Social contact patterns in the United Kingdom following the COVID-19 pandemic: The Reconnect cross-sectional survey
PLOS Medicine·
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pmed.1005038
- PMID
- 42118714
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W7160919782
- Study type
- Cross-sectional study
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The study provides empirical post-pandemic contact data to inform mathematical models of respiratory infectious disease transmission, including the incorporation of ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study aimed to estimate post-pandemic social contact patterns in the United Kingdom and how these vary by demographic factors relevant to respiratory infectious disease transmission.
Study design
A cross-sectional social contact survey conducted from November 2024 to March 2025 on a nationally representative sample, using weighted negative binomial regression to estimate mean daily contacts and contact matrices.
Population and setting
13,238 participants in the United Kingdom, including 3,019 children under 18, recruited as a nationally representative sample; survey response rates were 36% for adults and 27% for children.
Main findings
Mean daily contacts were 9.1 overall, 13.8 for children and 7.8 for adults. Contact numbers were positively associated with employment, household income and education. Contact matrices showed age-assortative mixing and intergenerational household contacts, with assortative mixing by ethnicity and socioeconomic status across settings. Model projections indicated disproportionate per-capita infection risk for minority ethnic groups, with the Black population at roughly 2.27 times the risk of the White population.
Public-health relevance
The study provides empirical post-pandemic contact data to inform mathematical models of respiratory infectious disease transmission, including the incorporation of ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
Important limitations
The authors note that self-reporting of contacts is subject to recall bias and reporting fatigue. The summary is further limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata, and the original paper is needed for decision-grade interpretation.
GIDS interpretation
Indexed under COVID-19/SARS, outbreak investigation and transmission dynamics for the United Kingdom, suggesting relevance for downstream modelling or contextual review of transmission patterns rather than confirmation of any live surveillance signal.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 12 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.