Epidemiological evidence and recommendations from the World Health Organization suggest that close face-to-face interactions pose a particular coronavirus transmission risk. The
real-life prevalence and nature of such high-risk contacts are understudied, however. Here,
we video-observed high-risk contacts in outdoor public places in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that high-risk contacts were relatively
uncommon: Of the 7,813 individuals observed, only 20 (0.26%) displayed high-risk contacts.
Further, we qualitatively examined the 20 high-risk contacts identified and found that they
occurred disproportionally between affiliated persons engaged in affiliative behaviors. We
discuss the potential public health implications of the relatively low incident rate of high-risk
contacts.