Epistorm-Mix: Mapping Social Contact Patterns for Respiratory Pathogen Spread in the Post-Pandemic United States

ABSTRACT
Human contact patterns are a fundamental determinant of respiratory pathogen transmission, yet post-pandemic data for the US are limited. We present Epistorm-Mix, a probability-based online survey designed to be nationally representative by age, gender, race/ethnicity, household income, census region, and language. We will discuss the measures distributions of contacts and their significant heterogeneity across the population (e.g., age, household income, race/ethnicity). We will show that the highest contact rates were observed among the teenagers and lowest among older adults. In-person attendance at school/work resulted in 2-3 times more reported contacts than remote participation. We found strong assortative mixing by demographic group with markedly distinct contact patterns across different social settings. While the study’s age-mixing patterns are broadly comparable to international findings, heterogeneities along other demographic features reflect social structures unique to the US. We will also discuss the work in progress and new findings, presenting Epistorm-Mix as a nationally representative portrait of post-pandemic US contact patterns and an open-access resource for modeling and public health planning.