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Quantifying contact patterns in response to COVID-19 public health measures in Canada
- Source :
- BMC Public Health, BMC Public Health, Vol 21, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- BioMed Central, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Background A variety of public health measures have been implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada to reduce contact between individuals. The objective of this study was to provide empirical contact pattern data to evaluate the impact of public health measures, the degree to which social contacts rebounded to normal levels, as well as direct public health efforts toward age- and location-specific settings. Methods Four population-based cross-sectional surveys were administered to members of a paid panel representative of Canadian adults by age, gender, official language, and region of residence during May (Survey 1), July (Survey 2), September (Survey 3), and December (Survey 4) 2020. A total of 4981 (Survey 1), 2493 (Survey 2), 2495 (Survey 3), and 2491 (Survey 4) respondents provided information about the age and setting for each direct contact made in a 24-h period. Contact matrices were constructed and contacts for those under the age of 18 years imputed. The next generation matrix approach was used to estimate the reproduction number (Rt) for each survey. Respondents with children under 18 years estimated the number of contacts their children made in school and extracurricular settings. Results Estimated Rt values were 0.49 (95% CI: 0.29–0.69) for May, 0.48 (95% CI: 0.29–0.68) for July, 1.06 (95% CI: 0.63–1.52) for September, and 0.81 (0.47–1.17) for December. The highest proportion of reported contacts occurred within the home (51.3% in May), in ‘other’ locations (49.2% in July) and at work (66.3 and 65.4% in September and December). Respondents with children reported an average of 22.7 (95% CI: 21.1–24.3) (September) and 19.0 (95% CI 17.7–20.4) (December) contacts at school per day per child in attendance. Conclusion The skewed distribution of reported contacts toward workplace settings in September and December combined with the number of reported school-related contacts suggest that these settings represent important opportunities for transmission emphasizing the need to support and ensure infection control procedures in both workplaces and schools.
- Subjects :
- Adult
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak
medicine.medical_specialty
Canada
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Adolescent
Cross-sectional study
Population
Pandemic
Epidemiology
Medicine
Humans
education
Survey
Child
Pandemics
Contact patterns
education.field_of_study
Public health
business.industry
SARS-CoV-2
Research
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Attendance
COVID-19
Infection control procedures
Cross-Sectional Studies
Residence
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
Biostatistics
business
Demography
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14712458
- Volume :
- 21
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- BMC Public Health
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....89c3d8e38ba7aed124400700b75af7be