IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/oropre/v72y2024i2p533-548.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Testing, Voluntary Social Distancing, and the Spread of an Infection

Author

Listed:
  • Daron Acemoglu

    (Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142)

  • Ali Makhdoumi

    (Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708)

  • Azarakhsh Malekian

    (Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6, Canada)

  • Asuman Ozdaglar

    (Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139)

Abstract

We study the effects of testing policy on voluntary social distancing and the spread of an infection. Agents decide their social activity level, which determines a social network over which the virus spreads. Testing enables the isolation of infected individuals, slowing down the infection. However, greater testing also reduces voluntary social distancing or increases social activity, exacerbating the spread of the virus. We show that the effect of testing on infections is nonmonotone. This nonmonotonicity also implies that the optimal testing policy may leave some of the testing capacity of society unused.

Suggested Citation

  • Daron Acemoglu & Ali Makhdoumi & Azarakhsh Malekian & Asuman Ozdaglar, 2024. "Testing, Voluntary Social Distancing, and the Spread of an Infection," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 72(2), pages 533-548, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:72:y:2024:i:2:p:533-548
    DOI: 10.1287/opre.2021.2220
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/opre.2021.2220
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/opre.2021.2220?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:72:y:2024:i:2:p:533-548. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.