Critical mobility in policy making for epidemic containment

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: López, Jesús A. Moreno, Meloni, Sandro, Ramasco, Jose J.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author López, Jesús A. Moreno
Meloni, Sandro
Ramasco, Jose J.
author_facet López, Jesús A. Moreno
Meloni, Sandro
Ramasco, Jose J.
contents When considering airborne epidemic spreading in social systems, a natural connection arises between mobility and epidemic contacts. As individuals travel, possibilities to encounter new people either at the final destination or during the transportation process appear. Such contacts can lead to new contagion events. In fact, mobility has been a crucial target for early non-pharmaceutical containment measures against the recent COVID-19 pandemic, with a degree of intensity ranging from public transportation line closures to regional, city or even home confinements. Nonetheless, quantitative knowledge on the relationship between mobility-contagions and, consequently, on the efficiency of containment measures remains elusive. Here we introduce an agent-based model with a simple interaction between mobility and contacts. Despite its simplicity our model shows the emergence of a critical mobility level, inducing major outbreaks when surpassed. We explore the interplay between mobility restrictions and the infection in recent intervention policies seen across many countries, and how interventions in the form of closures triggered by incidence rates can guide the epidemic into an oscillatory regime with recurrent waves. We consider how the different interventions impact societal well-being, the economy and the population. Finally, we propose a mitigation framework based on the critical nature of mobility in an epidemic, able to suppress incidence and oscillations at will, preventing extreme incidence peaks with potential to saturate health care resources.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_05739
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Critical mobility in policy making for epidemic containment
López, Jesús A. Moreno
Meloni, Sandro
Ramasco, Jose J.
Physics and Society
Multiagent Systems
Populations and Evolution
When considering airborne epidemic spreading in social systems, a natural connection arises between mobility and epidemic contacts. As individuals travel, possibilities to encounter new people either at the final destination or during the transportation process appear. Such contacts can lead to new contagion events. In fact, mobility has been a crucial target for early non-pharmaceutical containment measures against the recent COVID-19 pandemic, with a degree of intensity ranging from public transportation line closures to regional, city or even home confinements. Nonetheless, quantitative knowledge on the relationship between mobility-contagions and, consequently, on the efficiency of containment measures remains elusive. Here we introduce an agent-based model with a simple interaction between mobility and contacts. Despite its simplicity our model shows the emergence of a critical mobility level, inducing major outbreaks when surpassed. We explore the interplay between mobility restrictions and the infection in recent intervention policies seen across many countries, and how interventions in the form of closures triggered by incidence rates can guide the epidemic into an oscillatory regime with recurrent waves. We consider how the different interventions impact societal well-being, the economy and the population. Finally, we propose a mitigation framework based on the critical nature of mobility in an epidemic, able to suppress incidence and oscillations at will, preventing extreme incidence peaks with potential to saturate health care resources.
title Critical mobility in policy making for epidemic containment
topic Physics and Society
Multiagent Systems
Populations and Evolution
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.05739