Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2025

Setup of Consumer Wearable Devices for Exposure and Health Monitoring in Population Studies
Published on: February 3, 2023
Changing social contact patterns among US workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: April 2020 to December 2021
Moses C Kiti1, Obianuju G Aguolu2,3, Alana Zelaya1
1Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Georgia, USA.
Abstract:
Non-pharmaceutical interventions minimize social contacts, hence the spread of SARS-CoV-2. We quantified two-day contact patterns among USA employees from 2020-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contacts were defined as face-to-face conversations, involving physical touch or proximity to another individual and were collected using electronic diaries. Mean (standard deviation) contacts reported by 1,456 participants were 2.5 (2.5), 8.2 (7.1), 9.2 (7.1) and 10.1 (9.5) across round 1 (April-June 2020), 2 (November 2020-January 2021), 3 (June-August 2021), and 4 (November-December 2021), respectively. Between round 1 and 2, we report a 3-fold increase in the mean number of contacts reported per participant with no major increases from round 2-4. We modeled SARS-CoV-2 transmission at home, work, and community. The model revealed reduced relative transmission in all settings in round 1. Subsequently, transmission increased at home and in the community but remained very low in work settings. Contact data are important to parameterize models of infection transmission and control.
Teaser:
Changes in social contact patterns shape disease dynamics at workplaces in the USA.
Related Concept Videos
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
Transmission-based Precautions I: Contact, Enteric, and Droplets
Contact Precautions:
Contact precautions are the measures taken to prevent the transmission of infectious agents, especially epidemiologically important microorganisms such as MRSA or influenza, primarily transmitted through direct or indirect contact with an...
Relationship Formation
Standard Precaution
Hand hygiene is the most crucial means to prevent the transmission of disease. Employers are legally required to provide their workers with personal protective equipment (PPE) to minimize exposure or contact with...
Social Facilitation
Contact-dependent Signaling
Gap Junctions
In animal cells, gap junctions are formed...

