Social Contact Patterns and Age Mixing before and during COVID-19 Pandemic, Greece, January 2020-October 2021

We collected social contact data in Greece to measure contact patterns before (January 2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020-October 2021) and assess the effects of social distancing over time. During lockdowns, mean daily contacts decreased to 2.8-5.9 (mean prepandemic 20.4). Persons &...

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Veröffentlicht in:Emerging infectious diseases 2025-01, Vol.31 (1), p.75-85
Hauptverfasser: Engeli, Vasiliki, Roussos, Sotirios, Demiris, Nikolaos, Hatzakis, Angelos, Sypsa, Vana
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:We collected social contact data in Greece to measure contact patterns before (January 2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020-October 2021) and assess the effects of social distancing over time. During lockdowns, mean daily contacts decreased to 2.8-5.9 (mean prepandemic 20.4). Persons >65 years of age retained the fewest contacts during the pandemic (2.1-4.1). Compared with the first lockdown (March-April 2020), the second lockdown (November-December 2020) and third lockdown (April 2021) showed higher numbers of contacts (incidence rate ratio 1.50 [95% CI 1.27-1.76] in second lockdown and 2.19 [95% CI 1.86-2.58] in third lockdown). In 2021, an increase in contacts was apparent, which persisted during the April 2021 lockdown among persons 18-64 years of age. Our study provides evidence of the waning observance of physical distancing. Effective risk communication alongside targeted social distancing could offer alternatives to repeated lockdowns.
ISSN:1080-6040
1080-6059
1080-6059
DOI:10.3201/eid3101.240737