IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v11y2020i1d10.1038_s41467-020-18190-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The use of mobile phone data to inform analysis of COVID-19 pandemic epidemiology

Author

Listed:
  • Kyra H. Grantz

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

  • Hannah R. Meredith

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

  • Derek A. T. Cummings

    (University of Florida)

  • C. Jessica E. Metcalf

    (Princeton University)

  • Bryan T. Grenfell

    (Princeton University)

  • John R. Giles

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

  • Shruti Mehta

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

  • Sunil Solomon

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

  • Alain Labrique

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

  • Nishant Kishore

    (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health)

  • Caroline O. Buckee

    (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health)

  • Amy Wesolowski

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

Abstract

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has heightened discussion of the use of mobile phone data in outbreak response. Mobile phone data have been proposed to monitor effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions, to assess potential drivers of spatiotemporal spread, and to support contact tracing efforts. While these data may be an important part of COVID-19 response, their use must be considered alongside a careful understanding of the behaviors and populations they capture. Here, we review the different applications for mobile phone data in guiding and evaluating COVID-19 response, the relevance of these applications for infectious disease transmission and control, and potential sources and implications of selection bias in mobile phone data. We also discuss best practices and potential pitfalls for directly integrating the collection, analysis, and interpretation of these data into public health decision making.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyra H. Grantz & Hannah R. Meredith & Derek A. T. Cummings & C. Jessica E. Metcalf & Bryan T. Grenfell & John R. Giles & Shruti Mehta & Sunil Solomon & Alain Labrique & Nishant Kishore & Caroline O. B, 2020. "The use of mobile phone data to inform analysis of COVID-19 pandemic epidemiology," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-18190-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18190-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18190-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-020-18190-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amanda C. Perofsky & Chelsea L. Hansen & Roy Burstein & Shanda Boyle & Robin Prentice & Cooper Marshall & David Reinhart & Ben Capodanno & Melissa Truong & Kristen Schwabe-Fry & Kayla Kuchta & Brian P, 2024. "Impacts of human mobility on the citywide transmission dynamics of 18 respiratory viruses in pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic years," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Gonzalez, Robert & Maffioli, Elisa M., 2024. "Is the phone mightier than the virus? Cellphone access and epidemic containment efforts," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Sparks, Kevin & Moehl, Jessica & Weber, Eric & Brelsford, Christa & Rose, Amy, 2022. "Shifting temporal dynamics of human mobility in the United States," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    4. Yulin Hswen & Ulrich Nguemdjo & Elad Yom-Tov & Gregory M Marcus & Bruno Ventelou, 2022. "Individuals’ willingness to provide geospatial global positioning system (GPS) data from their smartphone during the COVID-19 pandemic," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, December.
    5. Huy Quan Vu & Shah Jahan Miah & Haiyang Xia & Gang Li & Birgit Muskat & Rob Law, 2023. "Advancing reliability assessment of venue-reference social media data for enhanced domestic tourism development," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 433-451, September.
    6. Yanchao Li & Ziyu Ran & Lily Tsai & Sarah Williams, 2023. "Using call detail records to determine mobility patterns of different socio-demographic groups in the western area of Sierra Leone during early COVID-19 crisis," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 50(5), pages 1298-1312, June.
    7. Lee, Wang-Sheng & Tran, Trang My & Yu, Lamont Bo, 2022. "Dual Circulation and Population Mobility during the Pandemic in China," IZA Discussion Papers 15269, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. David J. Haw & Christian Morgenstern & Giovanni Forchini & Robert Johnson & Patrick Doohan & Peter C. Smith & Katharina D. Hauck, 2022. "Data needs for integrated economic-epidemiological models of pandemic mitigation policies," Papers 2209.01487, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-18190-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.