Science

Applying "zones of influence" to social distancing in schools

Written by Glenna Nightingale on 10 July 2020.

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.

Visualizing the Covid-19 pandemic with doubling rates

Written by Luke Anderson-Trocmé and Sahir Bhatnagar on 10 July 2020.

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?

A long tradition: Discussion meetings at the Royal Statistical Society

Written by Paul A. Smith on 16 June 2020.

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.

Getting out of lockdown in the UK – slowly, with robust reporting standards, and important intelligence about new infections

Written by Sheila M. Bird on 16 June 2020.

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.

Covid-19 through the lens of the peer-reviewed literature: January to May 2020

Written by Samuel R. Neal and Cindy Zheng on 09 June 2020.

As medical students and budding clinical academics, we have been following developments through the current coronavirus pandemic with interest. We are quite bewildered by the vast amount of data being shared via social media as well as more ‘traditional’ routes such as mainstream media and peer-reviewed journals. This surge in information (of highly variable quality) has been described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an “infodemic” and has necessitated a “myth busters” section on their website to address the spread of misinformation.