biostudies-literatureRodiah IBundesministerium für Bildung und ForschungEuropean Research CouncilInitiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz AssociationHelmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH (HZI)Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural AffairsStanding Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK)39-58https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9807433biostudies-literatureUnknown38(1)Current estimates of pandemic SARS-CoV-2 spread in Germany using infectious disease models often do not use age-specific infection parameters and are not always based on age-specific contact matrices of the population. They also do usually not include setting- or pandemic phase-based information from epidemiological studies of reported cases and do not account for age-specific underdetection of reported cases. Here, we report likely pandemic spread using an age-structured model to understand the age- and setting-specific contribution of contacts to transmission during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. We developed a deterministic SEIRS model using a pre-pandemic contact matrix. The model was optimized to fit age-specific SARS-CoV-2 incidences reported by the German NatiEuropean journal of epidemiologyAge-specific contribution of contacts to transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Germany.PMC9807433101003480 (Project CORESMA)FKZ: 01KX2021 (Project COVIM: "NaFOUniMedCovid19")FKZ: 01KX2021 (Project COVIM: “NaFOUniMedCovid19”)Project COVID-SCHULENKuhlmann AVanella PBock WLange BJaeger VKHarries MKarch ARodiah IKrause GfalseAge-specific contribution of contacts to transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Germany.Current estimates of pandemic SARS-CoV-2 spread in Germany using infectious disease models often do not use age-specific infection parameters and are not always based on age-specific contact matrices of the population. They also do usually not include setting- or pandemic phase-based information from epidemiological studies of reported cases and do not account for age-specific underdetection of reported cases. Here, we report likely pandemic spread using an age-structured model to understand the age- and setting-specific contribution of contacts to transmission during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. We developed a deterministic SEIRS model using a pre-pandemic contact matrix. The model was optimized to fit age-specific SARS-CoV-2 incidences reported by the German Nati2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Jan2026-03-18T13:49:58.149Z2024-11-21T07:53:34.844ZS-EPMC98074333659333610.1007/s10654-022-00938-6