Using Active Matter to Introduce Spatial Heterogeneity to the Susceptible-Infected-Recovered Model of Epidemic Spreading

Abstract

The widely used susceptible-infected-recovered (S-I-R) epidemic model assumes a uniform, well-mixed population, and incorporation of spatial heterogeneities remains a major challenge. Understanding failures of the mixing assumption is important for designing effective disease mitigation approaches. We combine a run-and-tumble self-propelled active matter system with an S-I-R model to capture the effects of spatial disorder. Working in the motility-induced phase separation regime both with and without quenched disorder, we find two epidemic regimes. For low transmissibility, quenched disorder lowers the frequency of epidemics and increases their average duration. For high transmissibility, the epidemic spreads as a front and the epidemic curves are less sensitive to quenched disorder; however, within this regime it is possible for quenched disorder to enhance the contagion by creating regions of higher particle densities. We discuss how this system could be realized using artificial swimmers with mobile optical traps operated on a feedback loop.

9 pages, 8 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Efficient control protocols for an active Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particle
• Transition from Susceptible-Infected to Susceptible-Infected-Recovered Dynamics in a Susceptible-Cleric-Zombie-Recovered Active Matter Model
• A generic coupling between internal states and activity leads to activation fronts and criticality in active systems
• The influence of active agent motility on SIRS epidemiological dynamics
• Effects of lattice dilution on the non-equilibrium phase transition in the stochastic Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered model