Disease Detectives: Using Mathematics to Forecast the Spread of Infectious Diseases
Other Quantitative Biology
2020-09-08 v2 Dynamical Systems
History and Overview
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Physics and Society
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in how people are currently living their lives. To determine how to best reduce the effects of the pandemic and start reopening societies, governments have drawn insights from mathematical models of the spread of infectious diseases. In this article, we give an introduction to a family of mathematical models (called "compartmental models") and discuss how the results of analyzing these models influence government policies and human behavior, such as encouraging mask wearing and physical distancing to help slow the spread of the disease.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2007.05495,
title = {Disease Detectives: Using Mathematics to Forecast the Spread of Infectious Diseases},
author = {Heather Z. Brooks and Unchitta Kanjanasaratool and Yacoub H. Kureh and Mason A. Porter},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2007.05495},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
This article is for young readers (e.g., ages 12 and up)