A social network analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea and policy implications
Abstract This study estimates the COVID-19 infection network from actual data and draws on implications for policy and research. Using contact tracing information of 3283 confirmed patients in Seoul metropolitan areas from January 20, 2020 to July 19, 2020, this study created an infection network an...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2021-04-01
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Series: | Scientific Reports |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87837-0 |
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author | Wonkwang Jo Dukjin Chang Myoungsoon You Ghi-Hoon Ghim |
author_facet | Wonkwang Jo Dukjin Chang Myoungsoon You Ghi-Hoon Ghim |
author_sort | Wonkwang Jo |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Abstract This study estimates the COVID-19 infection network from actual data and draws on implications for policy and research. Using contact tracing information of 3283 confirmed patients in Seoul metropolitan areas from January 20, 2020 to July 19, 2020, this study created an infection network and analyzed its structural characteristics. The main results are as follows: (i) out-degrees follow an extremely positively skewed distribution; (ii) removing the top nodes on the out-degree significantly decreases the size of the infection network, and (iii) the indicators that express the infectious power of the network change according to governmental measures. Efforts to collect network data and analyze network structures are urgently required for the efficiency of governmental responses to COVID-19. Implications for better use of a metric such as R0 to estimate infection spread are also discussed. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-18T02:19:27Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-f3cc9426253e42d2bdbe60d8b31ebac8 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2045-2322 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-18T02:19:27Z |
publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
publisher | Nature Portfolio |
record_format | Article |
series | Scientific Reports |
spelling | doaj.art-f3cc9426253e42d2bdbe60d8b31ebac82022-12-21T21:24:18ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222021-04-0111111010.1038/s41598-021-87837-0A social network analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea and policy implicationsWonkwang Jo0Dukjin Chang1Myoungsoon You2Ghi-Hoon Ghim3Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National UniversityDepartment of Sociology, Seoul National UniversityDepartment of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National UniversityDepartment of Sociology, Seoul National UniversityAbstract This study estimates the COVID-19 infection network from actual data and draws on implications for policy and research. Using contact tracing information of 3283 confirmed patients in Seoul metropolitan areas from January 20, 2020 to July 19, 2020, this study created an infection network and analyzed its structural characteristics. The main results are as follows: (i) out-degrees follow an extremely positively skewed distribution; (ii) removing the top nodes on the out-degree significantly decreases the size of the infection network, and (iii) the indicators that express the infectious power of the network change according to governmental measures. Efforts to collect network data and analyze network structures are urgently required for the efficiency of governmental responses to COVID-19. Implications for better use of a metric such as R0 to estimate infection spread are also discussed.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87837-0 |
spellingShingle | Wonkwang Jo Dukjin Chang Myoungsoon You Ghi-Hoon Ghim A social network analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea and policy implications Scientific Reports |
title | A social network analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea and policy implications |
title_full | A social network analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea and policy implications |
title_fullStr | A social network analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea and policy implications |
title_full_unstemmed | A social network analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea and policy implications |
title_short | A social network analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea and policy implications |
title_sort | social network analysis of the spread of covid 19 in south korea and policy implications |
url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87837-0 |
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