Jagpreet Chhatwal presented a suite of COVID-19 simulation tools at the January 18, 2022, CHDS seminar. Chhatwal is the Associate Director of the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment and Assistant Professor at the Harvard Medical School. He discussed four simulation tools developed by his research team: a policy simulator that projects COVID-19 cases and outcomes for different population-level interventions; an outbreak detection tool that uses machine learning-based methods to identify areas of the US where cases are likely increasing the fastest; an immunity tracker that predicts how many people possess antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (i.e., seroprevalence) from either vaccination or prior infection; and a tool to track potential outbreaks following NFL and NCAA football games in the 2020 season.
Chhatwal discussed specific applications of this suite of simulation tools, including analyses of how cases move between states in the US at the beginning of college semesters, which can inform how universities and surrounding towns and cities should best respond to the potential influx of cases. He also explored the future of COVID-19 modeling, such as the potential for a comprehensive simulation model that can link the rich but disparate data sources on COVID-19 transmission to more accurately predict the trajectory of infections under different scenarios and provide analyses of a full range of potential policy interventions.
This seminar is part of a monthly online seminar series hosted by CHDS. To be added to the email list for future seminars send a note to chds@hsph.harvard.edu.
Learn more: Explore the COVID-19 simulator tools developed by Dr. Chhatwal’s team.
Learn more: Explore CHDS’ COVID-19 Resource and Teaching Packs
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