The social contacts that are typically used in the modeling of large epidemics are better understood in times without a large outbreak. However, during a major epidemic, human behavior adjust to the new risks and public health policies are instituted to address the situation, which leads to changes in human contact that are not fully understood. One especially problematic category of social interaction are so-called community contacts, which currently include anything from a random encounter with a shopper at a store to close friends or extended family members. During non-outbreak periods, community contacts are usually treated in models very simply, such as a constant risk of infection people face at times when they are not at home, at work, or at school. In this project, we focus our attention of these community contacts, especially extended family which is the most important and strongest among them. We uncover evidence that during the COVID-19 pandemic, extended family played an important role in the propagation of disease, particularly during quiet periods, thereby helping to sustain the outbreak even during the strongest application of non-pharmaceutical interventions. Our interest is in finding ways to balance the needs that extended family help satisfy for people with the safety of the population.
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