We develop a new methodology for the efficient computation of epidemic final size distributions for a broad class of Markovian models. We exploit a particular representation of the stochastic epidemic process to derive a method which is both computationally efficient and numerically stable. The algorithms we present are also physically transparent and so allow us to extend this method from the basic SIR model to a model with a phase-type infectious period and another with waning immunity. The underlying theory is applicable to many Markovian models where we wish to efficiently calculate hitting probabilities.
For a recently derived pairwise model of network epidemics with non-Markovian recovery, we prove that under some mild technical conditions on the distribution of the infectious periods, smaller variance in the recovery time leads to higher reproduction number, and consequently to a larger epidemic outbreak, when the mean infectious period is fixed. We discuss how this result is related to various stochastic orderings of the distributions of infectious periods. The results are illustrated by a number of explicit stochastic simulations, suggesting that their validity goes beyond regular networks.
The paradigm for compartment models in epidemiology assumes exponentially distributed incubation and removal times, which is not realistic in actual populations. Commonly used variations with multiple exponentially distributed variables are more flexible, yet do not allow for arbitrary distributions. We present a new formulation, focussing on the SEIR concept that allows to include general distributions of incubation and removal times. We compare the solution to two types of agent-based model simulations, a spatially homogeneous one where infection occurs by proximity, and a model on a scale-free network with varying clustering properties, where the infection between any two agents occurs via their link if it exists. We find good agreement in both cases. Furthermore a family of asymptotic solutions of the equations is found in terms of a logistic curve, which after a non-universal time shift, fits extremely well all the microdynamical simulations. The formulation allows for a simple numerical approach; software in Julia and Python is provided.
We formulate a general SEIR epidemic model in a heterogenous population characterized by some trait in a discrete or continuous subset of a space R d. The incubation and recovery rates governing the evolution of each homogenous subpopulation depend upon this trait, and no restriction is assumed on the contact matrix that defines the probability for an individual of a given trait to be infected by an individual with another trait. Our goal is to derive and study the final size equation fulfilled by the limit distribution of the population. We show that this limit exists and satisfies the final size equation. The main contribution is to prove the uniqueness of this solution among the distributions smaller than the initial condition. We also establish that the dominant eigenvalue of the next-generation operator (whose initial value is equal to the basic reproduction number) decreases along every trajectory until a limit smaller than 1. The results are shown to remain valid in presence of diffusion term. They generalize previous works corresponding to finite number of traits (including metapopulation models) or to rank 1 contact matrix (modeling e.g. susceptibility or infectivity presenting heterogeneity independently of one another).
Given maximal social distancing duration and intensity, how can one minimize the epidemic final size, or equivalently the total number of individuals infected during the outbreak? A complete answer to this question is provided and demonstrated here for the SIR epidemic model. In this simplified setting, the optimal solution consists in enforcing the highest confinement level during the longest allowed period, beginning at a time instant that is the unique solution to certain 1D optimization problem. Based on this result, we present numerical results showing the best possible performance for a large set of basic reproduction numbers and lockdown durations and intensities.
We calculate both the exponential and pre-factor contributions in a WKB approximation of the master equation for a stochastic SIR model with highly oscillatory dynamics. Fixing the basic parameters of the model we investigate how the outbreak distribution changes with the population size. We show that this distribution rapidly becomes highly non-Gaussian, acquiring large tails indicating the presence of rare, but large outbreaks, as the population is made smaller. The analytic results are found to be in excellent agreement with simulations until the systems become so small that the dynamics are dominated by fade-out of the disease.