FOMO (fate of online media only) in infectious disease modeling: a review of compartmental models

Mathematical models played in a major role in guiding policy decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic. These models while focusing on the spread and containment of the disease, largely ignored the impact of media on the disease transmission. Media plays a major role in shaping opinions, attitudes and perspectives and as the number of people online increases, online media are fast becoming a major source for news and health related information and advice. Consequently, they may influence behavior and in due course disease dynamics. Unlike traditional media, online media are themselves driven and influenced by their users and thus have unique features. The main techniques used to incorporate online media mathematically into compartmental models, with particular reference to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are reviewed. In doing so, features specific to online media that have yet to be fully integrated into compartmental models such as misinformation, different time scales with regards to disease transmission and information, time delays, information super spreaders, the predatory nature of online media and other factors are identified together with recommendations for their incorporation.