Laurent Hébert-Dufresne (University of Vermont), Samuel V. Scarpino  (Northeastern University) & Jean-Gabriel Young are the authors of "Macroscopic patterns of interacting contagions are indistinguishable from social reinforcement"*.

In a press release from the University of Vermont, they explain that "Interacting contagious diseases like influenza and pneumonia follow the same complex spreading patterns as social trends. This new finding, published in Nature Physics, could lead to better tracking and intervention when multiple diseases spread through a population at the same time."  Read the entire release "When coronavirus is not alone: Team of complexity scientists present 'meme' model for multiple diseases" and the Nature Physics original publication of 24 Feburary 2020.

 

*Hébert-Dufresne, L., Scarpino, S.V. & Young, J. Macroscopic patterns of interacting contagions are indistinguishable from social reinforcement. Nat. Phys. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0791-2