Effects of social distancing and isolation on epidemic spreading modeled via dynamical density functional theory

Michael te Vrugt, Jens Bickmann and Raphael Wittkowski ()
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Michael te Vrugt: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Jens Bickmann: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Raphael Wittkowski: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract For preventing the spread of epidemics such as the coronavirus disease COVID-19, social distancing and the isolation of infected persons are crucial. However, existing reaction-diffusion equations for epidemic spreading are incapable of describing these effects. In this work, we present an extended model for disease spread based on combining a susceptible-infected-recovered model with a dynamical density functional theory where social distancing and isolation of infected persons are explicitly taken into account. We show that the model exhibits interesting transient phase separation associated with a reduction of the number of infections, and allows for new insights into the control of pandemics.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19024-0

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