We are sharing educational information under the standard YouTube license. No copyright infringement intended.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, mathematical models are used in order to track patterns in how a virus can spread. “SIR” models, for example, tell an epidemiologist how many people of a population are Susceptible, Infected, or Removed.
SUSCEPTIBLE
Susceptible people are people who are not infected by the virus. As a public health official, the goal is to maximize the number of people who are not infected though they are the most vulnerable.
INFECTED
Infected people are people who have contracted the virus and are able to spread it to others. As a public health official, the goal is to track as many of these people as possible, provide them with adequate support, and limit the number of people they will spread the virus to.
REMOVED
Removed people are people who have either become immune to the virus or are no longer alive. In a SIR model, this variable is less efficient in creating hypotheses.
Depending on the contagiousness of a virus, called “R0” (pronounced “R nought” or “R zero”), different measures are taken, such as social distancing, sanitization, testing, or a combination. Watch 3Blue1Brown’s comprehensive simulation to help understand the nature of an epidemic.
Vocabulary
Epidemiologist - someone who specializes in the incidence, distribution, causes, and control of a disease in a population
Epidemic - a disease that is spread among many communities, but within the same geological country
Pandemic - a disease that is spread among multiple countries
