Social contagion and biological contagion influence each other

Impact of network structure on contagion

Biological contagion (infectious diseases) is not spreading through a static social network. The social network is dynamically adapting to what’s happening. Such change is affected by Social contagion and Homophily (Homophily and influence). For instance, whether one will practice strict social distancing or not, or whether one will vaccinate or not would be affected by the spreading of ideology or misinformation.

Complex contagion would create more clustered structure (e.g., clusters of unvaccinated individuals) that can create localized outbreaks.

Maybe simple contagion can make a path where complex contagion can follow through.

Perspective papers

Research papers