The first global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic challenged existing measurement methods for respiratory diseases. While digital technologies were initially touted for real-time monitoring, the key has proven to be careful measurement of daily face-to-face contacts, which is essential for refining mathematical models to assess infection, recovery, and mortality.

The article "A study on social contact rates relevant for the spread of infectious diseases in a Brazilian slum", published in the Revista Brasileira de Estudos de População (vol. 40, 2023), presents the meticulous application of the epidemiological diaries’ technique in an agglomeration in the city of Belo Horizonte, an unusual fact in the Brazilian context.The Ministry of Health funded this methodological appropriation effort through research called MCTIC/CNPq/FNDCT/MS/SCTIE/Decit no. 07/2020.  A sample of 1,000 households was surveyed, and an adapted version of the questionnaire used in the UK as part of the European Union’s POLYMOD project was applied. The data was collected in May 2021, amid the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic crisis.

Read more: https://humanas.blog.scielo.org/en/2023/11/27/enhancing-pandemic-predictions-by-measuring-daily-contacts