Exploring the impact of under-reported cases on the COVID-19 spatiotemporal distribution using healthcare worker infection data

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Peixiao, Hu, Tao, Liu, Hongqiang, Zhu, Xinyan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2020
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_version_ 1866911755385438208
author Wang, Peixiao
Hu, Tao
Liu, Hongqiang
Zhu, Xinyan
author_facet Wang, Peixiao
Hu, Tao
Liu, Hongqiang
Zhu, Xinyan
contents A timely understanding of the spatiotemporal pattern and development trend of COVID-19 is critical for timely prevention and control. However, the under-reporting of cases is widespread in fields associated with public health. It is also possible to draw biased inferences and formulate inappropriate prevention and control policies if the phenomenon of under-reporting is not taken into account. Therefore, in this paper, a novel framework was proposed to explore the impact of under-reporting on COVID-19 spatiotemporal distributions, and empirical analysis was carried out using infection data of healthcare workers in Wuhan and Hubei (excluding Wuhan). The results show that (1) the lognormal distribution was the most suitable to describe the evolution of epidemic with time; (2) the estimated peak infection time of the reported cases lagged the peak infection time of the healthcare worker cases, and the estimated infection time interval of the reported cases was smaller than that of the healthcare worker cases. (3) The impact of under-reporting cases on the early stages of the pandemic was greater than that on its later stages, and the impact on the early onset area was greater than that on the late onset area. (4) Although the number of reported cases was lower than the actual number of cases, a high spatial correlation existed between the cumulatively reported cases and healthcare worker cases. The proposed framework of this study is highly extensible, and relevant researchers can use data sources from other counties to carry out similar research.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2011_04892
institution arXiv
publishDate 2020
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Exploring the impact of under-reported cases on the COVID-19 spatiotemporal distribution using healthcare worker infection data
Wang, Peixiao
Hu, Tao
Liu, Hongqiang
Zhu, Xinyan
Populations and Evolution
A timely understanding of the spatiotemporal pattern and development trend of COVID-19 is critical for timely prevention and control. However, the under-reporting of cases is widespread in fields associated with public health. It is also possible to draw biased inferences and formulate inappropriate prevention and control policies if the phenomenon of under-reporting is not taken into account. Therefore, in this paper, a novel framework was proposed to explore the impact of under-reporting on COVID-19 spatiotemporal distributions, and empirical analysis was carried out using infection data of healthcare workers in Wuhan and Hubei (excluding Wuhan). The results show that (1) the lognormal distribution was the most suitable to describe the evolution of epidemic with time; (2) the estimated peak infection time of the reported cases lagged the peak infection time of the healthcare worker cases, and the estimated infection time interval of the reported cases was smaller than that of the healthcare worker cases. (3) The impact of under-reporting cases on the early stages of the pandemic was greater than that on its later stages, and the impact on the early onset area was greater than that on the late onset area. (4) Although the number of reported cases was lower than the actual number of cases, a high spatial correlation existed between the cumulatively reported cases and healthcare worker cases. The proposed framework of this study is highly extensible, and relevant researchers can use data sources from other counties to carry out similar research.
title Exploring the impact of under-reported cases on the COVID-19 spatiotemporal distribution using healthcare worker infection data
topic Populations and Evolution
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.04892