Researchers tested their prediction model against three well-documented COVID-19 outbreaks.
A group of Australian researchers have uncovered that Facebook mobility data could be used to estimate the spread of COVID-19 transmission risk from identified hotspots. The researchers from the University of Melbourne, University of Adelaide, Monash University, University of New South Wales, and the Victorian government used data from the Facebook Data for Good program that detailed the number of individuals who moved between locations in subsequent 8-hour intervals during three COVID-19 outbreaks — Cedar Meats in Victoria, The Crossroads Hotel in western Sydney, and Victoria’s second wave — to determine what degree real-time mobility patterns from aggregate mobile phone data could be used to predict COVID-19 transmission risks. The researchers flagged they were prompted to carry out the study since “the [COVID-19] infection may be spread by people who are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic, substantial undetected transmission is likely to occur before clinical cases are diagnosed.
