Social distancing strategies against disease spreading

TL;DR

This paper reviews how percolation theory can model and analyze social distancing strategies, such as heterogenous contact reduction and intermittent distancing, to effectively halt epidemic spreading on complex networks.

Contribution

It introduces the node void percolation process and compares two strategies using percolation tools, providing insights into their effectiveness in controlling epidemics.

Findings

Both strategies can halt epidemic spreading under certain conditions.

Heterogeneous contact distributions influence the effectiveness of social distancing.

Transmissibility plays a crucial role in the success of epidemic control measures.

Abstract

The recurrent infectious diseases and their increasing impact on the society has promoted the study of strategies to slow down the epidemic spreading. In this review we outline the applications of percolation theory to describe strategies against epidemic spreading on complex networks. We give a general outlook of the relation between link percolation and the susceptible-infected-recovered model, and introduce the node void percolation process to describe the dilution of the network composed by healthy individual, $i.e$, the network that sustain the functionality of a society. Then, we survey two strategies: the quenched disorder strategy where an heterogeneous distribution of contact intensities is induced in society, and the intermittent social distancing strategy where health individuals are persuaded to avoid contact with their neighbors for intermittent periods of time. Using percolation tools, we show that both strategies may halt the epidemic spreading. Finally, we discuss the role of the transmissibility, $i.e$, the effective probability to transmit a disease, on the performance of the strategies to slow down the epidemic spreading.