- Published
- 12 April 2022
- Journal article
Using high-resolution contact networks to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 transmission and control in large-scale multi-day events
- Authors
- Source
- Nature Communications
Abstract
The emergence of highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants has created a need to reassess the risk posed by increasing social contacts as countries resume pre-pandemic activities, particularly in the context of resuming large-scale events over multiple days. To examine how social contacts formed in different activity settings influences interventions required to control Delta variant outbreaks, we collected high-resolution data on contacts among passengers and crew on cruise ships and combined the data with network transmission models. We found passengers had a median of 20 (IQR 10–36) unique close contacts per day, and over 60% of their contact episodes were made in dining or sports areas where mask wearing is typically limited. In simulated outbreaks, we found that vaccination coverage and rapid antigen tests had a larger effect than mask mandates alone, indicating the importance of combined interventions against Delta to reduce event risk in the vaccine era.
Rights
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Cite as
Pung, R., Firth, J., Spurgin, L., Singapore CruiseSafe Working Group, CMMID COVID-19 Working Group, Lee, V. & Kucharski, A. 2022, 'Using high-resolution contact networks to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 transmission and control in large-scale multi-day events', Nature Communications, 13(1), article no: 1956. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29522-y