that policymakers are misled about the substantially higher true extent of potential risk. We demonstrate our method, and the extent to which potential risk is underestimated, using two historical examples.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Mikko S. Pakkanen
- Imperial College London, London, UK
- University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Samir Bhatt
- Imperial College London, London, UK
- University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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8
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Shi H, Wang J, Cheng J, Qi X, Ji H, Struchiner CJ, Villela DAM, Karamov EV, Turgiev AS. Big data technology in infectious diseases modeling, simulation, and prediction after the COVID-19 outbreak. INTELLIGENT MEDICINE 2023; 3:85-96. [PMID: 36694623 PMCID: PMC9851724 DOI: 10.1016/j.imed.2023.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Revised: 12/06/2022] [Accepted: 01/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
After the outbreak of COVID-19, the interaction of infectious disease systems and social systems has challenged traditional infectious disease modeling methods. Starting from the research purpose and data, researchers improved the structure and data of the compartment model or used agents and artificial intelligence based models to solve epidemiological problems. In terms of modeling methods, the researchers use compartment subdivision, dynamic parameters, agent-based model methods, and artificial intelligence related methods. In terms of factors studied, the researchers studied 6 categories: human mobility, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), ages, medical resources, human response, and vaccine. The researchers completed the study of factors through modeling methods to quantitatively analyze the impact of social systems and put forward their suggestions for the future transmission status of infectious diseases and prevention and control strategies. This review started with a research structure of research purpose, factor, data, model, and conclusion. Focusing on the post-COVID-19 infectious disease prediction simulation research, this study summarized various improvement methods and analyzes matching improvements for various specific research purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Honghao Shi
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Jingyuan Wang
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Jiawei Cheng
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Xiaopeng Qi
- Center for Global Public Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102211, China
| | - Hanran Ji
- Center for Global Public Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102211, China
| | - Claudio J Struchiner
- Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Instituto de Medicina Social Hesio Cordeiro, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Daniel AM Villela
- Programa de Computação Científica, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Eduard V Karamov
- Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Ministry of Health, Russia
- National Medical Research Center of Phthisiopulmonology and Infectious Diseases of the Russian Ministry of Health, Russia
| | - Ali S Turgiev
- Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Ministry of Health, Russia
- National Medical Research Center of Phthisiopulmonology and Infectious Diseases of the Russian Ministry of Health, Russia
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9
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Kim S, Abdulali A, Lee S. Heterogeneity is a key factor describing the initial outbreak of COVID-19. APPLIED MATHEMATICAL MODELLING 2023; 117:714-725. [PMID: 36643779 PMCID: PMC9827748 DOI: 10.1016/j.apm.2023.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2022] [Revised: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Assessing the transmission potential of emerging infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, is crucial for implementing prompt and effective intervention policies. The basic reproduction number is widely used to measure the severity of the early stages of disease outbreaks. The basic reproduction number of standard ordinary differential equation models is computed for homogeneous contact patterns; however, realistic contact patterns are far from homogeneous, specifically during the early stages of disease transmission. Heterogeneity of contact patterns can lead to superspreading events that show a significantly high level of heterogeneity in generating secondary infections. This is primarily due to the large variance in the contact patterns of complex human behaviours. Hence, in this work, we investigate the impacts of heterogeneity in contact patterns on the basic reproduction number by developing two distinct model frameworks: 1) an SEIR-Erlang ordinary differential equation model and 2) an SEIR stochastic agent-based model. Furthermore, we estimated the transmission probability of both models in the context of COVID-19 in South Korea. Our results highlighted the importance of heterogeneity in contact patterns and indicated that there should be more information than one quantity (the basic reproduction number as the mean quantity), such as a degree-specific basic reproduction number in the distributional sense when the contact pattern is highly heterogeneous.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sungchan Kim
- Department of Applied Mathematics, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea
| | - Arsen Abdulali
- Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Sunmi Lee
- Department of Applied Mathematics, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea
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10
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Tsang TK, Huang X, Wang C, Chen S, Yang B, Cauchemez S, Cowling BJ. The effect of variation of individual infectiousness on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in households. eLife 2023; 12:82611. [PMID: 36880191 PMCID: PMC9991055 DOI: 10.7554/elife.82611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Quantifying variation of individual infectiousness is critical to inform disease control. Previous studies reported substantial heterogeneity in transmission of many infectious diseases including SARS-CoV-2. However, those results are difficult to interpret since the number of contacts is rarely considered in such approaches. Here, we analyze data from 17 SARS-CoV-2 household transmission studies conducted in periods dominated by ancestral strains, in which the number of contacts was known. By fitting individual-based household transmission models to these data, accounting for number of contacts and baseline transmission probabilities, the pooled estimate suggests that the 20% most infectious cases have 3.1-fold (95% confidence interval: 2.2- to 4.2-fold) higher infectiousness than average cases, which is consistent with the observed heterogeneity in viral shedding. Household data can inform the estimation of transmission heterogeneity, which is important for epidemic management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim K Tsang
- WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong KongHong KongChina
- Laboratory of Data Discovery for HealthHong KongChina
| | - Xiaotong Huang
- WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong KongHong KongChina
| | - Can Wang
- WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong KongHong KongChina
| | - Sijie Chen
- WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong KongHong KongChina
| | - Bingyi Yang
- WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong KongHong KongChina
| | - Simon Cauchemez
- Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases Unit, Institut PasteurParisFrance
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11
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Daouia A, Stupfler G, Usseglio-Carleve A. Extreme value modelling of SARS-CoV-2 community transmission using discrete generalized Pareto distributions. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:220977. [PMID: 36908992 PMCID: PMC9993046 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Superspreading has been suggested to be a major driver of overall transmission in the case of SARS-CoV-2. It is, therefore, important to statistically investigate the tail features of superspreading events (SSEs) to better understand virus propagation and control. Our extreme value analysis of different sources of secondary case data indicates that case numbers of SSEs associated with SARS-CoV-2 may be fat-tailed, although substantially less so than predicted recently in the literature, but also less important relative to SSEs associated with SARS-CoV. The results caution against pooling data from both coronaviruses. This could provide policy- and decision-makers with a more reliable assessment of the tail exposure to SARS-CoV-2 contamination. Going further, we consider the broader problem of large community transmission. We study the tail behaviour of SARS-CoV-2 cluster cases documented both in official reports and in the media. Our results suggest that the observed cluster sizes have been fat-tailed in the vast majority of surveyed countries. We also give estimates and confidence intervals of the extreme potential risk for those countries. A key component of our methodology is up-to-date discrete generalized Pareto models which allow for maximum likelihood-based inference of data with a high degree of discreteness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdelaati Daouia
- Toulouse School of Economics, University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France
| | - Gilles Stupfler
- University of Angers, CNRS, LAREMA, SFR MATHSTIC, 49000 Angers, France
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12
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Guo Z, Zhao S, Lee SS, Hung CT, Wong NS, Chow TY, Yam CHK, Wang MH, Wang J, Chong KC, Yeoh EK. A statistical framework for tracking the time-varying superspreading potential of COVID-19 epidemic. Epidemics 2023; 42:100670. [PMID: 36709540 PMCID: PMC9872564 DOI: 10.1016/j.epidem.2023.100670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2022] [Revised: 10/29/2022] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Timely detection of an evolving event of an infectious disease with superspreading potential is imperative for territory-wide disease control as well as preventing future outbreaks. While the reproduction number (R) is a commonly-adopted metric for disease transmissibility, the transmission heterogeneity quantified by dispersion parameter k, a metric for superspreading potential is seldom tracked. In this study, we developed an estimation framework to track the time-varying risk of superspreading events (SSEs) and demonstrated the method using the three epidemic waves of COVID-19 in Hong Kong. Epidemiological contact tracing data of the confirmed COVID-19 cases from 23 January 2020 to 30 September 2021 were obtained. By applying branching process models, we jointly estimated the time-varying R and k. Individual-based outbreak simulations were conducted to compare the time-varying assessment of the superspreading potential with the typical non-time-varying estimate of k over a period of time. We found that the COVID-19 transmission in Hong Kong exhibited substantial superspreading during the initial phase of the epidemics, with only 1 % (95 % Credible interval [CrI]: 0.6-2 %), 5 % (95 % CrI: 3-7 %) and 10 % (95 % CrI: 8-14 %) of the most infectious cases generated 80 % of all transmission for the first, second and third epidemic waves, respectively. After implementing local public health interventions, R estimates dropped gradually and k estimates increased thereby reducing the risk of SSEs to approaching zero. Outbreak simulations indicated that the non-time-varying estimate of k may overlook the possibility of large outbreaks. Hence, an estimation of the time-varying k as a compliment of R as a monitoring of both disease transmissibility and superspreading potential, particularly when public health interventions were relaxed is crucial for minimizing the risk of future outbreaks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zihao Guo
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Shi Zhao
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China; Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Shui Shan Lee
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China; Stanley Ho Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Chi Tim Hung
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China; Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Ngai Sze Wong
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China; Stanley Ho Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Tsz Yu Chow
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China; Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Carrie Ho Kwan Yam
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China; Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Maggie Haitian Wang
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Jingxuan Wang
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Ka Chun Chong
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China; Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.
| | - Eng Kiong Yeoh
- Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China; Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
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13
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Nairz M, Todorovic T, Gehrer CM, Grubwieser P, Burkert F, Zimmermann M, Trattnig K, Klotz W, Theurl I, Bellmann-Weiler R, Weiss G. Single-Center Experience in Detecting Influenza Virus, RSV and SARS-CoV-2 at the Emergency Department. Viruses 2023; 15:v15020470. [PMID: 36851685 PMCID: PMC9958692 DOI: 10.3390/v15020470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Revised: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/04/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on respiratory tract swabs has become the gold standard for sensitive and specific detection of influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this retrospective analysis, we report on the successive implementation and routine use of multiplex RT-PCR testing for patients admitted to the Internal Medicine Emergency Department (ED) at a tertiary care center in Western Austria, one of the hotspots in the early coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Europe. Our description focuses on the use of the Cepheid® Xpert® Xpress closed RT-PCR system in point-of-care testing (POCT). Our indications for RT-PCR testing changed during the observation period: From the cold season 2016/2017 until the cold season 2019/2020, we used RT-PCR to diagnose influenza or RSV infection in patients with fever and/or respiratory symptoms. Starting in March 2020, we used the RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 and a multiplex version for the combined detection of all these three respiratory viruses to also screen subjects who did not present with symptoms of infection but needed in-hospital medical treatment for other reasons. Expectedly, the switch to a more liberal RT-PCR test strategy resulted in a substantial increase in the number of tests. Nevertheless, we observed an immediate decline in influenza virus and RSV detections in early 2020 that coincided with public SARS-CoV-2 containment measures. In contrast, the extensive use of the combined RT-PCR test enabled us to monitor the re-emergence of influenza and RSV detections, including asymptomatic cases, at the end of 2022 when COVID-19 containment measures were no longer in place. Our analysis of PCR results for respiratory viruses from a real-life setting at an ED provides valuable information on the epidemiology of those infections over several years, their contribution to morbidity and need for hospital admission, the risk for nosocomial introduction of such infection into hospitals from asymptomatic carriers, and guidance as to how general precautions and prophylactic strategies affect the dynamics of those infections.
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14
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Yu S, Xia F, Li S, Hou M, Sheng QZ. Spatio-Temporal Graph Learning for Epidemic Prediction. ACM T INTEL SYST TEC 2023. [DOI: 10.1145/3579815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed great challenges to public health services, government agencies and policymakers, raising huge social conflicts between public health and economic resilience. Policies such as reopening or closure of business activities are formulated based on scientific projections of infection risks obtained from infection dynamics models. Though most parameters in epidemic prediction service models can be set with domain knowledge of COVID-19, a key parameter, namely human mobility, is often challenging to estimate due to complex spatio-temporal correlations and social contexts under escalating COVID-19 facilities. Moreover, how to integrate the various implicit features to accurately predict infectious cases is still an open issue. To address this challenge, we formulate the problem as a spatio-temporal network representation problem and propose STEP, a Spatio-Temporal Epidemic Prediction framework, to estimate pandemic infection risk of a city by integrating various real-world conditions (e.g., City Risk Index, climate and medical conditions) into graph-structured data. We also employ a multi-head attention mechanism in representation learning to extract implicit features for a given city. Extensive experiments have been conducted upon the real-world dataset for 51 states of USA. Experimental results show that STEP can yield more accurate pandemic infection risk estimation than baseline methods. Moreover, STEP outperforms other methods in both short-term and long-term prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuo Yu
- School of Computer Science and Technology Dalian University of Technology, China
| | - Feng Xia
- School of Computing Technologies RMIT University, Australia
| | - Shihao Li
- School of Software Dalian University of Technology, China
| | - Mingliang Hou
- School of Software Dalian University of Technology, China
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15
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Zhang Y, Britton T, Zhou X. Monitoring real-time transmission heterogeneity from incidence data. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010078. [PMID: 36455043 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The transmission heterogeneity of an epidemic is associated with a complex mixture of host, pathogen and environmental factors. And it may indicate superspreading events to reduce the efficiency of population-level control measures and to sustain the epidemic over a larger scale and a longer duration. Methods have been proposed to identify significant transmission heterogeneity in historic epidemics based on several data sources, such as contact history, viral genomes and spatial information, which may not be available, and more importantly ignore the temporal trend of transmission heterogeneity. Here we attempted to establish a convenient method to estimate real-time heterogeneity over an epidemic. Within the branching process framework, we introduced an instant-individualheterogenous infectiousness model to jointly characterize the variation in infectiousness both between individuals and among different times. With this model, we could simultaneously estimate the transmission heterogeneity and the reproduction number from incidence time series. We validated the model with data of both simulated and real outbreaks. Our estimates of the overall and real-time heterogeneities of the six epidemics were consistent with those presented in the literature. Additionally, our model is robust to the ubiquitous bias of under-reporting and misspecification of serial interval. By analyzing recent data from South Africa, we found evidence that the Omicron might be of more significant transmission heterogeneity than Delta. Our model based on incidence data was proved to be reliable in estimating the real-time transmission heterogeneity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yunjun Zhang
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Center for Statistical Science, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Tom Britton
- Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Xiaohua Zhou
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Center for Statistical Science, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research, Peking University, Beijing, China.,School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
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16
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Soh S, Ho SH, Seah A, Ong J, Richards DR, Gaw LYF, Dickens BS, Tan KW, Koo JR, Cook AR, Lim JT. Spatial Methods for Inferring Extremes in Dengue Outbreak Risk in Singapore. Viruses 2022; 14:v14112450. [PMID: 36366548 PMCID: PMC9695662 DOI: 10.3390/v14112450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Revised: 10/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Dengue is a major vector-borne disease worldwide. Here, we examined the spatial distribution of extreme weekly dengue outbreak risk in Singapore from 2007 to 2020. We divided Singapore into equal-sized hexagons with a circumradius of 165 m and obtained the weekly number of dengue cases and the surface characteristics of each hexagon. We accounted for spatial heterogeneity using max-stable processes. The 5-, 10-, 20-, and 30-year return levels, or the weekly dengue case counts expected to be exceeded once every 5, 10, 20, and 30 years, respectively, were determined for each hexagon conditional on their surface characteristics remaining constant over time. The return levels were higher in the country's east, with the maximum weekly dengue cases per hexagon expected to exceed 51 at least once in 30 years in many areas. The surface characteristics with the largest impact on outbreak risk were the age of public apartments and the percentage of impervious surfaces, where a 3-year and 10% increase in each characteristic resulted in a 3.8% and 3.3% increase in risk, respectively. Vector control efforts should be prioritized in older residential estates and places with large contiguous masses of built-up environments. Our findings indicate the likely scale of outbreaks in the long term.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stacy Soh
- Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore 138667, Singapore
| | - Soon Hoe Ho
- Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore 138667, Singapore
- Correspondence:
| | - Annabel Seah
- Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore 138667, Singapore
| | - Janet Ong
- Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore 138667, Singapore
| | | | - Leon Yan-Feng Gaw
- Department of Architecture, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117566, Singapore
| | - Borame Sue Dickens
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore 117549, Singapore
| | - Ken Wei Tan
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore 117549, Singapore
| | - Joel Ruihan Koo
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore 117549, Singapore
| | - Alex R. Cook
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore 117549, Singapore
| | - Jue Tao Lim
- Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore 138667, Singapore
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore 117549, Singapore
- Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University Novena Campus, Singapore 639798, Singapore
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17
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Rousse F, Carlsson M, Ögren M, Wellander BK. The role of super-spreaders in modeling of SARS-CoV-2. Infect Dis Model 2022; 7:778-794. [PMID: 36267691 PMCID: PMC9558769 DOI: 10.1016/j.idm.2022.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
In stochastic modeling of infectious diseases, it has been established that variations in infectivity affect the probability of a major outbreak, but not the shape of the curves during a major outbreak, which is predicted by deterministic models (Diekmann et al., 2012). However, such conclusions are derived under idealized assumptions such as the population size tending to infinity, and the individual degree of infectivity only depending on variations in the infectiousness period. In this paper we show that the same conclusions hold true in a finite population representing a medium size city, where the degree of infectivity is determined by the offspring distribution, which we try to make as realistic as possible for SARS-CoV-2. In particular, we consider distributions with fat tails, to incorporate the existence of super-spreaders. We also provide new theoretical results on convergence of stochastic models which allows to incorporate any offspring distribution with a finite variance.
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Affiliation(s)
- François Rousse
- School of Science and Technology, Örebro University, 70182, Örebro, Sweden
| | - Marcus Carlsson
- Center for Mathematical Sciences, Lund University, Box 118, 22100, Lund, Sweden,Corresponding author
| | - Magnus Ögren
- School of Science and Technology, Örebro University, 70182, Örebro, Sweden,Hellenic Mediterranean University, P.O. Box 1939, GR-71004, Heraklion, Greece
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18
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Meagher J, Friel N. Assessing epidemic curves for evidence of superspreading. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY. SERIES A, (STATISTICS IN SOCIETY) 2022; 185:2179-2202. [PMID: 37066104 PMCID: PMC10092342 DOI: 10.1111/rssa.12919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 07/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
The expected number of secondary infections arising from each index case, referred to as the reproduction or R number, is a vital summary statistic for understanding and managing epidemic diseases. There are many methods for estimating R ; however, few explicitly model heterogeneous disease reproduction, which gives rise to superspreading within the population. We propose a parsimonious discrete-time branching process model for epidemic curves that incorporates heterogeneous individual reproduction numbers. Our Bayesian approach to inference illustrates that this heterogeneity results in less certainty on estimates of the time-varying cohort reproduction number R t . We apply these methods to a COVID-19 epidemic curve for the Republic of Ireland and find support for heterogeneous disease reproduction. Our analysis allows us to estimate the expected proportion of secondary infections attributable to the most infectious proportion of the population. For example, we estimate that the 20% most infectious index cases account for approximately 75%-98% of the expected secondary infections with 95% posterior probability. In addition, we highlight that heterogeneity is a vital consideration when estimating R t .
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Affiliation(s)
- Joe Meagher
- Insight Centre for Data Analytics, School of Mathematics and StatisticsUniversity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Nial Friel
- Insight Centre for Data Analytics, School of Mathematics and StatisticsUniversity College DublinDublinIreland
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19
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Steiner MC, Novembre J. Population genetic models for the spatial spread of adaptive variants: A review in light of SARS-CoV-2 evolution. PLoS Genet 2022; 18:e1010391. [PMID: 36137003 PMCID: PMC9498967 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Theoretical population genetics has long studied the arrival and geographic spread of adaptive variants through the analysis of mathematical models of dispersal and natural selection. These models take on a renewed interest in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially given the consequences that novel adaptive variants have had on the course of the pandemic as they have spread through global populations. Here, we review theoretical models for the spatial spread of adaptive variants and identify areas to be improved in future work, toward a better understanding of variants of concern in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) evolution and other contemporary applications. As we describe, characteristics of pandemics such as COVID-19-such as the impact of long-distance travel patterns and the overdispersion of lineages due to superspreading events-suggest new directions for improving upon existing population genetic models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaret C. Steiner
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - John Novembre
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
- Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
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20
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Horii H, Lefevere R, Itami M, Nemoto T. Anomalous fluctuations of renewal-reward processes with heavy-tailed distributions. Phys Rev E 2022; 106:034130. [PMID: 36266861 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.106.034130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
For renewal-reward processes with a power-law decaying waiting time distribution, anomalously large probabilities are assigned to atypical values of the asymptotic processes. Previous works have revealed that this anomalous scaling causes a singularity in the corresponding large deviation function. In order to further understand this problem, we study in this article the scaling of variance in several renewal-reward processes: counting processes with two different power-law decaying waiting time distributions and a Knudsen gas (a heat conduction model). Through analytical and numerical analyses of these models, we find that the variances show an anomalous scaling when the exponent of the power law is -3. For a counting process with the power-law exponent smaller than -3, this anomalous scaling does not take place: this indicates that if we only consider the standard deviation from the expectation, any anomalous behavior will not be detected. In this case, we argue that anomalous scaling appears in higher order cumulants. Finally, many-body particles interacting through soft-core interactions with the boundary conditions employed in the Knudsen gas are studied using numerical simulations. We observe that the variance scaling becomes normal even though the power-law exponent in the boundary conditions is -3.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiroshi Horii
- Université Paris Cité, Laboratoire de Probabilités, Statistiques et Modélisation, UMR 8001, F-75205 Paris, France
| | - Raphaël Lefevere
- Université Paris Cité, Laboratoire de Probabilités, Statistiques et Modélisation, UMR 8001, F-75205 Paris, France
| | - Masato Itami
- Center for Science Adventure and Collaborative Research Advancement, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Takahiro Nemoto
- Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Yoshida Hon-machi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
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21
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de Souza DB, Araújo HA, Duarte-Filho GC, Gaffney EA, Santos FAN, Raposo EP. Fock-space approach to stochastic susceptible-infected-recovered models. Phys Rev E 2022; 106:014136. [PMID: 35974542 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.106.014136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
We investigate the stochastic susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model of infectious disease dynamics in the Fock-space approach. In contrast to conventional SIR models based on ordinary differential equations for the subpopulation sizes of S, I, and R individuals, the stochastic SIR model is driven by a master equation governing the transition probabilities among the system's states defined by SIR occupation numbers. In the Fock-space approach the master equation is recast in the form of a real-valued Schrödinger-type equation with a second quantization Hamiltonian-like operator describing the infection and recovery processes. We find exact analytic expressions for the Hamiltonian eigenvalues for any population size N. We present small- and large-N results for the average numbers of SIR individuals and basic reproduction number. For small N we also obtain the probability distributions of SIR states, epidemic sizes and durations, which cannot be found from deterministic SIR models. Our Fock-space approach to stochastic SIR models introduces a powerful set of tools to calculate central quantities of epidemic processes, especially for relatively small populations where statistical fluctuations not captured by conventional deterministic SIR models play a crucial role.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danillo B de Souza
- Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, Mathematical, Computational and Experimental Neuroscience Research Group, 48009 Bilbao, Bizkaia, Basque-Country, Spain
| | - Hugo A Araújo
- Departamento de Matemática, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50670-901 Recife, PE, Brazil
- Laboratório de Física Teórica e Computacional, Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50670-901 Recife, PE, Brazil
| | - Gerson C Duarte-Filho
- Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, 49100-000 São Cristóvão, SE, Brazil
| | - Eamonn A Gaffney
- Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom
| | - Fernando A N Santos
- Departamento de Matemática, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50670-901 Recife, PE, Brazil
- Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ernesto P Raposo
- Laboratório de Física Teórica e Computacional, Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50670-901 Recife, PE, Brazil
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22
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Stein RA, Bianchini EC. Bacterial-Viral Interactions: A Factor That Facilitates Transmission Heterogeneities. FEMS MICROBES 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/femsmc/xtac018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
The transmission of infectious diseases is characterized by heterogeneities that are shaped by the host, the pathogen, and the environment. Extreme forms of these heterogeneities are called super-spreading events. Transmission heterogeneities are usually identified retrospectively, but their contribution to the dynamics of outbreaks makes the ability to predict them valuable for science, medicine, and public health. Previous studies identified several factors that facilitate super-spreading; one of them is the interaction between bacteria and viruses within a host. The heightened dispersal of bacteria colonizing the nasal cavity during an upper respiratory viral infection, and the increased shedding of HIV-1 from the urogenital tract during a sexually transmitted bacterial infection, are among the most extensively studied examples of transmission heterogeneities that result from bacterial-viral interactions. Interrogating these transmission heterogeneities, and elucidating the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms, are part of much-needed efforts to guide public health interventions, in areas that range from predicting or controlling the population transmission of respiratory pathogens, to limiting the spread of sexually transmitted infections, and tailoring vaccination initiatives with live attenuated vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard A Stein
- NYU Tandon School of Engineering Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 6 MetroTech Center Brooklyn , NY 11201 USA
| | - Emilia Claire Bianchini
- NYU Tandon School of Engineering Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 6 MetroTech Center Brooklyn , NY 11201 USA
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23
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Falcó C, Corral Á. Finite-time scaling for epidemic processes with power-law superspreading events. Phys Rev E 2022; 105:064122. [PMID: 35854596 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.105.064122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2021] [Accepted: 05/31/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Epidemics unfold by means of a spreading process from each infected individual to a variable number of secondary cases. It has been claimed that the so-called superspreading events of the COVID-19 pandemic are governed by a power-law-tailed distribution of secondary cases, with no finite variance. Using a continuous-time branching process, we demonstrate that for such power-law-tailed superspreading, the survival probability of an outbreak as a function of both time and the basic reproductive number fulfills a "finite-time scaling" law (analogous to finite-size scaling) with universal-like characteristics only dependent on the power-law exponent. This clearly shows how the phase transition separating a subcritical and a supercritical phase emerges in the infinite-time limit (analogous to the thermodynamic limit). We also quantify the counterintuitive hazards posed by this superspreading. When the expected number of infected individuals is computed removing extinct outbreaks, we find a constant value in the subcritical phase and a superlinear power-law growth in the critical phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carles Falcó
- Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Edifici C, Campus Bellaterra, E-08193 Barcelona, Spain
- Departament de Matemàtiques, Facultat de Ciències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Álvaro Corral
- Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Edifici C, Campus Bellaterra, E-08193 Barcelona, Spain
- Departament de Matemàtiques, Facultat de Ciències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Barcelona, Spain
- Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Josefstädter Straße 39, 1080 Vienna, Austria
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24
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Harris JE. Geospatial Analysis of a COVID-19 Outbreak at the University of Wisconsin - Madison: Potential Role of a Cluster of Local Bars. Epidemiol Infect 2022; 150:1-31. [PMID: 35380104 PMCID: PMC9043656 DOI: 10.1017/s0950268822000498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2021] [Revised: 02/10/2022] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
We combined smartphone mobility data with census track-based reports of positive case counts to study a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak at the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus, where nearly 3000 students had become infected by the end of September 2020. We identified a cluster of twenty bars located at the epicentre of the outbreak, in close proximity to campus residence halls. Smartphones originating from the two hardest-hit residence halls (Sellery-Witte), where about one in five students were infected, were 2.95 times more likely to visit the 20-bar cluster than smartphones originating in two more distant, less affected residence halls (Ogg-Smith). By contrast, smartphones from Sellery-Witte were only 1.55 times more likely than those from Ogg-Smith to visit a group of 68 restaurants in the same area [rate ratio 1.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29–2.85, P < 0.001]. We also determined the per-capita rates of visitation to the 20-bar cluster and to the 68-restaurant comparison group by smartphones originating in each of 21 census tracts in the university area. In a multivariate instrumental variables regression, the visitation rate to the bar cluster was a significant determinant of the per-capita incidence of positive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tests in each census tract (elasticity 0.88, 95% CI 0.08–1.68, P = 0.032), while the restaurant visitation rate showed no such relationship. The potential super-spreader effects of clusters or networks of places, rather than individual sites, require further attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey E Harris
- Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA 02139; Physician, Eisner Health, Los AngelesCA90015.
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Sutton J, Shahtahmassebi G, Ribeiro HV, Hanley QS. Population density and spreading of COVID-19 in England and Wales. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0261725. [PMID: 35358202 PMCID: PMC8970409 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated daily COVID-19 cases and deaths in the 337 lower tier local authority regions in England and Wales to better understand how the disease propagated over a 15-month period. Population density scaling models revealed residual variance and skewness to be sensitive indicators of the dynamics of propagation. Lockdowns and schools reopening coincided with increased variance indicative of conditions with local impact and country scale heterogeneity. University reopening and December holidays reduced variance indicative of country scale homogenisation which reached a minimum in mid-January 2021. Homogeneous propagation was associated with better correspondence with normally distributed residuals while heterogeneous propagation was more consistent with skewed models. Skewness varied from strongly negative to strongly positive revealing an unappreciated feature of community propagation. Hot spots and super-spreading events are well understood descriptors of regional disease dynamics that would be expected to be associated with positively skewed distributions. Positively skewed behaviour was observed; however, negative skewness indicative of "cold-spots" and "super-isolation" dominated for approximately 8 months during the period of study. In contrast, death metrics showed near constant behaviour in scaling, variance, and skewness metrics over the full period with rural regions preferentially affected, an observation consistent with regional age demographics in England and Wales. Regional positions relative to density scaling laws were remarkably persistent after the first 5-9 days of the available data set. The determinants of this persistent behaviour probably precede the pandemic and remain unchanged.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jack Sutton
- School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Golnaz Shahtahmassebi
- School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Haroldo V. Ribeiro
- Departamento de Física, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Brazil
| | - Quentin S. Hanley
- School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, United Kingdom
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Geographical patterns of social cohesion drive disparities in early COVID infection hazard. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2121675119. [PMID: 35286198 PMCID: PMC8944260 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2121675119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The uneven spread of COVID-19 has resulted in disparate experiences for marginalized populations in urban centers. Using computational models, we examine the effects of local cohesion on COVID-19 spread in social contact networks for the city of San Francisco, finding that more early COVID-19 infections occur in areas with strong local cohesion. This spatially correlated process tends to affect Black and Hispanic communities more than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Local social cohesion thus acts as a potential source of hidden risk for COVID-19 infection.
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Bongiorno C, Zino L. A multi-layer network model to assess school opening policies during a vaccination campaign: a case study on COVID-19 in France. APPLIED NETWORK SCIENCE 2022; 7:12. [PMID: 35281618 PMCID: PMC8899799 DOI: 10.1007/s41109-022-00449-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
We propose a multi-layer network model for the spread of an infectious disease that accounts for interactions within the family, between children in classes and schools, and casual contacts in the population. The proposed framework is designed to test several what-if scenarios on school openings during the vaccination campaigns, thereby assessing the safety of different policies, including testing practices in schools, diverse home-isolation policies, and targeted vaccination. We demonstrate the potentialities of our model by calibrating it on epidemiological and demographic data of the spring 2021 COVID-19 vaccination campaign in France. Specifically, we consider scenarios in which a fraction of the population is vaccinated, and we focus our analysis on the role of schools as drivers of the contagions and on the implementation of targeted intervention policies oriented to children and their families. We perform our analysis by means of a campaign of Monte Carlo simulations. Our findings suggest that transmission in schools may play a key role in the spreading of a disease. Interestingly, we show that children's testing might be an important tool to flatten the epidemic curve, in particular when combined with enacting temporary online education for classes in which infected students are detected. Finally, we test a vaccination strategy that prioritizes the members of large families and we demonstrate its good performance. We believe that our modeling framework and our findings could be of help for public health authorities for planning their current and future interventions, as well as to increase preparedness for future epidemic outbreaks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Bongiorno
- CentraleSupélec, Mathématiques et Informatique pour la Complexité et les Systèmes, Université Paris-Saclay, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Lorenzo Zino
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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Gibson G, Weitz JS, Shannon MP, Holton B, Bryksin A, Liu B, Sieglinger M, Coenen AR, Zhao C, Beckett SJ, Bramblett S, Williamson J, Farrell M, Ortiz A, Abdallah CT, García AJ. Surveillance-to-Diagnostic Testing Program for Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections on a Large, Urban Campus in Fall 2020. Epidemiology 2022; 33:209-216. [PMID: 34860727 DOI: 10.1097/ede.0000000000001448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, college campuses faced uncertainty regarding the likely prevalence and spread of disease, necessitating large-scale testing to help guide policy following re-entry. METHODS A SARS-CoV-2 testing program combining pooled saliva sample surveillance leading to diagnosis and intervention surveyed over 112,000 samples from 18,029 students, staff and faculty, as part of integrative efforts to mitigate transmission at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Fall 2020. RESULTS Cumulatively, we confirmed 1,508 individuals diagnostically, 62% of these through the surveillance program and the remainder through diagnostic tests of symptomatic individuals administered on or off campus. The total strategy, including intensification of testing given case clusters early in the semester, was associated with reduced transmission following rapid case increases upon entry in Fall semester in August 2020, again in early November 2020, and upon re-entry for Spring semester in January 2021. During the Fall semester daily asymptomatic test positivity initially peaked at 4.1% but fell below 0.5% by mid-semester, averaging 0.84% across the Fall semester, with similar levels of control in Spring 2021. CONCLUSIONS Owing to broad adoption by the campus community, we estimate that the program protected higher risk staff and faculty while allowing some normalization of education and research activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Greg Gibson
- From the School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
| | - Joshua S Weitz
- From the School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
- School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
| | | | - Benjamin Holton
- Stamps Student Health Services, Georgia Institute of Technology
| | - Anton Bryksin
- Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
| | | | | | | | - Conan Zhao
- From the School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
| | - Stephen J Beckett
- From the School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
| | - Sandra Bramblett
- Institute Research and Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology
| | | | | | - Alexander Ortiz
- Sustainability and Building Operations, Georgia Institute of Technology
| | - Chaouki T Abdallah
- Office of the Executive Vice President for Research, Georgia Institute of Technology
| | - Andrés J García
- Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
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Zhang F, Wang J. The onset of dissipative chaos driven by nonequilibrium conditions. J Chem Phys 2022; 156:024103. [PMID: 35032982 DOI: 10.1063/5.0072294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Dissipative chaos appears widely in various nonequilibrium systems; however, it is not clear how dissipative chaos originates from nonequilibrium. We discuss a framework based on the potential-flux approach to study chaos from the perspective of nonequilibrium dynamics. In this framework, chaotic systems possess a wide basin on the potential landscape, in which the rotational flux dominates the system dynamics, and chaos occurs with the appearance of this basin. In contrast, the probability flux is particularly associated with the detailed balance-breaking in nonequilibrium systems. This implies that the appearance of dissipative chaos is driven by nonequilibrium conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feng Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130022, China
| | - Jin Wang
- Department of Chemistry and of Physics and Astronomy, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3400, USA
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Highlighting the impact of social relationships on the propagation of respiratory viruses using percolation theory. Sci Rep 2021; 11:24326. [PMID: 34934152 PMCID: PMC8692486 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03812-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
We develop a site-bond percolation model, called PERCOVID, in order to describe the time evolution of all epidemics propagating through respiratory tract or by skin contacts in human populations. This model is based on a network of social relationships representing interconnected households experiencing governmental non-pharmaceutical interventions. As a very first testing ground, we apply our model to the understanding of the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic in France from December 2019 up to December 2021. Our model shows the impact of lockdowns and curfews, as well as the influence of the progressive vaccination campaign in order to keep COVID-19 pandemic under the percolation threshold. We illustrate the role played by social interactions by comparing two typical scenarios with low or high strengths of social relationships as compared to France during the first wave in March 2020. We investigate finally the role played by the α and δ variants in the evolution of the epidemic in France till autumn 2021, paying particular attention to the essential role played by the vaccination. Our model predicts that the rise of the epidemic observed in July and August 2021 would not result in a new major epidemic wave in France.
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Kirkegaard JB, Sneppen K. Superspreading quantified from bursty epidemic trajectories. Sci Rep 2021; 11:24124. [PMID: 34916534 PMCID: PMC8677763 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03126-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 11/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The quantification of spreading heterogeneity in the COVID-19 epidemic is crucial as it affects the choice of efficient mitigating strategies irrespective of whether its origin is biological or social. We present a method to deduce temporal and individual variations in the basic reproduction number directly from epidemic trajectories at a community level. Using epidemic data from the 98 districts in Denmark we estimate an overdispersion factor k for COVID-19 to be about 0.11 (95% confidence interval 0.08-0.18), implying that 10 % of the infected cause between 70 % and 87 % of all infections.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kim Sneppen
- Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Hartnett GS, Parker E, Gulden TR, Vardavas R, Kravitz D. Modelling the impact of social distancing and targeted vaccination on the spread of COVID-19 through a real city-scale contact network. JOURNAL OF COMPLEX NETWORKS 2021; 9:cnab042. [PMID: 35039781 PMCID: PMC8754788 DOI: 10.1093/comnet/cnab042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
We use mobile device data to construct empirical interpersonal physical contact networks in the city of Portland, Oregon, both before and after social distancing measures were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. These networks reveal how social distancing measures and the public's reaction to the incipient pandemic affected the connectivity patterns within the city. We find that as the pandemic developed there was a substantial decrease in the number of individuals with many contacts. We further study the impact of these different network topologies on the spread of COVID-19 by simulating an SEIR epidemic model over these networks and find that the reduced connectivity greatly suppressed the epidemic. We then investigate how the epidemic responds when part of the population is vaccinated, and we compare two vaccination distribution strategies, both with and without social distancing. Our main result is that the heavy-tailed degree distribution of the contact networks causes a targeted vaccination strategy that prioritizes high-contact individuals to reduce the number of cases far more effectively than a strategy that vaccinates individuals at random. Combining both targeted vaccination and social distancing leads to the greatest reduction in cases, and we also find that the marginal benefit of a targeted strategy as compared to a random strategy exceeds the marginal benefit of social distancing for reducing the number of cases. These results have important implications for ongoing vaccine distribution efforts worldwide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin S Hartnett
- RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90401, USA
- Corresponding author.
| | - Edward Parker
- RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90401, USA
| | | | | | - David Kravitz
- RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90401, USA
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Clouston SAP, Morozova O, Meliker JR. A wind speed threshold for increased outdoor transmission of coronavirus: an ecological study. BMC Infect Dis 2021; 21:1194. [PMID: 34837983 PMCID: PMC8626759 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-021-06796-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND To examine whether outdoor transmission may contribute to the COVID-19 epidemic, we hypothesized that slower outdoor wind speed is associated with increased risk of transmission when individuals socialize outside. METHODS Daily COVID-19 incidence reported in Suffolk County, NY, between March 16th and December 31st, 2020, was the outcome. Average wind speed and maximal daily temperature were collated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Negative binomial regression was used to model incidence rates while adjusting for susceptible population size. RESULTS Cases were very high in the initial wave but diminished once lockdown procedures were enacted. Most days between May 1st, 2020, and October 24th, 2020, had temperatures 16-28 °C and wind speed diminished slowly over the year and began to increase again in December 2020. Unadjusted and multivariable-adjusted analyses revealed that days with temperatures ranging between 16 and 28 °C where wind speed was < 8.85 km per hour (KPH) had increased COVID-19 incidence (aIRR = 1.45, 95% C.I. = [1.28-1.64], P < 0.001) as compared to days with average wind speed ≥ 8.85 KPH. CONCLUSION Throughout the U.S. epidemic, the role of outdoor shared spaces such as parks and beaches has been a topic of considerable interest. This study suggests that outdoor transmission of COVID-19 may occur by noting that the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in the summer was higher on days with low wind speed. Outdoor use of increased physical distance between individuals, improved air circulation, and use of masks may be helpful in some outdoor environments where airflow is limited.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean A P Clouston
- Program in Public Health, Health Sciences Center, Stony Brook University, #3-071, Nichols Rd., Stony Brook, NY, 11794-8338, USA.
- Department of Family, Population, and Preventive Medicine, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
| | - Olga Morozova
- Program in Public Health, Health Sciences Center, Stony Brook University, #3-071, Nichols Rd., Stony Brook, NY, 11794-8338, USA
- Department of Family, Population, and Preventive Medicine, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Jaymie R Meliker
- Program in Public Health, Health Sciences Center, Stony Brook University, #3-071, Nichols Rd., Stony Brook, NY, 11794-8338, USA
- Department of Family, Population, and Preventive Medicine, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, USA
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Decrease in overdispersed secondary transmission of COVID-19 over time in Japan. Epidemiol Infect 2021; 150:e197. [PMID: 36377373 PMCID: PMC9744460 DOI: 10.1017/s0950268822001789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been described as having an overdispersed offspring distribution, i.e. high variation in the number of secondary transmissions of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) per single primary COVID-19 case. Accordingly, countermeasures focused on high-risk settings and contact tracing could efficiently reduce secondary transmissions. However, as variants of concern with elevated transmissibility continue to emerge, controlling COVID-19 with such focused approaches has become difficult. It is vital to quantify temporal variations in the offspring distribution dispersibility. Here, we investigated offspring distributions for periods when the ancestral variant was still dominant (summer, 2020; wave 2) and when Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) was prevailing (spring, 2021; wave 4). The dispersion parameter (k) was estimated by analysing contact tracing data and fitting a negative binomial distribution to empirically observed offspring distributions from Nagano, Japan. The offspring distribution was less dispersed in wave 4 (k = 0.32; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24-0.43) than in wave 2 (k = 0.21 (95% CI 0.13-0.36)). A high proportion of household transmission was observed in wave 4, although the proportion of secondary transmissions generating more than five secondary cases did not vary over time. With this decreased variation, the effectiveness of risk group-focused interventions may be diminished.
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Ren X, Weisel CP, Georgopoulos PG. Modeling Effects of Spatial Heterogeneities and Layered Exposure Interventions on the Spread of COVID-19 across New Jersey. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:11950. [PMID: 34831706 PMCID: PMC8618648 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182211950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Revised: 10/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
COVID-19 created an unprecedented global public health crisis during 2020-2021. The severity of the fast-spreading infection, combined with uncertainties regarding the physical and biological processes affecting transmission of SARS-CoV-2, posed enormous challenges to healthcare systems. Pandemic dynamics exhibited complex spatial heterogeneities across multiple scales, as local demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral and environmental factors were modulating population exposures and susceptibilities. Before effective pharmacological interventions became available, controlling exposures to SARS-CoV-2 was the only public health option for mitigating the disease; therefore, models quantifying the impacts of heterogeneities and alternative exposure interventions on COVID-19 outcomes became essential tools informing policy development. This study used a stochastic SEIR framework, modeling each of the 21 New Jersey counties, to capture important heterogeneities of COVID-19 outcomes across the State. The models were calibrated using confirmed daily deaths and SQMC optimization and subsequently applied in predictive and exploratory modes. The predictions achieved good agreement between modeled and reported death data; counterfactual analysis was performed to assess the effectiveness of layered interventions on reducing exposures to SARS-CoV-2 and thereby fatality of COVID-19. The modeling analysis of the reduction in exposures to SARS-CoV-2 achieved through concurrent social distancing and face-mask wearing estimated that 357 [IQR (290, 429)] deaths per 100,000 people were averted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Ren
- Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA; (X.R.); (C.P.W.)
- Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Clifford P. Weisel
- Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA; (X.R.); (C.P.W.)
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Justice, Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
| | - Panos G. Georgopoulos
- Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA; (X.R.); (C.P.W.)
- Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Justice, Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
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Toth DJA, Beams AB, Keegan LT, Zhang Y, Greene T, Orleans B, Seegert N, Looney A, Alder SC, Samore MH. High variability in transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within households and implications for control. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0259097. [PMID: 34758042 PMCID: PMC8580228 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) poses a high risk of transmission in close-contact indoor settings, which may include households. Prior studies have found a wide range of household secondary attack rates and may contain biases due to simplifying assumptions about transmission variability and test accuracy. METHODS We compiled serological SARS-CoV-2 antibody test data and prior SARS-CoV-2 test reporting from members of 9,224 Utah households. We paired these data with a probabilistic model of household importation and transmission. We calculated a maximum likelihood estimate of the importation probability, mean and variability of household transmission probability, and sensitivity and specificity of test data. Given our household transmission estimates, we estimated the threshold of non-household transmission required for epidemic growth in the population. RESULTS We estimated that individuals in our study households had a 0.41% (95% CI 0.32%- 0.51%) chance of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection outside their household. Our household secondary attack rate estimate was 36% (27%- 48%), substantially higher than the crude estimate of 16% unadjusted for imperfect serological test specificity and other factors. We found evidence for high variability in individual transmissibility, with higher probability of no transmissions or many transmissions compared to standard models. With household transmission at our estimates, the average number of non-household transmissions per case must be kept below 0.41 (0.33-0.52) to avoid continued growth of the pandemic in Utah. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that crude estimates of household secondary attack rate based on serology data without accounting for false positive tests may underestimate the true average transmissibility, even when test specificity is high. Our finding of potential high variability (overdispersion) in transmissibility of infected individuals is consistent with characterizing SARS-CoV-2 transmission being largely driven by superspreading from a minority of infected individuals. Mitigation efforts targeting large households and other locations where many people congregate indoors might curb continued spread of the virus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damon J. A. Toth
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
- Department of Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Healthcare System, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
- Department of Mathematics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Alexander B. Beams
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
- Department of Mathematics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Lindsay T. Keegan
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
- Department of Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Healthcare System, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Yue Zhang
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Tom Greene
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Brian Orleans
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Nathan Seegert
- Department of Finance, University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Adam Looney
- Department of Finance, University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Stephen C. Alder
- Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Matthew H. Samore
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
- Department of Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Healthcare System, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
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Lamb D, Gomez R, Moghaddas M. Unions and hazard pay for COVID-19: Evidence from the Canadian Labour Force Survey. BRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS 2021; 60:BJIR12649. [PMID: 34898681 PMCID: PMC8652733 DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
In this article, we examine whether (and by how much) workers in Canada have been compensated for the 'novel' risks associated with COVID-19. We create a unique dataset from a system that scores occupations in the US O*NET database for COVID-19 exposure. We then combine those COVID exposure scores with Canadian occupational data contained in the Public Use Microdata File of the Labour Force Survey. This allows us to categorize Canadian occupations based on COVID-19 exposure risk. We find a long-tailed distribution of COVID-19 risk scores across occupations, with most jobs at the lower end of the risk spectrum and relatively few occupations accounting for most of the high COVID-19 exposure risk. We find that workers who are already more vulnerable in the labour market (i.e. youth, women and immigrants) are also more likely to be employed in occupations with high COVID-19 exposure risk. When we look at the relationship between high-COVID exposure risks in occupation and wages, we find negative compensating differentials both at the mean (negative 8%) and across the earnings distribution. However, when workers are covered by a union, they enjoy a sizeable hazard pay premium (11.7% on average) as compared to their non-union counterparts. Furthermore, we find that the moderating effects of unionization for workers at high risk of COVID exposure to be largest at the bottom of the earnings distribution (i.e. the 10th percentile of unionized earners receives a 12.3% risk premium for high-COVID exposure, whereas the 90th percentile receives only a 2%).
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Affiliation(s)
- Danielle Lamb
- Ted Rogers School of ManagementRyerson UniversityTorontoOntarioCanada
| | - Rafael Gomez
- Centre for Industrial Relations and Human ResourcesUniversity of TorontoTorontoOntarioCanada
| | - Milad Moghaddas
- Ted Rogers School of ManagementRyerson UniversityTorontoOntarioCanada
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Wang X, Dobnikar J, Frenkel D. Effect of social distancing on super-spreading diseases: why pandemics modelling is more challenging than molecular simulation. Mol Phys 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/00268976.2021.1936247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Xipeng Wang
- Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Jure Dobnikar
- Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
- School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Daan Frenkel
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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Tail risks and infectious disease: Influenza mortality in the U.S., 1900-2018. Infect Dis Model 2021; 6:1135-1143. [PMID: 34632167 PMCID: PMC8477200 DOI: 10.1016/j.idm.2021.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 09/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
I use extreme values theory and data on influenza mortality from the U.S. for 1900 to 2018 to estimate the tail risks of mortality. I find that the distribution for influenza mortality rates is heavy-tailed, which suggests that the tails of the mortality distribution are more informative than the events of high frequency (i.e., years of low mortality). I also discuss the implications of my estimates for risk management and pandemic planning.
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40
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St-Onge G, Sun H, Allard A, Hébert-Dufresne L, Bianconi G. Universal Nonlinear Infection Kernel from Heterogeneous Exposure on Higher-Order Networks. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2021; 127:158301. [PMID: 34678024 PMCID: PMC9199393 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.127.158301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Revised: 07/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The collocation of individuals in different environments is an important prerequisite for exposure to infectious diseases on a social network. Standard epidemic models fail to capture the potential complexity of this scenario by (1) neglecting the higher-order structure of contacts that typically occur through environments like workplaces, restaurants, and households, and (2) assuming a linear relationship between the exposure to infected contacts and the risk of infection. Here, we leverage a hypergraph model to embrace the heterogeneity of environments and the heterogeneity of individual participation in these environments. We find that combining heterogeneous exposure with the concept of minimal infective dose induces a universal nonlinear relationship between infected contacts and infection risk. Under nonlinear infection kernels, conventional epidemic wisdom breaks down with the emergence of discontinuous transitions, superexponential spread, and hysteresis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume St-Onge
- Département de physique, de génie physique et d’optique, Université Laval, Québec (Québec) G1V 0A6, Canada
- Centre interdisciplinaire en modélisation mathématique, Université Laval, Québec (Québec) G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Hanlin Sun
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom
| | - Antoine Allard
- Département de physique, de génie physique et d’optique, Université Laval, Québec (Québec) G1V 0A6, Canada
- Centre interdisciplinaire en modélisation mathématique, Université Laval, Québec (Québec) G1V 0A6, Canada
- Vermont Complex Systems Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA
| | - Laurent Hébert-Dufresne
- Département de physique, de génie physique et d’optique, Université Laval, Québec (Québec) G1V 0A6, Canada
- Vermont Complex Systems Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA
- Department of Computer Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA
| | - Ginestra Bianconi
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom
- The Alan Turing Institute, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, United Kingdom
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Sharma M, Mindermann S, Rogers-Smith C, Leech G, Snodin B, Ahuja J, Sandbrink JB, Monrad JT, Altman G, Dhaliwal G, Finnveden L, Norman AJ, Oehm SB, Sandkühler JF, Aitchison L, Gavenčiak T, Mellan T, Kulveit J, Chindelevitch L, Flaxman S, Gal Y, Mishra S, Bhatt S, Brauner JM. Understanding the effectiveness of government interventions against the resurgence of COVID-19 in Europe. Nat Commun 2021; 12:5820. [PMID: 34611158 PMCID: PMC8492703 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26013-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
European governments use non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to control resurging waves of COVID-19. However, they only have outdated estimates for how effective individual NPIs were in the first wave. We estimate the effectiveness of 17 NPIs in Europe's second wave from subnational case and death data by introducing a flexible hierarchical Bayesian transmission model and collecting the largest dataset of NPI implementation dates across Europe. Business closures, educational institution closures, and gathering bans reduced transmission, but reduced it less than they did in the first wave. This difference is likely due to organisational safety measures and individual protective behaviours-such as distancing-which made various areas of public life safer and thereby reduced the effect of closing them. Specifically, we find smaller effects for closing educational institutions, suggesting that stringent safety measures made schools safer compared to the first wave. Second-wave estimates outperform previous estimates at predicting transmission in Europe's third wave.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mrinank Sharma
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Sören Mindermann
- Oxford Applied and Theoretical Machine Learning (OATML) Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Charlie Rogers-Smith
- OATML Group (work done while at OATML as an external collaborator), Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Gavin Leech
- Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Benedict Snodin
- Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Janvi Ahuja
- Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Jonas B Sandbrink
- Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Joshua Teperowski Monrad
- Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK
| | - George Altman
- Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
| | - Gurpreet Dhaliwal
- The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Lukas Finnveden
- Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Alexander John Norman
- Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Doctoral Training Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Sebastian B Oehm
- Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK
- University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | | | | | - Thomas Mellan
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Jan Kulveit
- Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Leonid Chindelevitch
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Seth Flaxman
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Yarin Gal
- Oxford Applied and Theoretical Machine Learning (OATML) Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Swapnil Mishra
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
- Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics (J-IDEA), School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
| | - Samir Bhatt
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
- Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics (J-IDEA), School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
- Section of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Jan Markus Brauner
- Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Oxford Applied and Theoretical Machine Learning (OATML) Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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Paul A, Bhattacharjee JK, Pal A, Chakraborty S. Emergence of universality in the transmission dynamics of COVID-19. Sci Rep 2021; 11:18891. [PMID: 34556753 PMCID: PMC8460722 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-98302-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2021] [Accepted: 08/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The complexities involved in modelling the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 has been a roadblock in achieving predictability in the spread and containment of the disease. In addition to understanding the modes of transmission, the effectiveness of the mitigation methods also needs to be built into any effective model for making such predictions. We show that such complexities can be circumvented by appealing to scaling principles which lead to the emergence of universality in the transmission dynamics of the disease. The ensuing data collapse renders the transmission dynamics largely independent of geopolitical variations, the effectiveness of various mitigation strategies, population demographics, etc. We propose a simple two-parameter model-the Blue Sky model-and show that one class of transmission dynamics can be explained by a solution that lives at the edge of a blue sky bifurcation. In addition, the data collapse leads to an enhanced degree of predictability in the disease spread for several geographical scales which can also be realized in a model-independent manner as we show using a deep neural network. The methodology adopted in this work can potentially be applied to the transmission of other infectious diseases and new universality classes may be found. The predictability in transmission dynamics and the simplicity of our methodology can help in building policies for exit strategies and mitigation methods during a pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayan Paul
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestr. 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany.
- Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489, Berlin, Germany.
| | | | - Akshay Pal
- Indian Institute for Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata, 700032, India
| | - Sagar Chakraborty
- Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, 208016, India
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Stratil JM, Biallas RL, Burns J, Arnold L, Geffert K, Kunzler AM, Monsef I, Stadelmaier J, Wabnitz K, Litwin T, Kreutz C, Boger AH, Lindner S, Verboom B, Voss S, Movsisyan A. Non-pharmacological measures implemented in the setting of long-term care facilities to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections and their consequences: a rapid review. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2021; 9:CD015085. [PMID: 34523727 PMCID: PMC8442144 DOI: 10.1002/14651858.cd015085.pub2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Starting in late 2019, COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, spread around the world. Long-term care facilities are at particularly high risk of outbreaks, and the burden of morbidity and mortality is very high among residents living in these facilities. OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of non-pharmacological measures implemented in long-term care facilities to prevent or reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection among residents, staff, and visitors. SEARCH METHODS On 22 January 2021, we searched the Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register, WHO COVID-19 Global literature on coronavirus disease, Web of Science, and CINAHL. We also conducted backward citation searches of existing reviews. SELECTION CRITERIA We considered experimental, quasi-experimental, observational and modelling studies that assessed the effects of the measures implemented in long-term care facilities to protect residents and staff against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Primary outcomes were infections, hospitalisations and deaths due to COVID-19, contaminations of and outbreaks in long-term care facilities, and adverse health effects. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two review authors independently screened titles, abstracts and full texts. One review author performed data extractions, risk of bias assessments and quality appraisals, and at least one other author checked their accuracy. Risk of bias and quality assessments were conducted using the ROBINS-I tool for cohort and interrupted-time-series studies, the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) checklist for case-control studies, and a bespoke tool for modelling studies. We synthesised findings narratively, focusing on the direction of effect. One review author assessed certainty of evidence with GRADE, with the author team critically discussing the ratings. MAIN RESULTS We included 11 observational studies and 11 modelling studies in the analysis. All studies were conducted in high-income countries. Most studies compared outcomes in long-term care facilities that implemented the measures with predicted or observed control scenarios without the measure (but often with baseline infection control measures also in place). Several modelling studies assessed additional comparator scenarios, such as comparing higher with lower rates of testing. There were serious concerns regarding risk of bias in almost all observational studies and major or critical concerns regarding the quality of many modelling studies. Most observational studies did not adequately control for confounding. Many modelling studies used inappropriate assumptions about the structure and input parameters of the models, and failed to adequately assess uncertainty. Overall, we identified five intervention domains, each including a number of specific measures. Entry regulation measures (4 observational studies; 4 modelling studies) Self-confinement of staff with residents may reduce the number of infections, probability of facility contamination, and number of deaths. Quarantine for new admissions may reduce the number of infections. Testing of new admissions and intensified testing of residents and of staff after holidays may reduce the number of infections, but the evidence is very uncertain. The evidence is very uncertain regarding whether restricting admissions of new residents reduces the number of infections, but the measure may reduce the probability of facility contamination. Visiting restrictions may reduce the number of infections and deaths. Furthermore, it may increase the probability of facility contamination, but the evidence is very uncertain. It is very uncertain how visiting restrictions may adversely affect the mental health of residents. Contact-regulating and transmission-reducing measures (6 observational studies; 2 modelling studies) Barrier nursing may increase the number of infections and the probability of outbreaks, but the evidence is very uncertain. Multicomponent cleaning and environmental hygiene measures may reduce the number of infections, but the evidence is very uncertain. It is unclear how contact reduction measures affect the probability of outbreaks. These measures may reduce the number of infections, but the evidence is very uncertain. Personal hygiene measures may reduce the probability of outbreaks, but the evidence is very uncertain. Mask and personal protective equipment usage may reduce the number of infections, the probability of outbreaks, and the number of deaths, but the evidence is very uncertain. Cohorting residents and staff may reduce the number of infections, although evidence is very uncertain. Multicomponent contact -regulating and transmission -reducing measures may reduce the probability of outbreaks, but the evidence is very uncertain. Surveillance measures (2 observational studies; 6 modelling studies) Routine testing of residents and staff independent of symptoms may reduce the number of infections. It may reduce the probability of outbreaks, but the evidence is very uncertain. Evidence from one observational study suggests that the measure may reduce, while the evidence from one modelling study suggests that it probably reduces hospitalisations. The measure may reduce the number of deaths among residents, but the evidence on deaths among staff is unclear. Symptom-based surveillance testing may reduce the number of infections and the probability of outbreaks, but the evidence is very uncertain. Outbreak control measures (4 observational studies; 3 modelling studies) Separating infected and non-infected residents or staff caring for them may reduce the number of infections. The measure may reduce the probability of outbreaks and may reduce the number of deaths, but the evidence for the latter is very uncertain. Isolation of cases may reduce the number of infections and the probability of outbreaks, but the evidence is very uncertain. Multicomponent measures (2 observational studies; 1 modelling study) A combination of multiple infection-control measures, including various combinations of the above categories, may reduce the number of infections and may reduce the number of deaths, but the evidence for the latter is very uncertain. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS This review provides a comprehensive framework and synthesis of a range of non-pharmacological measures implemented in long-term care facilities. These may prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections and their consequences. However, the certainty of evidence is predominantly low to very low, due to the limited availability of evidence and the design and quality of available studies. Therefore, true effects may be substantially different from those reported here. Overall, more studies producing stronger evidence on the effects of non-pharmacological measures are needed, especially in low- and middle-income countries and on possible unintended consequences of these measures. Future research should explore the reasons behind the paucity of evidence to guide pandemic research priority setting in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan M Stratil
- Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Munich, Germany
| | - Renke L Biallas
- Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Munich, Germany
| | - Jacob Burns
- Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Munich, Germany
| | - Laura Arnold
- Academy of Public Health Services, Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Karin Geffert
- Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Munich, Germany
| | - Angela M Kunzler
- Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR), Mainz, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Ina Monsef
- Cochrane Haematology, Department I of Internal Medicine, Center for Integrated Oncology Aachen Bonn Cologne Duesseldorf, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Julia Stadelmaier
- Institute for Evidence in Medicine, Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Katharina Wabnitz
- Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Munich, Germany
| | - Tim Litwin
- Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics (IMBI), Freiburg Center for Data Analysis and Modeling (FDM), Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Clemens Kreutz
- Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics (IMBI), Freiburg Center for Data Analysis and Modeling (FDM), Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Anna Helen Boger
- Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics (IMBI), Freiburg Center for Data Analysis and Modeling (FDM), Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Saskia Lindner
- Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR), Mainz, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Ben Verboom
- Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Munich, Germany
- Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Stephan Voss
- Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Munich, Germany
| | - Ani Movsisyan
- Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Munich, Germany
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Harris R, Brunsdon C. Measuring the exposure of Black, Asian and other ethnic groups to COVID-infected neighbourhoods in English towns and cities. APPLIED SPATIAL ANALYSIS AND POLICY 2021; 15:621-646. [PMID: 34493948 PMCID: PMC8414459 DOI: 10.1007/s12061-021-09400-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Accepted: 06/30/2021] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Drawing on the work of The Doreen Lawrence Review-a report on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in the UK-this paper develops an index of exposure, measuring which ethnic groups have been most exposed to COVID-19 infected residential neighbourhoods during the first and second waves of the pandemic in England. The index is based on a Bayesian Poisson model with a random intercept in the linear predictor, allowing for extra-Poisson variation at neighbourhood and town/city scales. This permits within-city differences to be decoupled from broader regional trends in the disease. The research finds that members of ethnic minority groups can be living in areas with higher infection rates but also that the risk of exposure is distributed unevenly across these groups. Initially, in the first wave, the disease disproportionately affected Black residents but, as the pandemic has progressed, especially the Pakistani but also the Bangladeshi and Indian groups have had the highest exposure. This higher exposure of the Pakistani group is not straightforwardly a function of neighbourhood deprivation because it is present across a range of average house prices. We find evidence to support the view, expressed in The Doreen Lawrence Review, that it is linked to occupational and environmental exposure, particularly residential density but, having allowed for these factors, differences between the towns and cities remain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Harris
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol, BS8 1SS UK
| | - Chris Brunsdon
- National Centre for Geocomputation, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare Ireland
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Wang J, Chen X, Guo Z, Zhao S, Huang Z, Zhuang Z, Wong ELY, Zee BCY, Chong MKC, Wang MH, Yeoh EK. Superspreading and heterogeneity in transmission of SARS, MERS, and COVID-19: A systematic review. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2021; 19:5039-5046. [PMID: 34484618 PMCID: PMC8409018 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2021.08.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2021] [Revised: 08/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have caused substantial public health burdens and global health threats. Understanding the superspreading potentials of these viruses are important for characterizing transmission patterns and informing strategic decision-making in disease control. This systematic review aimed to summarize the existing evidence on superspreading features and to compare the heterogeneity in transmission within and among various betacoronavirus epidemics of SARS, MERS and COVID-19. METHODS PubMed, MEDLINE, and Embase databases were extensively searched for original studies on the transmission heterogeneity of SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 published in English between January 1, 2003, and February 10, 2021. After screening the articles, we extracted data pertaining to the estimated dispersion parameter (k) which has been a commonly-used measurement for superspreading potential. FINDINGS We included a total of 60 estimates of transmission heterogeneity from 26 studies on outbreaks in 22 regions. The majority (90%) of the k estimates were small, with values less than 1, indicating an over-dispersed transmission pattern. The point estimates of k for SARS and MERS ranged from 0.12 to 0.20 and from 0.06 to 2.94, respectively. Among 45 estimates of individual-level transmission heterogeneity for COVID-19 from 17 articles, 91% were derived from Asian regions. The point estimates of k for COVID-19 ranged between 0.1 and 5.0. CONCLUSIONS We detected a substantial over-dispersed transmission pattern in all three coronaviruses, while the k estimates varied by differences in study design and public health capacity. Our findings suggested that even with a reduced R value, the epidemic still has a high resurgence potential due to transmission heterogeneity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingxuan Wang
- JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
| | - Xiao Chen
- School of Public Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zihao Guo
- JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
| | - Shi Zhao
- JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
| | - Ziyue Huang
- Mianyang Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Mianyang, China
| | - Zian Zhuang
- Department of Biostatistics, University of California Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Eliza Lai-yi Wong
- JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- CUHK Institute of Health Equity, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
| | - Benny Chung-Ying Zee
- JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
| | - Marc Ka Chun Chong
- JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
| | - Maggie Haitian Wang
- JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
| | - Eng Kiong Yeoh
- JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- CUHK Institute of Health Equity, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
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Sinclair AH, Hakimi S, Stanley ML, Adcock RA, Samanez-Larkin GR. Pairing facts with imagined consequences improves pandemic-related risk perception. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2100970118. [PMID: 34341120 PMCID: PMC8364212 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2100970118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic reached staggering new peaks during a global resurgence more than a year after the crisis began. Although public health guidelines initially helped to slow the spread of disease, widespread pandemic fatigue and prolonged harm to financial stability and mental well-being contributed to this resurgence. In the late stage of the pandemic, it became clear that new interventions were needed to support long-term behavior change. Here, we examined subjective perceived risk about COVID-19 and the relationship between perceived risk and engagement in risky behaviors. In study 1 (n = 303), we found that subjective perceived risk was likely inaccurate but predicted compliance with public health guidelines. In study 2 (n = 735), we developed a multifaceted intervention designed to realign perceived risk with actual risk. Participants completed an episodic simulation task; we expected that imagining a COVID-related scenario would increase the salience of risk information and enhance behavior change. Immediately following the episodic simulation, participants completed a risk estimation task with individualized feedback about local viral prevalence. We found that information prediction error, a measure of surprise, drove beneficial change in perceived risk and willingness to engage in risky activities. Imagining a COVID-related scenario beforehand enhanced the effect of prediction error on learning. Importantly, our intervention produced lasting effects that persisted after a 1- to 3-wk delay. Overall, we describe a fast and feasible online intervention that effectively changed beliefs and intentions about risky behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa H Sinclair
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708;
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Shabnam Hakimi
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Matthew L Stanley
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - R Alison Adcock
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Gregory R Samanez-Larkin
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
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Sinclair AH, Hakimi S, Stanley ML, Adcock RA, Samanez-Larkin GR. Pairing facts with imagined consequences improves pandemic-related risk perception. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2100970118. [PMID: 34341120 DOI: 10.17605/osf.io/35us2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic reached staggering new peaks during a global resurgence more than a year after the crisis began. Although public health guidelines initially helped to slow the spread of disease, widespread pandemic fatigue and prolonged harm to financial stability and mental well-being contributed to this resurgence. In the late stage of the pandemic, it became clear that new interventions were needed to support long-term behavior change. Here, we examined subjective perceived risk about COVID-19 and the relationship between perceived risk and engagement in risky behaviors. In study 1 (n = 303), we found that subjective perceived risk was likely inaccurate but predicted compliance with public health guidelines. In study 2 (n = 735), we developed a multifaceted intervention designed to realign perceived risk with actual risk. Participants completed an episodic simulation task; we expected that imagining a COVID-related scenario would increase the salience of risk information and enhance behavior change. Immediately following the episodic simulation, participants completed a risk estimation task with individualized feedback about local viral prevalence. We found that information prediction error, a measure of surprise, drove beneficial change in perceived risk and willingness to engage in risky activities. Imagining a COVID-related scenario beforehand enhanced the effect of prediction error on learning. Importantly, our intervention produced lasting effects that persisted after a 1- to 3-wk delay. Overall, we describe a fast and feasible online intervention that effectively changed beliefs and intentions about risky behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa H Sinclair
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708;
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Shabnam Hakimi
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Matthew L Stanley
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - R Alison Adcock
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Gregory R Samanez-Larkin
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
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Sinclair AH, Hakimi S, Stanley ML, Adcock RA, Samanez-Larkin GR. Pairing facts with imagined consequences improves pandemic-related risk perception. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2100970118. [PMID: 34341120 DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/53a9f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic reached staggering new peaks during a global resurgence more than a year after the crisis began. Although public health guidelines initially helped to slow the spread of disease, widespread pandemic fatigue and prolonged harm to financial stability and mental well-being contributed to this resurgence. In the late stage of the pandemic, it became clear that new interventions were needed to support long-term behavior change. Here, we examined subjective perceived risk about COVID-19 and the relationship between perceived risk and engagement in risky behaviors. In study 1 (n = 303), we found that subjective perceived risk was likely inaccurate but predicted compliance with public health guidelines. In study 2 (n = 735), we developed a multifaceted intervention designed to realign perceived risk with actual risk. Participants completed an episodic simulation task; we expected that imagining a COVID-related scenario would increase the salience of risk information and enhance behavior change. Immediately following the episodic simulation, participants completed a risk estimation task with individualized feedback about local viral prevalence. We found that information prediction error, a measure of surprise, drove beneficial change in perceived risk and willingness to engage in risky activities. Imagining a COVID-related scenario beforehand enhanced the effect of prediction error on learning. Importantly, our intervention produced lasting effects that persisted after a 1- to 3-wk delay. Overall, we describe a fast and feasible online intervention that effectively changed beliefs and intentions about risky behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa H Sinclair
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708;
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Shabnam Hakimi
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Matthew L Stanley
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - R Alison Adcock
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Gregory R Samanez-Larkin
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
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[SARS-CoV-2 transmission routes and implications for self- and non-self-protection]. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz 2021; 64:1050-1057. [PMID: 34324023 PMCID: PMC8319698 DOI: 10.1007/s00103-021-03389-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Die weltweite Ausbreitung des Coronavirus SARS-CoV‑2 hat Gesundheits‑, Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftssysteme massiv in Mitleidenschaft gezogen. Obwohl mittlerweile effektive Impfstoffe zur Verfügung stehen, ist es wahrscheinlich, dass der Erreger endemisch wird und uns noch über Jahre begleitet. Um andere und sich selbst möglichst effektiv vor einer SARS-CoV-2-Infektion zu schützen, ist ein Verständnis der Übertragungswege von größter Wichtigkeit. In dieser Übersichtsarbeit erläutern wir Übertragungswege im Hinblick auf den Fremd- und Eigenschutz. Darüber hinaus gehen wir auf die Charakteristika der SARS-CoV-2-Übertragung auf Populationsebene ein. Diese Arbeit soll helfen, folgende Fragen anhand der verfügbaren Literatur zu beantworten: Wann und wie lange ist eine infizierte Person kontagiös (ansteckungsfähig)? Wie wird das Virus ausgeschieden? Wie wird das Virus aufgenommen? Wie verbreitet sich das Virus in der Gesellschaft? Die Mensch-zu-Mensch-Übertragung von SARS-CoV‑2 wird in starkem Maße durch die biologischen Erregereigenschaften, einschließlich der Infektions‑, Replikations- und Ausscheidungskinetik, bestimmt. SARS-CoV‑2 wird hauptsächlich über humane Aerosole übertragen, die von infizierten Personen ausgeschieden werden, auch wenn Erkrankungssymptome (noch) nicht vorliegen. Hieraus resultiert ein relevanter Anteil prä- bzw. asymptomatischer Transmissionen. In geschlossenen Räumen erfolgen Übertragungen besonders effektiv. Die meisten infizierten Personen rufen eine geringe Zahl von Sekundärfällen hervor, während wenige Fälle (sog. Superspreader) zu vielen Folgeinfektionen führen – auf Populationsebene spricht man hier von einer „Überdispersion“. Die besonderen Merkmale von SARS-CoV‑2 (asymptomatische Aerosolübertragung und Überdispersion) machen die Pandemie schwer kontrollierbar.
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Rose C, Medford AJ, Goldsmith CF, Vegge T, Weitz JS, Peterson AA. Heterogeneity in susceptibility dictates the order of epidemic models. J Theor Biol 2021; 528:110839. [PMID: 34314731 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2021.110839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Revised: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The fundamental models of epidemiology describe the progression of an infectious disease through a population using compartmentalized differential equations, but typically do not incorporate population-level heterogeneity in infection susceptibility. Here we combine a generalized analytical framework of contagion with computational models of epidemic dynamics to show that variation strongly influences the rate of infection, while the infection process simultaneously sculpts the susceptibility distribution. These joint dynamics influence the force of infection and are, in turn, influenced by the shape of the initial variability. We find that certain susceptibility distributions (the exponential and the gamma) are unchanged through the course of the outbreak, and lead naturally to power-law behavior in the force of infection; other distributions are often sculpted towards these "eigen-distributions" through the process of contagion. The power-law behavior fundamentally alters predictions of the long-term infection rate, and suggests that first-order epidemic models that are parameterized in the exponential-like phase may systematically and significantly over-estimate the final severity of the outbreak. In summary, our study suggests the need to examine the shape of susceptibility in natural populations as part of efforts to improve prediction models and to prioritize interventions that leverage heterogeneity to mitigate against spread.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Rose
- School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA
| | - Andrew J Medford
- School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
| | | | - Tejs Vegge
- Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby 2800 Kgs., Denmark
| | - Joshua S Weitz
- School of Biological Sciences and School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
| | - Andrew A Peterson
- School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA; Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby 2800 Kgs., Denmark.
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