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Gorgels KMF, Dukers-Muijrers NHTM, Evers YJ, Hackert VH, Savelkoul PHM, Hoebe CJPA. Impact of a large-scale event on SARS-CoV-2 cases and hospitalizations in the Netherlands, carnival seasons 2022 and 2023. PUBLIC HEALTH IN PRACTICE 2024; 8:100523. [PMID: 39263240 PMCID: PMC11387216 DOI: 10.1016/j.puhip.2024.100523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2024] [Revised: 05/25/2024] [Accepted: 06/05/2024] [Indexed: 09/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Objectives The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of understanding facilitators for disease transmission. Events such as Carnival, characterized by large gatherings and extensive social interactions, have the potential to become 'super spreading events' for respiratory infections. This paper aims to assess the impact of large gatherings on virus transmission, providing crucial insights for the development of effective public health strategies. Study design An ecological study was performed. Methods The age-standardized number of COVID-19 cases reported in 2022, stratified by age (under 60 and 60+ years) was compared countrywide for Dutch provinces where Carnival was celebrated versus those where it was not. Additionally, we compared standardized hospitalization rates in 2022 and 2023 for both areas. Results Countrywide, 2,278,431 COVID-19 cases were reported between 06-02-2022 and 10-04-2022. Daily incidence increased after Carnival, peaking at 803 per 100,000 inhabitants for under 60s in carnival provinces and 368 in non-carnival provinces. For individuals 60+ daily incidence peaked at 396 in carnival provinces and 247 in non-carnival provinces. Over the 10 weeks following the start of Carnival, the carnival provinces demonstrated a 15 % (2022) 17 % (2023) higher hospitalization rate compared to non-carnival provinces. Conclusions The peak in cases and hospitalizations in regions actively celebrating Carnival compared to the rest of the Netherlands qualifies Carnival as a 'super-spreading' event. Our findings underscore the elevated risk of respiratory infections associated with large gatherings, advocating guided policies, including transparent risk communication and healthcare preparedness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koen M F Gorgels
- Department of Sexual Health, Infectious Diseases and Environmental Health, Living Lab Public Health, South Limburg Public Health Service, PO Box 33, 6400 AA Heerlen, the Netherlands
- Department of Social Medicine, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Nicole H T M Dukers-Muijrers
- Department of Sexual Health, Infectious Diseases and Environmental Health, Living Lab Public Health, South Limburg Public Health Service, PO Box 33, 6400 AA Heerlen, the Netherlands
- Department of Health Promotion, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Ymke J Evers
- Department of Sexual Health, Infectious Diseases and Environmental Health, Living Lab Public Health, South Limburg Public Health Service, PO Box 33, 6400 AA Heerlen, the Netherlands
- Department of Social Medicine, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Volker H Hackert
- Department of Sexual Health, Infectious Diseases and Environmental Health, Living Lab Public Health, South Limburg Public Health Service, PO Box 33, 6400 AA Heerlen, the Netherlands
| | - Paul H M Savelkoul
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Infection Prevention, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Christian J P A Hoebe
- Department of Sexual Health, Infectious Diseases and Environmental Health, Living Lab Public Health, South Limburg Public Health Service, PO Box 33, 6400 AA Heerlen, the Netherlands
- Department of Social Medicine, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Infection Prevention, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, the Netherlands
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Bartolucci S, Caccioli F, Caravelli F, Vivo P. Distribution of centrality measures on undirected random networks via the cavity method. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2403682121. [PMID: 39320915 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2403682121] [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: 02/21/2024] [Accepted: 08/12/2024] [Indexed: 09/26/2024] Open
Abstract
The Katz centrality of a node in a complex network is a measure of the node's importance as far as the flow of information across the network is concerned. For ensembles of locally tree-like undirected random graphs, this observable is a random variable. Its full probability distribution is of interest but difficult to handle analytically because of its "global" character and its definition in terms of a matrix inverse. Leveraging a fast Gaussian Belief Propagation-Cavity algorithm to solve linear systems on tree-like structures, we show that i) the Katz centrality of a single instance can be computed recursively in a very fast way, and ii) the probability [Formula: see text] that a random node in the ensemble of undirected random graphs has centrality [Formula: see text] satisfies a set of recursive distributional equations, which can be analytically characterized and efficiently solved using a population dynamics algorithm. We test our solution on ensembles of Erdős-Rényi and Scale Free networks in the locally tree-like regime, with excellent agreement. The analytical distribution of centrality for the configuration model conditioned on the degree of each node can be employed as a benchmark to identify nodes of empirical networks with over- and underexpressed centrality relative to a null baseline. We also provide an approximate formula based on a rank-[Formula: see text] projection that works well if the network is not too sparse, and we argue that an extension of our method could be efficiently extended to tackle analytical distributions of other centrality measures such as PageRank for directed networks in a transparent and user-friendly way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Bartolucci
- Department of Computer Science, University College London, London WC1E 6EA, United Kingdom
- Centre for Financial Technology, Imperial College Business School, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Fabio Caccioli
- Department of Computer Science, University College London, London WC1E 6EA, United Kingdom
- London Mathematical Laboratory, London WC 8RH, United Kingdom
- London School of Economics and Political Science, Systemic Risk Centre, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom
| | - Francesco Caravelli
- Theoretical Division (T-4), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
| | - Pierpaolo Vivo
- Department of Mathematics, King's College London, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
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Marmor Y, Abbey A, Shahar Y, Mokryn O. Assessing individual risk and the latent transmission of COVID-19 in a population with an interaction-driven temporal model. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12955. [PMID: 37563358 PMCID: PMC10415258 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39817-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Interaction-driven modeling of diseases over real-world contact data has been shown to promote the understanding of the spread of diseases in communities. This temporal modeling follows the path-preserving order and timing of the contacts, which are essential for accurate modeling. Yet, other important aspects were overlooked. Various airborne pathogens differ in the duration of exposure needed for infection. Also, from the individual perspective, Covid-19 progression differs between individuals, and its severity is statistically correlated with age. Here, we enrich an interaction-driven model of Covid-19 and similar airborne viral diseases with (a) meetings duration and (b) personal disease progression. The enriched model enables predicting outcomes at both the population and the individual levels. It further allows predicting individual risk of engaging in social interactions as a function of the virus characteristics and its prevalence in the population. We further showed that the enigmatic nature of asymptomatic transmission stems from the latent effect of the network density on this transmission and that asymptomatic transmission has a substantial impact only in sparse communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanir Marmor
- Information Systems, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Alex Abbey
- Information Systems, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Yuval Shahar
- Software and Information Systems Engineering, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Osnat Mokryn
- Information Systems, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
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Kleynhans J, Dall'Amico L, Gauvin L, Tizzoni M, Maloma L, Walaza S, Martinson NA, von Gottberg A, Wolter N, Makhasi M, Cohen C, Cattuto C, Tempia S. Association of close-range contact patterns with SARS-CoV-2: a household transmission study. eLife 2023; 12:e84753. [PMID: 37461328 DOI: 10.7554/elife.84753] [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: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Households are an important location for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission, especially during periods when travel and work was restricted to essential services. We aimed to assess the association of close-range contact patterns with SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Methods We deployed proximity sensors for two weeks to measure face-to-face interactions between household members after SARS-CoV-2 was identified in the household, in South Africa, 2020-2021. We calculated the duration, frequency, and average duration of close-range proximity events with SARS-CoV-2 index cases. We assessed the association of contact parameters with SARS-CoV-2 transmission using mixed effects logistic regression accounting for index and household member characteristics. Results We included 340 individuals (88 SARS-CoV-2 index cases and 252 household members). On multivariable analysis, factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 acquisition were index cases with minimum Ct value <30 (aOR 16.8 95% CI 3.1-93.1) vs >35, and female contacts (aOR 2.5 95% CI 1.3-5.0). No contact parameters were associated with acquisition (aOR 1.0-1.1) for any of the duration, frequency, cumulative time in contact, or average duration parameters. Conclusions We did not find an association between close-range proximity events and SARS-CoV-2 household transmission. Our findings may be due to study limitations, that droplet-mediated transmission during close-proximity contacts plays a smaller role than airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the household, or due to high contact rates in households. Funding Wellcome Trust (Grant number 221003/Z/20/Z) in collaboration with the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, United Kingdom.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jackie Kleynhans
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | | | - Laetitia Gauvin
- ISI Foundation, Turin, Italy
- Institute for Research on Sustainable Development, Aubervilliers, France
| | - Michele Tizzoni
- ISI Foundation, Turin, Italy
- Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Lucia Maloma
- Perinatal HIV Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Sibongile Walaza
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Neil A Martinson
- Perinatal HIV Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Johns Hopkins University Center for TB Research, Baltimore, United States
| | - Anne von Gottberg
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Nicole Wolter
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Mvuyo Makhasi
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Cheryl Cohen
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Ciro Cattuto
- ISI Foundation, Turin, Italy
- Department of Informatics, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Stefano Tempia
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Mazzoli M, Gallotti R, Privitera F, Colet P, Ramasco JJ. Spatial immunization to abate disease spreading in transportation hubs. Nat Commun 2023; 14:1448. [PMID: 36941266 PMCID: PMC10027826 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36985-0] [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] [Received: 05/10/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Proximity social interactions are crucial for infectious diseases transmission. Crowded agglomerations pose serious risk of triggering superspreading events. Locations like transportation hubs (airports and stations) are designed to optimize logistic efficiency, not to reduce crowding, and are characterized by a constant in and out flow of people. Here, we analyze the paradigmatic example of London Heathrow, one of the busiest European airports. Thanks to a dataset of anonymized individuals' trajectories, we can model the spreading of different diseases to localize the contagion hotspots and to propose a spatial immunization policy targeting them to reduce disease spreading risk. We also detect the most vulnerable destinations to contagions produced at the airport and quantify the benefits of the spatial immunization technique to prevent regional and global disease diffusion. This method is immediately generalizable to train, metro and bus stations and to other facilities such as commercial or convention centers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mattia Mazzoli
- Instituto de Física Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos IFISC (CSIC-UIB), Campus UIB, 07122, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
- INSERM, Sorbonne Université, Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, IPLESP, Paris, France.
| | - Riccardo Gallotti
- CHuB Lab, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via Sommarive 18, 38123, Povo (TN), Trento, Italy
| | | | - Pere Colet
- Instituto de Física Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos IFISC (CSIC-UIB), Campus UIB, 07122, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
| | - José J Ramasco
- Instituto de Física Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos IFISC (CSIC-UIB), Campus UIB, 07122, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
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Epidemic dynamics in census-calibrated modular contact network. NETWORK MODELING AND ANALYSIS IN HEALTH INFORMATICS AND BIOINFORMATICS 2023; 12:14. [PMID: 36685658 PMCID: PMC9838429 DOI: 10.1007/s13721-022-00402-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Network-based models are apt for understanding epidemic dynamics due to their inherent ability to model the heterogeneity of interactions in the contemporary world of intense human connectivity. We propose a framework to create a wire-frame that mimics the social contact network of the population in a geography by lacing it with demographic information. The framework results in a modular network with small-world topology that accommodates density variations and emulates human interactions in family, social, and work spaces. When loaded with suitable economic, social, and urban data shaping patterns of human connectance, the network emerges as a potent decision-making instrument for urban planners, demographers, and social scientists. We employ synthetic networks to experiment in a controlled environment and study the impact of zoning, density variations, and population mobility on the epidemic variables using a variant of the SEIR model. Our results reveal that these demographic factors have a characteristic influence on social contact patterns, manifesting as distinct epidemic dynamics. Subsequently, we present a real-world COVID-19 case study for three Indian states by creating corresponding surrogate social contact networks using available census data. The case study validates that the demography-laced modular contact network reduces errors in the estimates of epidemic variables.
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Kern WV, Morgan DJ. In-Person Medical Conferences During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Netw Open 2022; 5:e2230305. [PMID: 36069987 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.30305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Winfried V Kern
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Albert-Ludwigs-University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Daniel J Morgan
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore
- Veterans Affairs Maryland Healthcare System, Baltimore
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