Jiang et al., "Social inequality and cultural factors impact the awareness and reaction during the cryptic transmission period of pandemic" (2025)

Zhuoren Jiang, Xiaozhong Liu, Yangyang Kang, Changlong Sun, Yong-Yeol Ahn, and Johan Bollen, PNAS Nexus 4(2), pgaf043 (2025)
DOI | PDF | Data and Code

@article{jiang2025social,
    author = {Zhuoren Jiang and Xiaozhong Liu and Yangyang Kang and Changlong Sun and Yong-Yeol Ahn and Johan Bollen},
    title = {Social inequality and cultural factors impact the awareness and reaction during the cryptic transmission period of pandemic},
    journal = {PNAS Nexus},
    volume = {4},
    number = {2},
    pages = {pgaf043},
    doi = {10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf043},
    year = {2025},
}

COVID 19 pandemic, Inequality

Using 150 billion e-commerce queries and purchase records from 94 million people in China, the paper traces early awareness of COVID-19 through searches and purchases for personal protective equipment. It documents differences in awareness and response across education, geography, demographic groups, and inferred family, school, and workplace ties during the cryptic transmission period, while treating these patterns as associations rather than causal effects.