Social contact patterns during the early COVID-19 pandemic in Norway: insights from a panel study, April to September 2020.

Autor: Veneti L; Department of Infection Control and Preparedness, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Lovisenberggata 8, Oslo, 0456, Norway. Lamprini.Veneti@fhi.no., Robberstad B; Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway., Steens A; Department of Infection Control and Vaccine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway., Forland F; Department of Infection Control and Preparedness, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Lovisenberggata 8, Oslo, 0456, Norway., Winje BA; Department of Infection Control and Vaccine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway., Vestrheim DF; Department of Infection Control and Vaccine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway., Jarvis CI; Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK., Gimma A; Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK., Edmunds WJ; Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK., Van Zandvoort K; Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK., de Blasio BF; Department of Method Development and Analytics, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.; Oslo Center for Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Department of Biostatistics, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC public health [BMC Public Health] 2024 May 29; Vol. 24 (1), pp. 1438. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 May 29.
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-18853-8
Abstrakt: Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries adopted social distance measures and lockdowns of varying strictness. Social contact patterns are essential in driving the spread of respiratory infections, and country-specific measurements are needed. This study aimed to gain insights into changes in social contacts and behaviour during the early pandemic phase in Norway.
Methods: We conducted an online panel study among a nationally representative sample of Norwegian adults by age and gender. The panel study included six data collections waves between April and September 2020, and 2017 survey data from a random sample of the Norwegian population (including children < 18 years old) were used as baseline. The market research company Ipsos was responsible for carrying out the 2020 surveys. We calculated mean daily contacts, and estimated age-stratified contact matrices during the study period employing imputation of child-to-child contacts. We used the next-generation method to assess the relative reduction of R0 and compared the results to reproduction numbers estimated for Norway during the 2020 study period.
Results: Over the six waves in 2020, 5 938 observations/responses were registered from 1 718 individuals who reported data on 22 074 contacts. The mean daily number of contacts among adults varied between 3.2 (95%CI 3.0-3.4) to 3.9 (95%CI 3.6-4.2) across the data collection waves, representing a 67-73% decline compared to pre-pandemic levels (baseline). Fewer contacts in the community setting largely drove the reduction; the drop was most prominent among younger adults. Despite gradual easing of social distance measures during the survey period, the estimated population contact matrices remained relatively stable and displayed more inter-age group mixing than at baseline. Contacts within households and the community outside schools and workplaces contributed most to social encounters. Using the next-generation method R0 was found to be roughly 25% of pre-pandemic levels during the study period, suggesting controlled transmission.
Conclusion: Social contacts declined significantly in the months following the March 2020 lockdown, aligning with implementation of stringent social distancing measures. These findings contribute valuable empirical information into the social behaviour in Norway during the early pandemic, which can be used to enhance policy-relevant models for addressing future crises when mitigation measures might be implemented.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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