  To curb the initial spread of SARS-CoV-2, many countries relied on
nation-wide implementation of non-pharmaceutical intervention measures,
resulting in substantial socio-economic impacts. Potentially, subnational
implementations might have had less of a societal impact, but comparable
epidemiological impact. Here, using the first COVID-19 wave in the Netherlands
as a case in point, we address this issue by developing a high-resolution
analysis framework that uses a demographically-stratified population and a
spatially-explicit, dynamic, individual contact-pattern based epidemiology,
calibrated to hospital admissions data and mobility trends extracted from
mobile phone signals and Google. We demonstrate how a subnational approach
could achieve similar level of epidemiological control in terms of hospital
admissions, while some parts of the country could stay open for a longer
period. Our framework is exportable to other countries and settings, and may be
used to develop policies on subnational approach as a better strategic choice
for controlling future epidemics.
