Finding the "new normal": the power of distinct contacts

After several weeks of shutdown, growth in new Coronavirus cases is declining. The big question now is: How do we open up? When can we resume work, save the business? When can we meet our loved ones again, and prevent loneliness? Furthermore, if growth in virus cases rises again, will a new shutdown be necessary? Or can we do things differently? The project will seek to answer these questions. The recent closure discourages any contact that could lead to the spread of the disease. But, among all the disease-spreading contacts, there are a limited number of individuals that we really care about: contact with family, friends and close colleagues. Where a 2m distance in the shopping queue can provide a comfortable free space in the public space, then a 2m distance to one's loved ones is less desirable. One can imagine that contact with the same individuals every day could result in a slower spread of disease than contact with many individuals in a short time. This project examines the hypothesis that effective policies exist that still allow contact with few people but limit contact with many different people. The project will develop a decision support tool that can help the authorities to quickly compare different decommissioning measures, and identify the most promising ones. New insights will be relevant to current and future outbreaks of infectious diseases.