Contact patterns changed in response to national COVID-19 guidance

The number of daily contacts changed over the course of 2020, following the first lockdown, corresponding to alterations in the COVID-19 guidance, suggests a study among staff and students at the University of Bristol. The research led by scientists at the University of Bristol is published on the pre-print server medRxiv.org. CONQUEST (COroNavirus QUESTionnaire) is an online survey of contacts, behaviour, and potential SARS-Cov-2 symptoms for University of Bristol staff and students. The questionnaire was set-up to measure changing behaviour and contact patterns during this unprecedented time, in order to predict how COVID-19 will spread in universities settings. The online survey, which went live on 23 June 2020, investigated whether there were differences in contact patterns for University staff and students during four different COVID-19 guidance periods: the period following the first lockdown (23 June - 3 July 2020); the relaxed guidance period (4 July - 13 September 2020); "rule-of-six" period (14 August - 4 November 2020); and the second lockdown (5 November - 24 November 2020). There was a reduction in the number of contacts during the second lockdown, returning them to the levels in the period after the first UK lockdown. The study included 4,199 responses from staff and 1,906 from students.