1. A population-based controlled experiment assessing the epidemiological impact of digital contact tracing
- Author
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Rodríguez-García, Jorge Pablo, Graña, Santiago, Álvarez-León, Eva Elisa, Battaglini, Manuela, Darias, Francisco Javier, Hernán, Miguel A., López, Raquel, Llaneza, Paloma, Martín, María Cristina, Radar Covid Pilot Group, Ramirez-Rubio, Oriana, Romaní, Adriana, Suárez-Rodríguez, Berta, Sánchez-Monedero, Javier, Arenas, Alex, Lacasa, Lucas, Ministerio de Asuntos Económicos y Transformación Digital (España), Gobierno de Canarias, Indra, Fundación ONCE, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España), Generalitat de Catalunya, James S. McDonnell Foundation, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK), European Research Council, European Commission, Hernán, Miguel A. [0000-0003-1619-8456], Arenas, Alex [0000-0003-0937-0334], Lacasa, Lucas [0000-0003-3057-0357], Hernán, Miguel A., Arenas, Alex, and Lacasa, Lucas
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Male ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Tracing ,Turnaround time ,law.invention ,0302 clinical medicine ,law ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,Epidemiology ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Longitudinal Studies ,Controlled experiment ,education.field_of_study ,Multidisciplinary ,Middle Aged ,Mobile Applications ,3. Good health ,Transmission (mechanics) ,Geography ,Privacy ,Female ,Smartphone ,Adult ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Science ,Population ,Article ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Young Adult ,Age Distribution ,medicine ,Humans ,education ,Pandemics ,SARS-CoV-2 ,COVID-19 ,General Chemistry ,Computer science ,body regions ,030104 developmental biology ,Spain ,Viral infection ,Patient Compliance ,Observational study ,Contact Tracing ,Contact tracing ,Demography - Abstract
While Digital contact tracing (DCT) has been argued to be a valuable complement to manual tracing in the containment of COVID-19, no empirical evidence of its effectiveness is available to date. Here, we report the results of a 4-week population-based controlled experiment that took place in La Gomera (Canary Islands, Spain) between June and July 2020, where we assessed the epidemiological impact of the Spanish DCT app Radar Covid. After a substantial communication campaign, we estimate that at least 33% of the population adopted the technology and further showed relatively high adherence and compliance as well as a quick turnaround time. The app detects about 6.3 close-contacts per primary simulated infection, a significant percentage being contacts with strangers, although the spontaneous follow-up rate of these notified cases is low. Overall, these results provide experimental evidence of the potential usefulness of DCT during an epidemic outbreak in a real population., This work was funded by the Secretary of State of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Government of Spain. We thank Government of Spain, Gobierno de Canarias, INDRA, CCN, Fundación ONCE and the EU e-health Network for continuous support. We also thank Elisa Molino, Isabel Zanforlin, Alberto Ricci (Apple) and María Álvarez, Julián Toledo, Marcel Pinto (Google), Jorge García Vidal, Fernando Cucchietti, Josep Martorell and Mateo Valero (BSC). This work was made possible thanks to the incredible collaboration and engagement of the citizens of San Sebastián de la Gomera, Canary Islands (Spain). We also thank the DP3T community for helpful discussions. AA acknowledges financial support from Spanish MINECO (grant PGC2018-094754-B-C21), Generalitat de Catalunya (grant No. 2017SGR-896), and the James S. McDonnell Foundation (grant #220020325). LL acknowledges funding by EPSRC EC Fellowship EP/P01660X/1 and a QMUL COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant. JSM acknowledges funding by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (grant #759903).
- Published
- 2021