Social Network Analysis of a Norovirus Outbreak at a Primary School - Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China, 2023.

What is already known about this topic?: The investigations and analyses limited to epidemiological characteristics are insufficient to analyze the spread patterns of norovirus outbreaks in schools.

What is added by this report?: Norovirus outbreaks in primary schools are a dynamic process that spreads through social networks. The use of a social network analysis method to measure and identify key nodes for simulating control evolution was proven effective.

What are the implications for public health practice?: Infected students exhibit priority connection characteristics at different developmental stages in the network topology. Identifying and deliberately targeting key nodes could destroy network connectivity and help reduce the spread of the outbreak.