How Do Small World Networks Influence Disease Spread?
Diseases spread faster and more unpredictably in small world networks due to their unique structure. The high number of short paths between nodes means that even if a disease starts in a localized area, it can quickly reach distant parts of the network. This rapid dissemination can lead to widespread epidemics, making it harder to contain the disease.
For instance, COVID-19 spread rapidly across the globe, in part because of the small world nature of human interaction networks. People with high connectivity (super-spreaders) played a significant role in accelerating the spread of the virus.
