Measuring the Impact of Physical Distancing Measures and Creating Paths for Monitoring during the Relaxation Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Year 2020

Type COVID-19 Research Response Fund
Principal investigator Naveed Janjua
Host institution University of British Columbia
Research location BC Centre for Disease Control

As of April 30, 2020, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused over 3.2 million cases and 230,000 deaths, globally. The SARS-COV-2 virus causes COVID-19 and is spread by close contact. To reduce its spread, physical distancing measures have been implemented in British Columbia (BC). These measures will be relaxed once transmission is low, but this could increase transmission.

This project will establish a system to measure physical distancing behaviours in BC with:

ongoing surveys to monitor local contact patterns; and
analysis of mobility data from multiple sources, such as TransLink, traffic data, and mobility indices from Google, Citymapper and Apple. This system will inform education and communication needs and policy decisions related to physical distancing measures in BC.