Types of COVID-19 clusters and their relationship with social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea
Background: The complete contact tracing of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) cases in South Korea allows a unique opportunity to investigate cluster characteristics. This study aimed to investigate all reported COVID-19 clusters in the Seoul metropolitan area from January 23 to September 24, 2020....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2021-05-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Infectious Diseases |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971221001442 |
| _version_ | 1818946681987661824 |
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| author | Yoon-Jung Choi Mi-jeong Park Soo Jin Park Dongui Hong Sohyae Lee Kyung-Shin Lee Sungji Moon Jinwoo Cho Yoonyoung Jang Dongwook Lee Aesun Shin Yun-Chul Hong Jong-Koo Lee |
| author_facet | Yoon-Jung Choi Mi-jeong Park Soo Jin Park Dongui Hong Sohyae Lee Kyung-Shin Lee Sungji Moon Jinwoo Cho Yoonyoung Jang Dongwook Lee Aesun Shin Yun-Chul Hong Jong-Koo Lee |
| author_sort | Yoon-Jung Choi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: The complete contact tracing of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) cases in South Korea allows a unique opportunity to investigate cluster characteristics. This study aimed to investigate all reported COVID-19 clusters in the Seoul metropolitan area from January 23 to September 24, 2020. Methods: Publicly available COVID-19 data was collected from the Seoul Metropolitan City and Gyeonggi Province. Community clusters with ≥5 cases were characterized by size and duration, categorized using K-means clustering, and the correlation between the types of clusters and the level of social distancing investigated. Results: A total of 134 clusters comprised of 4033 cases were identified. The clusters were categorized into small (type I and II), medium (type III), and large (type IV) clusters. A comparable number of daily reported cases in different time periods were composed of different types of clusters. Increased social distancing was related to a shift from large to small-sized clusters. Conclusions: Classification of clusters may provide opportunities to understand the pattern of COVID-19 outbreaks better and implement more effective suppression strategies. Social distancing administered by the government may effectively suppress large clusters but may not effectively control small and sporadic clusters. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T08:18:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7353820c280c4f3c8617604bbc108946 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1201-9712 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T08:18:53Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Infectious Diseases |
| spelling | doaj.art-7353820c280c4f3c8617604bbc1089462022-12-21T19:47:02ZengElsevierInternational Journal of Infectious Diseases1201-97122021-05-01106363369Types of COVID-19 clusters and their relationship with social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area, South KoreaYoon-Jung Choi0Mi-jeong Park1Soo Jin Park2Dongui Hong3Sohyae Lee4Kyung-Shin Lee5Sungji Moon6Jinwoo Cho7Yoonyoung Jang8Dongwook Lee9Aesun Shin10Yun-Chul Hong11Jong-Koo Lee12Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Seoul, Republic of KoreaCenter for Healthy Society and Education, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03087, Seoul, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Surgery, Wonkwang University Sanbon Hospital, Gunpo, 15865, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Seoul, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Seoul, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Seoul, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Seoul, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Statistics, University of Pittsburg, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, United StatesDepartment of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Seoul, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Seoul, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Seoul, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Corresponding author at: Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 103 Daehangno, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 03080, Republic of Korea.Center for Healthy Society and Education, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03087, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Family Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03080, Republic of Korea; Corresponding author at: Department of Family Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Ihwajang-gil 71, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-810, Republic of Korea.Background: The complete contact tracing of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) cases in South Korea allows a unique opportunity to investigate cluster characteristics. This study aimed to investigate all reported COVID-19 clusters in the Seoul metropolitan area from January 23 to September 24, 2020. Methods: Publicly available COVID-19 data was collected from the Seoul Metropolitan City and Gyeonggi Province. Community clusters with ≥5 cases were characterized by size and duration, categorized using K-means clustering, and the correlation between the types of clusters and the level of social distancing investigated. Results: A total of 134 clusters comprised of 4033 cases were identified. The clusters were categorized into small (type I and II), medium (type III), and large (type IV) clusters. A comparable number of daily reported cases in different time periods were composed of different types of clusters. Increased social distancing was related to a shift from large to small-sized clusters. Conclusions: Classification of clusters may provide opportunities to understand the pattern of COVID-19 outbreaks better and implement more effective suppression strategies. Social distancing administered by the government may effectively suppress large clusters but may not effectively control small and sporadic clusters.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971221001442COVID-19ClusterTypeContact tracingSocial distancingRepublic of Korea |
| spellingShingle | Yoon-Jung Choi Mi-jeong Park Soo Jin Park Dongui Hong Sohyae Lee Kyung-Shin Lee Sungji Moon Jinwoo Cho Yoonyoung Jang Dongwook Lee Aesun Shin Yun-Chul Hong Jong-Koo Lee Types of COVID-19 clusters and their relationship with social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea International Journal of Infectious Diseases COVID-19 Cluster Type Contact tracing Social distancing Republic of Korea |
| title | Types of COVID-19 clusters and their relationship with social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea |
| title_full | Types of COVID-19 clusters and their relationship with social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea |
| title_fullStr | Types of COVID-19 clusters and their relationship with social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Types of COVID-19 clusters and their relationship with social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea |
| title_short | Types of COVID-19 clusters and their relationship with social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea |
| title_sort | types of covid 19 clusters and their relationship with social distancing in the seoul metropolitan area south korea |
| topic | COVID-19 Cluster Type Contact tracing Social distancing Republic of Korea |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971221001442 |
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