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Despite the growing interest in macroscopic epidemiological models to deal with threats posed by pandemics such as COVID-19, little has been done regarding the assessment of disease spread in day-to-day life, especially within buildings such as supermarkets where people must obtain necessities at the risk of exposure to disease. Here, we propose an integrated customer shopping simulator including both shopper movement and choice behavior, using a force-based and discrete choice model, respectively. By a simple extension to the force-based model, we implement the following preventive measures currently taken by supermarkets; social distancing and one-way systems, and different customer habits, assessing them based on the average individual disease exposure and the time taken to complete shopping (shopping efficiency). Results show that maintaining social distance is an effective way to reduce exposure, but at the cost of shopping efficiency. We find that the one-way system is the optimal strategy for reducing exposure while minimizing the impact on shopping efficiency. Customers should also visit supermarkets less frequently, but buy more when they do, if they wish to minimize their exposure. We hope that this work demonstrates the potential of pedestrian dynamics simulations in assessing preventative measures during pandemics, particularly if it is validated using empirical data.

Pedestrian route choice, the process by which individuals decide on their walking path between two locations, is a fundamental problem across disciplines. Because this behaviour is investigated from different conceptual and methodological angles, and because it strongly depends on the environmental context, it is challenging to establish a systematic framework for research. Here, by reviewing previous work, we identify four principles for pedestrian route choice that are relevant across disciplines. First, ‘information perception’ deals with how pedestrians can perceive information selectively and purposely, given the limited available information. Second, ‘information integration’ considers how pedestrians subjectively integrate environmental spatial information into mental representations. Third, ‘responding to information’ is concerned with how pedestrians tend to be attracted and repelled by specific attributes individually and how this can lead to positive or negative feedback loops across many individuals. Fourth ‘decision-making mechanisms' describe how pedestrians trade off the evidence provided by different attributes. How pedestrians perceive, integrate, respond to, and act upon information is not fixed but varies with the context. We give examples for each principle and explain how these principles shape pedestrian choice behaviours. We hope this contribution provides a systematic overview of the field and helps to spark inspiration among specialists.

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