Interacting social and disease dynamics in multiplex networks

FEDERICO VAZQUEZ

Buenos Aires

Encuentro; Mathematical Challenges in Social Systems and Applications to Public Health; 2023

A major issue in the theoretical modeling of epidemic spreading is to investigate the effects of human social behavior in the propagation of a disease. In this work we explore the spreading of the awareness of a disease as a method to control a pandemic. We assume that aware individuals can take measures (isolation, quarantine) to reduce the risk of contagion. I will present results that show how the prevalence of the disease is affected by the rate of information dissemination, and by the relative speed between disease and information spreading. I will also show that the dynamics of individuals´ opinions could have striking consequences on the statistical properties of disease spreading. These results are obtained within a multiplex network framework in which the interaction between disease and social processes takes place in a bi-layer network.