Next ‘critical’ two weeks will reveal whether B.C.’s distancing measures are working

April 6, 2020

Wall Associate and UBC Mathematics Professor Daniel Coombs was quoted by the Vancouver Sun in an article about the importance of social distancing in the next few weeks in order to flatten the curve. If B.C. is successful in the next two “critical” weeks, says Coombs, then health authorities could begin to think about whether suppression measures might be lifted, and which ones, such as who goes back to work.

Coombs, who is also an expert on multi-scale infectious disease models and a member of the Mathematical Biology Group and the Institute of Applied Mathematics at UBC, was recently a guest on the Peter Wall Institute’s Ways of Knowing Podcast. In the episode, PWIAS Director and Ways of Knowing host Kalina Christoff and Coombs discuss the mathematical modelling of the new coronavirus and how it can be used to improve our response to the current outbreak. The discussion focuses on three recent mathematical models with relevance to COVID-19 public policy. You can listen to the episode here.