Social confinement and mesoscopic localization of epidemics on networks

Reports concerning epidemics, and COVID-19 is no exception, have mainly focused on individual behavior, while event cancellations and gathering size restrictions are decided with little information on their impact. This is quite the norm since most models lack the higher-order structure necessary to describe large gatherings. Through a higher-order description of contagions on networks, we find that epidemics can suddenly collapse when interventions operate over groups of individuals rather than at the level of individuals themselves. We relate this phenomenon to the onset of mesoscopic localization, where contagions concentrate around dominant groups.