SOCRATES-CoMix: a platform for timely and open-source contact mixing data during and in between COVID-19 surges and interventions in over 20 European countries

Abstract

Background SARS-CoV-2 dynamics are driven by human behaviour. Social contact data are of utmost importance in the context of transmission models of close-contact infections. Methods Using online representative panels of adults reporting on their own behaviour as well as parents reporting on the behaviour of one of their children, we collect contact mixing (CoMix) behaviour in various phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in over 20 European countries. We provide these timely, repeated observations using an online platform: SOCRATES-CoMix. In addition to providing cleaned datasets to researchers, the platform allows users to extract contact matrices that can be stratified by age, type of day, intensity of the contact and gender. These observations provide insights on the relative impact of recommended or imposed social distance measures on contacts and can inform mathematical models on epidemic spread. Conclusion These data provide essential information for policymakers to balance non-pharmaceutical interventions, economic activity, mental health and wellbeing, during vaccine rollout.

Changes in social contacts in England during the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and March 2021 as measured by the CoMix survey: A repeated cross-sectional study

“…The CoMix survey contributes to the growing study of social contacts and their implication in disease transmission. In addition to data collection in the UK, the CoMix study has collected data from participants in 20 additional countries throughout Europe [ 29 ]. While social contact surveys in conducted in various countries demonstrate different social contact patterns and, therefore, should be interpreted with caution when results are applied to a setting other than that of the study setting, our results demonstrate the scale of changes that can occur within a population over time, especially during a pandemic.…”

Inferring age-specific differences in susceptibility to and infectiousness upon SARS-CoV-2 infection based on Belgian social contact data

“…Our study is based on Belgian social contact data collected within the CoMix survey [12, 13] during the COVID-pandemic between December 2020 and May 2021. These data are stored, processed and stratified by age by means of the online Socrates tool [13, 26, 27].…”

“…Our study is based on Belgian social contact data collected within the CoMix survey [12, 13] during the COVID-pandemic between December 2020 and May 2021. These data are stored, processed and stratified by age by means of the online Socrates tool [13, 26, 27]. Participants were asked to fill in a contact dairy including all contacts made during a specific day, reporting the type of contact, location, and age of the contacted person, with a contact defined as an in-person conversation of at least a few words, or a skin-to-skin contact.…”

“…The waves are conducted with an interval of two weeks (14 days). For more detailed information on the CoMix survey and the stratification process, the reader is referred to [12,13]. A detailed timetable of the CoMix waves and survey periods is presented in Table A of We use the following notation.…”

“…The first large-scale social contact study, POLYMOD [11], collected social contact patterns for eight European countries between May 2005 and September 2006. In 2020-2021, social contact data has been collected in the so-called CoMix survey [12][13][14][15], initially in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Belgium and afterwards extended to other European countries. Comix collected timely social contact information during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”