Covid-19 and mobility of people. Two unequivocal data emerged from the study of the Laboratory of Data Science and Complexity of the Ca 'Foscari University di Venezia. The fact that the lockdown imposed by the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic has damaged, from an economic point of view, especially the economically poorest areas. And the importance, now reiterated, of the need for social distancing, in particular between young and old, to stem the spread of the epidemic.
Professor highlights them Walter Quattrociocchi, at the helm of the Ca 'Foscari DSC-Lab group, involved in the web data task force designated by Ministry of Innovation to analyze and evaluate the socio-economic aspects caused by the Coronavirus emergency in Italy. “Our daily bread - explains the researcher - are networks and the study of connections, which allow us to analyze different types of phenomena. These are techniques that offer a wide range of research possibilities. When this emergency arose, we shifted our attention to networks and connections that could somehow have explained something to us about the Coronavirus. The starting point was the study of data on the mobility of people in relation to Covid-19 ". The study of networks and connections it has therefore become one of the many tools to support the resolution of the epidemic.
The attention of DSC-Lab has focused in particular on data made available by Facebook regarding the movements of people. "The information that Facebook has decided to share with universities, institutes and research groups including ours - explains Professor Quattrociocchi - comes from members of the social network who have consented to the use of their location data". And how have you dealt with the privacy of individual users? “There is no privacy problem as none of the elements in our possession lead us to the identity of the people. The information is provided in an aggregate and absolutely anonymous manner ".
Research is conducted on the travel data of four million users
What numbers and how are you working on? “We work on one of the most populated data sets, involving about four million people. A complex work which, explaining it in simple words, allowed us to analyze the indications on the movements as if we could see them under a microscope. We worked with information relating to movements in different time slots and parceled out in small areas. Obviously in this period, subject to the stress created by the lockdown, the long-range tracks have been reduced and those over short distances have increased. We then cross-referenced this information with econometric data and an analysis model was created on this basis. Ours is a computational physical computer method that allows us to transform data into process dynamics. Hence also the result on the greater stress suffered, in this period, by the poorest areas ".
Recognition of Zuckerberg to Ca 'Foscari researchers
The first two definitive studies of the Ca 'Foscari DSC-Lab have already been transmitted to the international scientific community which is evaluating them with interest. Added to this was the satisfaction for Facebook's recognition of the work of Ca 'Foscari researchers. The same Mark Zuckerberg, a symbolic image as well as co-founder of the social network, recently explicitly mentioned the importance of research linking data on mobility to that relating to poverty. The group is currently working on an expansion of the investigation spectrum to deepen an expansion of the scenarios. “We are facing a very complex reality - specifies Walter Quattrociocchi - The data by themselves cannot provide answers. However, through our mathematical models we could have useful indicators, of great support also to understand how to keep the spread of the virus low ".
New investigation on the different resistance to the lockdown of Italy, France and England
From Italy to Europe, a further step of the research group is aimed at studying and knowing the resilience of the various states to the lokcdown imposed by the pandemic. “For this reason, we are now comparing the resistance of the Italian system in relation to that of France and England. Trying to understand the different reactions of the three countries examined ”. Speaking of movements and mobility of people, what does Professor Quattrociocchi think ofImmuni app? “My group is not working specifically on this, as the app will highlight people's movements in relation to their contacts rather than their mobility. In any case, I believe it is an excellent contrast tool if combined with others, in the specific case of the need to carry out swabs ".
