Developing and deploying a use-inspired metapopulation modeling framework for detailed tracking of stratified health outcomes

ABSTRACT Public health experts studying infectious disease spread often seek granular insights into population health outcomes. Metapopulation models offer an effective framework for analyzing disease transmission through subpopulation mixing. These models strike a balance between traditional, homogeneous mixing compartmental models and granular but computationally intensive agent-based models. In collaboration with the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), we developed MetaRVM, an open-source R package for modeling the spread of infectious diseases in subpop-ulations, which can be flexibly defined by geography, demographics, or other stratifications. MetaRVM is designed to support real-time public health decision-making and through its co-creation with CDPH, we have ensured that it is re-sponsive to real-world needs. We demonstrate its flexible capabilities by tracking influenza dynamics within different age groups in Chicago, by integrating an efficient Bayesian optimization-based calibration approach. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement Chicago Department of Public Health Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Data Availability All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript