The Role of Households in the Spread of Covid-19. Example of Switzerland in 2020 and 2021

Jean-Marie Le Goff, University of Lausanne

This paper aims to analyze the transmission of COVID-19 through an analysis of waves 2020 and 2021 of the Swiss panel of households in which all persons aged 14 and over were asked whether they had been infected with COVID-19. Our questions concern differences in disease transmission according to household type (family households, single-parent households, couples, single people, etc.) and individual characteristics. The general hypothesis is that how the virus is transmitted differs according to the type of social relationship between different households and within a household. Our investigations are based on the estimation of Longini-Koopman's (1982) models, which make it possible to separate external transmission of the disease, i.e., by people outside a household, from the internal transmission, i.e., between people in the same household. Our preliminary results indicate differences in household type regarding both internal and external transmission. However, these results are attenuated when individual characteristics are considered, in particular, the age of individuals. The probability of external transmission decreases with age in relation to the isolation of older persons. However, internal transmission increases with age, in resonance with the higher frailty of older persons.

Keywords: Population, Shocks and Pandemics, Families, Unions and Households, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination, Neighbourhood/contextual effect analysis

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