Abstract

Understanding the differential impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions across age groups is critical for effective epidemic control. This study develops an age-structured Susceptible–Exposed–Infectious–Recovered (SEIR) model incorporating school and workplace contact matrices to evaluate the effectiveness of targeted intervention strategies. The population is stratified by age, and contact patterns are explicitly modeled to reflect interactions occurring in educational and occupational settings, which are key drivers of disease transmission. The model integrates setting-specific contact matrices to capture heterogeneity in transmission dynamics and allows for scenario-based simulation of interventions such as school closures, remote work policies, and age-targeted contact reductions. Parameterization is informed by demographic data and empirical contact surveys. Model outputs include age-specific infection incidence, peak timing, and cumulative case counts under different intervention scenarios. Simulation results demonstrate that interventions targeting high-contact environments significantly reduce transmission, with school-based measures primarily affecting younger age groups and workplace interventions having a broader population-level impact. Combined strategies yield synergistic effects, resulting in substantial reductions in peak burden and delayed epidemic progression. The proposed framework provides a flexible and robust tool for evaluating age-specific intervention policies. By explicitly accounting for structured contact patterns in schools and workplaces, this model offers valuable insights to inform evidence-based public health decision-making during infectious disease outbreaks.