Virus spreading in ride-sharing networks

How does a virus spread among people who share a ride? How many other travellers will get infected and how quickly?
With concerns about the spreading of Covid-19, Delft researchers Rafał Kucharski and Oded Cats (Smart Public Transport Lab, Department of Transport & Planning) examined if ride-sharing services exacerbate the epidemic or dampen it. In the short article ‘when sharing is not always caring’ published on LinkedIn the researchers report on their findings.

On the one hand travellers are exposed to co-riders who might be infected. On the other hand, the limited connectivity of the underlying network – it lacks large interchange hubs - may impede the spreading. The researchers deployed an epidemiological model to examine 3000 ride-sharing travellers in Amsterdam and revealed that the prevailing ride-sharing network results in limited spreading.

The researchers do warn that they do not know yet how broadly transferable their results are. You can read the article here.