An empirical study on social contact tracing of COVID-19 from a classification perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Lubab Talib ◽  
Abdellah Behri Awol ◽  
Mohammed Gouse Galety ◽  
Elham Tahsin Yasin
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Contact Tracing

POLICY OF PROMOTING ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION IN TIMES OF COVID-19 LOCKDOWN IN INDIA: A MEDICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS.

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-24
Author(s):  
Neha Sharma ◽  
Ayush Anand ◽  
Shreyas Joshi ◽  
Samrat Ray
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Application ◽  
Prospective Observational Study ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Family Welfare ◽  
Cumulative Number ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Given ◽  
Constitutional Analysis

BACKGROUND: India, with the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic, started imposing restrictions in the country th and initiated a nationwide lockdown under Section 6 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 on 24 March 2020, followed by four phases of lockdown and then gradual unlock of the country. The rationale behind the same was to avoid social contact. Alcohol dispensing was also stopped during this time and was among the rst services to be reopened by the States. We propose in this paper that this lifting of ban on alcohol sale during the pandemic has led to a signicant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country. METHODS: This is a prospective, observational study, done by collecting data from the Aargya Setu App, which is a mobile application launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 2 April 2020 for contact tracing and elf assessment of COVID-19. The data of cumulative number of cases in 12 selected states of the country were compared before and after the lift of ban of alcohol and signicance was shown by the paired t test. RESULTS: The number of COVID-19 positive cases in the country during nationwide lockdown with simultaneous ban on alcohol sale when compared to cumulative number of cases after the lift of ban of alcohol sale during Lockdown and initial Unlock is statistically signicant (p = 0.04) CONCLUSION: We found that the decision to restart the sale of Alcohol could have been a factor for rise in number of cases in the country in the given timeframe. The decision to start the sale has also not been in accordance with the Indian Constitution and against the nation's founding ethics.

scholarly journals Combining fine-scale social contact data with epidemic modelling reveals interactions between contact tracing, quarantine, testing and physical distancing for controlling COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh A. Firth ◽  
Joel Hellewell ◽  
Petra Klepac ◽  
Stephen Kissler ◽  
Adam J. Kucharski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Contact Rates ◽  
Contact Data ◽  
Potential Impact

AbstractCase isolation and contact tracing can contribute to the control of COVID-19 outbreaks1,2. However, it remains unclear how real-world networks could influence the effectiveness and efficiency of such approaches. To address this issue, we simulated control strategies for SARS-CoV-2 in a real-world social network generated from high resolution GPS data3,4. We found that tracing contacts-of-contacts reduced the size of simulated outbreaks more than tracing of only contacts, but resulted in almost half of the local population being quarantined at a single point in time. Testing and releasing non-infectious individuals led to increases in outbreak size, suggesting that contact tracing and quarantine may be most effective when it acts as a ‘local lockdown’ when contact rates are high. Finally, we estimated that combining physical distancing with contact tracing could enable epidemic control while reducing the number of quarantined individuals. Our approach highlights the importance of network structure and social dynamics in evaluating the potential impact of SARS-CoV-2 control.

Social Contact Patterns and Satisfaction with Retirement of Women in Dual-Career/Earner Families

1994 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy B. Reeves ◽  
Ray L. Darville
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Leisure Time ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Dual Career ◽  
Actual Frequency ◽  
Contact Patterns ◽  
Frequency Of Contact ◽  
Mature Women ◽  
Leisure Experience

The authors conducted an empirical study in 1990 of 611 mature women in dual-career/earner families who are retired from a work position in the field of education. We test twelve hypotheses that relate frequency of contact, kind of social contact and perceived gap between desired and frequency of actual social contact to satisfaction with women's timing of retirement and leisure. Nine of the twelve hypotheses were confirmed. Women who have more frequent and a greater variety of social contact are more satisfied with the timing of their retirement and their leisure than those who have less contact. The wider the gap between desired and actual frequency contact with specific groups the less satisfied will women be with their leisure experience, their amount of leisure time, and their timing of retirement.

scholarly journals Tracking and Promoting Usage of a COVID-19 Contact Tracing App

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Munzert ◽  
Peter Selb ◽  
Anita Gohdes ◽  
Lukas Stoetzer ◽  
Will Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Social Contact ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Monetary Incentives ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Privacy By Design ◽  
Limited Effect ◽  
Actual Usage ◽  
Uptake Rates ◽  
Randomized Intervention

Digital contact tracing apps have been introduced globally as an instrument to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, privacy by design impedes both the evaluation of these tools and the deployment of evidence-based interventions to stimulate uptake. We combine an online panel survey with mobile tracking data to measure the actual usage of Germany's official contact tracing app and reveal increased uptake rates among vulnerable groups, but lower rates among those with frequent social contact. Using a randomized intervention, we show that informative and motivational video messages have very limited effect on uptake. However, findings from a second intervention suggest that even small monetary incentives can strongly increase uptake and help make digital contact tracing a more effective tool.

scholarly journals Limits of lockdown: characterising essential contacts during strict physical distancing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Thomas ◽  
Leon Danon ◽  
Hannah Christensen ◽  
Kate Northstone ◽  
Daniel Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Control Strategies ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Contact Patterns ◽  
Incident Rate ◽  
Number Of Individuals ◽  
Determining Factor

ABSTRACTCOVID-19 has exposed health inequalities within countries and globally. The fundamental determining factor behind an individual’s risk of infection is the number of social contacts they make. In many countries, physical distancing measures have been implemented to control transmission of SARS-CoV-2, reducing social contacts to a minimum. Characterising unavoidable social contacts is key for understanding the inequalities behind differential risks and planning vaccination programmes. We utilised an existing English longitudinal birth cohort, which is broadly representative of the wider population (n=6807), to explore social contact patterns and behaviours when strict physical distancing measures were in place during the UK’s first lockdown in March-May 2020. Essential workers, specifically those in healthcare, had 4.5 times as many contacts as non-essential workers [incident rate ratio = 4.42 (CI95%: 3.88–5.04)], whilst essential workers in other sectors, mainly teaching and the police force had three times as many contacts [IRR = 2.84 (2.58–3.13)]. The number of individuals in a household, which is conflated by number of children, increases essential social contacts by 40%. Self-isolation effectively reduces numbers of contacts outside of the home, but not entirely. Together, these findings will aid the interpretation of epidemiological data and impact the design of effective SARS-CoV-2 control strategies, such as vaccination, testing and contact tracing.

scholarly journals A data-driven metapopulation model for the Belgian COVID-19 epidemic: assessing the impact of lockdown and exit strategies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Coletti ◽  
Pieter Libin ◽  
Oana Petrof ◽  
Lander Willem ◽  
Abrams Steven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase 1 ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
National Level ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Exit Strategy ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Initial Wave ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second Wave

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, several countries adopted measures of social distancing to a different degree. For many countries, after successfully curbing the initial wave, lockdown measures were gradually lifted. In Belgium, such relief started on May 4th with phase 1, followed by several subsequent phases over the next few weeks. We analysed the expected impact of relaxing stringent lockdown measures taken according to the phased Belgian exit strategy. We developed a stochastic, data-informed, meta-population model that accounts for mixing and mobility of the age-structured population of Belgium. The model is calibrated to daily hospitalization data and serological data and is able to reproduce the outbreak at the national level. We consider different scenarios for relieving the lockdown, quantified in terms of relative reductions in pre-pandemic social mixing and mobility. We validate our assumptions by making comparisons with social contact data collected during and after the lockdown. Our model is able to successfully describe the initial wave of COVID-19 in Belgium and identifies interactions during leisure/other activities as pivotal in the exit strategy. Indeed, we find a smaller impact of school re-openings as compared to restarting leisure activities and re-openings of work places. We also assess the impact of case isolation of new (suspected) infections, and find that it allows re-establishing relatively more social interactions while still ensuring epidemic control. Scenarios predicting a second wave of hospitalizations were not observed, suggesting that the per-contact probability of infection has changed with respect to the pre-lockdown period. Community contacts are found to be most influential, followed by professional contacts and school contacts, respectively, for an impending second wave of COVID-19. Regular re-assessment is crucial to adjust to evolving behavioral changes that can affect epidemic diffusion. In addition to social distancing, sufficient capacity for extensive testing and contact tracing is essential for successful mitigation.

scholarly journals Limits of lockdown: characterising essential contacts during strict physical distancing

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Amy Thomas ◽  
Leon Danon ◽  
Hannah Christensen ◽  
Kate Northstone ◽  
Daniel Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression Model ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Contact Patterns

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has exposed health inequalities within countries and globally. The fundamental determining factor behind an individual’s risk of infection is the number of social contacts they make. In many countries, physical distancing measures have been implemented to control transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), reducing social contacts to a minimum. We characterise social contacts to understand the drivers and inequalities behind differential risks for aiding in planning SARS-CoV-2 mitigation programmes. Methods: We utilised an existing longitudinal birth cohort (n=6807) to explore social contact patterns and behaviours when strict physical distancing measures were in place during the UK’s first lockdown in March-May 2020. We used an online questionnaire to capture information on participant contact patterns, health, SARS-CoV-2 exposure, behaviours and impacts resulting from COVID-19. We quantified daily contacts and examined the association between covariates and numbers of daily total contacts using a negative binomial regression model. Results: A daily average of 3.7 [standard deviation = 10.6] total contacts outside the household were reported. Essential workers, specifically those in healthcare, had 4.5 times as many contacts as non-essential workers [incident rate ratio = 4.42 (95% CI: 3.88–5.04)], whilst essential workers in other sectors, mainly teaching and the police force had three times as many contacts [IRR = 2.84 (2.58–3.13)]. The number of individuals in a household, which largely reflects number of children, increases essential social contacts by 40%. Self-isolation effectively reduces numbers of contacts outside of the home, but not entirely. Conclusions: Contextualising contact patterns has highlighted the health inequalities exposed by COVID-19, as well as potential sources of infection risk and transmission. Together, these findings will aid the interpretation of epidemiological data and impact the design of effective control strategies for SARS-CoV-2, such as vaccination, testing and contact tracing.

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