Nelson Kristin N, Siegler Aaron J, Sullivan Patrick S, Bradley Heather, Hall Eric, Luisi Nicole, Hipp-Ramsey Palmer, Sanchez Travis, Shioda Kayoko, Lopman Benjamin A
Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.
Department of Population Health Sciences, Georgia State University School of Public Health.
medRxiv. 2022 Mar 30:2021.09.22.21263904. doi: 10.1101/2021.09.22.21263904.
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S prompted abrupt and dramatic changes to social contact patterns. Monitoring changing social behavior is essential to provide reliable input data for mechanistic models of infectious disease, which have been increasingly used to support public health policy to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. While some studies have reported on changing contact patterns throughout the pandemic., few have reported on differences in contact patterns among key demographic groups and none have reported nationally representative estimates. We conducted a national probability survey of US households and collected information on social contact patterns during two time periods: August-December 2020 (before widespread vaccine availability) and March-April 2021 (during national vaccine rollout). Overall, contact rates in Spring 2021 were similar to those in Fall 2020, with most contacts reported at work. Persons identifying as non-White, non-Black, non-Asian, and non-Hispanic reported high numbers of contacts relative to other racial and ethnic groups. Contact rates were highest in those reporting occupations in retail, hospitality and food service, and transportation. Those testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies reported a higher number of daily contacts than those who were seronegative. Our findings provide evidence for differences in social behavior among demographic groups, highlighting the profound disparities that have become the hallmark of the COVID-19 pandemic.
美国对新冠疫情的应对促使社会接触模式发生了突然而巨大的变化。监测不断变化的社会行为对于为传染病机制模型提供可靠的输入数据至关重要，这些模型越来越多地被用于支持公共卫生政策以减轻疫情的影响。虽然一些研究报告了整个疫情期间接触模式的变化，但很少有研究报告关键人口群体之间接触模式的差异，而且没有一项研究报告全国代表性的估计数据。我们对美国家庭进行了一项全国概率调查，并收集了两个时间段内的社会接触模式信息：2020年8月至12月（在广泛提供疫苗之前）和2021年3月至4月（在全国疫苗推广期间）。总体而言，2021年春季的接触率与2020年秋季相似，大多数接触发生在工作场所。自我认定为非白人、非黑人、非亚洲人和非西班牙裔的人报告的接触人数相对于其他种族和族裔群体较多。零售、酒店和食品服务以及运输行业的从业者报告的接触率最高。新冠病毒抗体检测呈阳性的人报告的每日接触人数高于血清阴性的人。我们的研究结果为不同人口群体之间的社会行为差异提供了证据，突出了已成为新冠疫情标志的深刻差距。
