Estimating the effect of mobility on SARS-CoV-2 transmission during the first and second wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, Switzerland, March to December 2020

IntroductionHuman mobility was considerably reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. To support disease surveillance, it is important to understand the effect of mobility on transmission.AimWe compared the role of mobility during the first and second COVID-19 wave in Switzerland by studying the link between daily travel distances and the effective reproduction number (Rt) of SARS-CoV-2.MethodsWe used aggregated mobile phone data from a representative panel survey of the Swiss population to measure human mobility. We estimated the effects of reductions in daily travel distance on Rt via a regression model. We compared mobility effects between the first (2 March-7 April 2020) and second wave (1 October-10 December 2020).ResultsDaily travel distances decreased by 73% in the first and by 44% in the second wave (relative to February 2020). For a 1% reduction in average daily travel distance, Rt was estimated to decline by 0.73% (95% credible interval (CrI): 0.34-1.03) in the first wave and by 1.04% (95% CrI: 0.66-1.42) in the second wave. The estimated mobility effects were similar in both waves for all modes of transport, travel purposes and sociodemographic subgroups but differed for movement radius.ConclusionMobility was associated with SARS-CoV-2 Rt during the first two epidemic waves in Switzerland. The relative effect of mobility was similar in both waves, but smaller mobility reductions in the second wave corresponded to smaller overall reductions in Rt. Mobility data from mobile phones have a continued potential to support real-time surveillance of COVID-19.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2022

Erschienen:

2022

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:27

Enthalten in:

Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin - 27(2022), 10 vom: 01. März

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Lison, Adrian [VerfasserIn]
Persson, Joel [VerfasserIn]
Banholzer, Nicolas [VerfasserIn]
Feuerriegel, Stefan [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

COVID-19
Coronavirus
Effective reproduction number
Journal Article
Mobile phone
Mobility
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
SARS-CoV-2
Switzerland
Transmission

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 15.03.2022

Date Revised 30.03.2022

published: Print

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.10.2100374

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM338035850