Caroline Colijn from SFU’s MAGPIE Research Group in British Columbia speaks about her team’s work on COVID-19 Mathematical Modelling in collaboration with the BC Centre for Disease Control and:
- Contact tracing options: their pros, cons and technological barriers
- The proven benefits of physical / social distancing and hand hygiene
- Evaluating exposure risks of various social settings (beaches, trails, clubs)
- The ideal COVID-19 data set needed in a perfect world
- The key role that mathematical modelling has played during the pandemic
- Reasons why BC might have performed better in responding to the crisis
- Defining R0 (R naught) and prevalence as valuable metrics in understanding the virus
- Her work on the panel with Canada’s chief science advisor Dr. Mona Nemer
- How COVID-19 preparedness is different from flu preparedness
- How Canada learned from the SARS epidemic
- The limitations of reported cases vs actual cases in the population
- Why the “multiple waves” analogy is a misconception
- Why mathematical models have a threshold related to exponential growth
RESOURCES
Caroline Colijn
The MAGPIE Research Group
Dr. Mona Nemer (Canada's Chief Science Advisor)
BACKGROUND READING
ABOUT THE PODCAST