Social mobility and gonorrhoea in Germany during 2020

Sulyok, Mihály; Walker, Mark

OBJECTIVES: The incidence of STIs is likely to be related to levels of social activity and mobility. Novel datasets detailing levels of social activity were made widely available during the COVID-19 pandemic. These allow the relationship between activity and STI incidence to be examined. METHODS: The correlation between social activities and the reported number of gonorrhoea cases between March and December 2020 in Germany was studied. Regression through Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) time series modelling identified those activities associated with case numbers. RESULTS: ARIMA regression identified a significant association with ‘transit’ activity within the Apple data and ‘parks’ within Google. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates the potential newly available measures of social activity provided for STI research. Reductions in STI incidence are likely to have occurred due to COVID-19 social restrictions. Although other studies report reductions in infectious diseases during this period, few examine the potential social factors mediating this. The results illustrate the continual need for sexual health services throughout the pandemic.