Effect of media-induced social distancing on disease transmission in a two patch setting.

We formulate an SIS epidemic model on two patches. In each patch, media coverage about the cases present in the local population leads individuals to limit the number of contacts they have with others, inducing a reduction in the rate of transmission of the infection. A global qualitative analysis is carried out, showing that the typical threshold behavior holds, with solutions either tending to an equilibrium without disease, or the system being persistent and solutions converging to an endemic equilibrium. Numerical analysis is employed to gain insight in both the analytically tractable and intractable cases; these simulations indicate that media coverage can reduce the burden of the epidemic and shorten the duration of the disease outbreak.