Abstract
It has been demonstrated that the propagation of information and awareness regarding a disease can assist in containing the outbreak of epidemics. Previous models for this coevolving usually introduced the dependence between these two processes by setting a lower but time-independent infection rate for individuals with awareness. However, a realistic scenario can be more complicated, as individual vigilance and the adopted protective measures may depend on the extent of the discussion on the disease, whereas individuals may be irrational or lack relevant knowledge, leading to improper measures being taken. These can introduce a time-varying dependence between epidemic dynamics and awareness prevalence and may weaken the effect of spreading awareness in containing a pandemic. To better understand this effect, we introduce a nonlinear dependence of the epidemic infection rate on awareness prevalence, focusing on the effect of different forms of dependence on the coevolving dynamics. We demonstrate that a positive correlation between vigilance and awareness prevalence can enhance the effect of information spreading in suppressing epidemics. However, this enhancement can be weakened if some individuals are irrational. Our results demonstrate the importance of rational behavior in the strategy of containing epidemics by propagation of disease information.
Highlights
Fighting a pandemic is a major challenge. erefore, understanding the dynamics of epidemic spreading and determining an efficient strategy to contain a pandemic have attracted considerable attention in complex networks [1]
To quantitatively study the effect of different forms of dependence between individual vigilance and the prevalence of the discussion on the spread of the epidemic, we focus on the two functional forms by comparing the results of a simulation with the theoretical estimation from equation (4)
As individual vigilance can change with the prevalence of the discussion about the epidemic, we introduce a function for the dependence between c and ρA
Summary
Fighting a pandemic is a major challenge. erefore, understanding the dynamics of epidemic spreading and determining an efficient strategy to contain a pandemic have attracted considerable attention in complex networks [1]. As disinfection is one of the main protective measures taken by individuals to prevent the spread of epidemics, the prevalence of discussions on disinfection can reflect the level of vigilance or fear of the pandemic. Erefore, the effect of the dependence between individual vigilance and the prevalence of the discussion on the coevolving dynamics of information and epidemic spreading is worth investigating. Previous studies on the coevolving dynamics of information and epidemic spreading usually assume that individuals are rational and can take proper protective measures. Erefore, the spread of awareness of the disease can suppress the epidemic when individuals can take proper protective measures. In this study, based on the framework of the coevolving dynamics of information and disease spreading in two-layer networks, we consider the effect of dependence between individual vigilance and the prevalence of the discussion. Complexity and the prevalence of awareness. erefore, parameter c is not constant, but it changes with the spreading of awareness
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