National Covid Study - The Wear It Study

The PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study on transmission and environment [1], managed by HSE on behalf of HM Government is underway and wish to address important questions related to the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (causing COVID-19 disease) in the environment, including in workplaces, transport and other public settings. The PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study is built upon six themes that use a complementary variety of research methods and scientific disciplines to address the research questions from different angles - including microbiology, building science, behavioural science and mathematical modelling - and ensure findings are turned into practical tools and advice for policymakers. This project is integrated within Theme 2 [2] of the PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study that deals with approaches to evaluate environmental transmission mechanisms and controls. The transmission of the coronavirus is believed to occur via interactions between individuals at short (droplets) and medium (aerosols) range and by touching contaminated surfaces. Social physical interactions are therefore central to the transmission of such disease. Social distancing restrictions are non-pharmaceutic control measures used as an attempt to break the transmission path and stop the spread of the coronavirus in workplaces and the wider society. Why and how well such control measures may mitigate the risks of transmission and spread of the coronavirus in workplaces is not well understood. High quality data on interactions between workers in and out of workplaces under different controls are still lacking. Recently, wearable devices, often developed from personal positioning technology products, have emerged as an alternative to more traditional diaries for the collection of social contact information This project, known as the Wear-It study [8], aims to measure and understand physical interactions taking place between workers, including how they may be influenced by social distancing polices. The data on physical interactions will be fed into the transmission risk models being developed by other researchers in Theme 2 of the PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study, improving our understanding of virus transmission and effective control measures in workplaces, transport and other public settings. We are aiming to acquire a wearable technology that will allow us to collect automatically and remotely highly detailed individual-level data on physical contacts amongst study participants of volunteering workplaces from sectors of interest to the PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study. This highly detailed individual-level data will be used to generate social contact networks characteristic of these workplaces and used in agent-based transmission models to describe the transmission of the virus.

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