July 7, 2020

Mobility restrictions for the control of epidemics: When do they work?

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Modeling and Prediction

• To determine when mobility restrictions reduce the size of an epidemic, Espinoza et al. use a model of disease transmission within and between economically heterogeneous locally connected communities, one with a low-risk, low-density population and the other with a high-risk, high-density population.  
• Unrestricted mobility between the two communities increases the number of secondary cases in the low-risk community but reduces the overall epidemic size.  
• The imposition of a cordon sanitaire around the high-risk community reduces the number of secondary infections in the low-risk community but increases the overall epidemic size. 

Espinoza et al. (July 6, 2020). Mobility restrictions for the control of epidemics: When do they work? PLOS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235731