This comment concerns the most common reasons mortality has been undercounted during the novel coronavirus pandemic, to raise awareness in the general public and help researchers to analyze mortality data with caution. Different countries’ different reporting systems may have different problems; no data are flawless. This comment offers six general issues that apply to most countries, before proceeding to focus on the peculiarities of Covid-19.
Social distancing is important in controlling the spread of Covid-19. This strategy has proven to be highly effective in flattening the curve of new cases/deaths. In this article I discuss the spatial implications of England's social distancing policy in relation to the school setting and, in particular, how this might apply to seating configurations in schools as the Covid-19 lockdown, implemented from 23 March 2020, is gradually eased.
Written by Luke Anderson-Trocmé and Sahir Bhatnagar on .
As the popularity of coronavirus data visualizations increases, so does the risk of misinterpreting results. We’ve all heard the term flattening the curve. This catch phrase does a good job of summarizing the goal of pandemic mitigation policies: limit the number of people who are simultaneously infected to avoid straining health care systems. However common the phrase may be, it raises the question: What curve are we trying to flatten? And what do these curves tell us about how well we’re doing?
Discussion meetings are the most prestigious of the many types of meetings organised by the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) where researchers can present their work. They have built up a long tradition, and many of the most important ideas in statistics were first presented and discussed at these meetings. Paul A. Smith, the current discussion papers editor, explains.
Much is expected from the UK’s symptomatic Test and Trace system (sT&T), and all of us must play our part if it is to succeed in unlocking the many, while the infected, their households and close contacts are quarantined for up to 14 days.
