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Background: The pandemic of COVID-19 has changed human behavior in areas such as contact patterns and mask-wearing frequency. Exploring human-human contact patterns and mask-wearing habits in high-risk groups is an essential step in fully understanding the transmission of respiratory infection-based diseases. Methods: Delivery workers, medical workers, preschoolers, and students. from Qinghai, Shanghai, and Zhejiang were recruited to complete an online questionnaire that queried general information, logged contacts, and assessed the willingness to wear a mask in different settings. The numbers of contacts across different characteristics were assessed and age-specific contact matrices were established. A generalized additive mixed model was used to analyze the associations between the number of individual contacts and several characteristics. The factors influencing the frequency of mask wearing were evaluated with a logistic regression model.Results: A total of 611,287 contacts were reported by 15,635 participants. The frequency of daily individual contacts averaged 3.14 (95%CI: 3.13-3.15) people per day, while that of group contacts was 37.90 (95%CI: 37.20-38.70). Skin-to-skin contact and long-duration contact were more likely to occur at home or among family members. The contact matrices of students were the most assortative (all contacts q-index = 0.899, 95%CI: 0.894-0.904). Participants with larger household sizes reported having more contacts. A higher household income per capita was significantly associated with a greater number of contacts among preschoolers and students. In each of the public places, the frequency of mask wearing was highest in delivery workers. For preschoolers and students with more contacts, the proportion of those who reported always wearing masks was lower (PConclusions: The rate of mask wearing must be improved among preschoolers and students, considering their susceptibility and lower mask-wearing rates. Contact screening efforts should be concentrated in the home, school, and workplace after an outbreak of an epidemic, as more than 75% of all contacts, on average, will be found in such places. Age-stratified and occupation-specific social contact research in high-risk groups could help inform policy-making decisions during the post-relaxation period of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
