Amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic, quantifying the effect of strategies that mitigate the spread of infectious diseases is more important than ever . This article presents a compartmental model that addresses the role of random viral testing, follow-up contact tracing, and subsequent isolation of infectious individuals to stabilize the spread of a disease. We propose and examine two different models -- a branching model and an individual-based model-- both of which capture the  heterogeneous nature of interactions that occur within a community. The branching model is used to derive  analytical results for the trade-offs between the different mitigation strategies . The most important and perhaps surprising result from this analytical exercise is that a community's stability to disease outbreaks is independent of its underlying network structure . This conclusion is then illustrated through simulation using both the branching model and the individual-based model .
Amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic, quantifying the effects of strategies that mitigate the spread of infectious diseases is critical . This article presents a compartmental model that addresses the role of random viral testing, follow-up contact tracing, and subsequent isolation of infectious individuals to stabilize the spread of a disease. We propose a branching model and an individual (or agent) based model, both of which capture the stochastic, heterogeneous nature of interactions within a community. The branching model is used to derive new analytical results for the trade-offs between the different mitigation strategies , with the surprising result that a community's resilience to disease outbreaks is independent of its underlying network structure .
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effect
effects
R
more important than ever
critical
D
and examine two different models --
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individual-based model--
individual (or agent) based model,
A
stochastic,
D
that occur
A
new
R
. The most important and perhaps surprising result from this analytical exercise is
, with the surprising result
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stability
resilience
D
. This conclusion is then illustrated through simulation using both the branching model and the individual-based model