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Optimizing the order of actions in a model of contact tracing

Contact tracing is a key tool for managing epidemic diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, COVID-19, and monkeypox. Manual investigations by human-contact tracers remain a dominant way in which this is carried out. This process is limited by the number of contact tracers available, who are often overburde...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Meister, Michela, Kleinberg, Jon
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10013731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36926225
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad003
Descripción
Sumario:Contact tracing is a key tool for managing epidemic diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, COVID-19, and monkeypox. Manual investigations by human-contact tracers remain a dominant way in which this is carried out. This process is limited by the number of contact tracers available, who are often overburdened during an outbreak or epidemic. As a result, a crucial decision in any contact tracing strategy is, given a set of contacts, which person should a tracer trace next? In this work, we develop a formal model that articulates these questions and provides a framework for comparing contact tracing strategies. Through analyzing our model, we give provably optimal prioritization policies via a clean connection to a tool from operations research called a “branching bandit”. Examining these policies gives qualitative insight into trade-offs in contact tracing applications.