Our infectious disease modellers in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics have received new funding from the Government of Canada for COVID-19 rapid research projects.

Professor Seyed Moghadas will receive $264,434 to develop new and adapt existing mathematical models to predict the scope of disease transmission, potential outbreaks, and clinical attack rates. He will also project what services hospitals will require and assess the effects of interventions, such as quarantine, self-reporting, isolation and school closures. In addition, he will evaluate the effectiveness of a vaccine and best distribution scenarios based on population age and risk.

Professor Jianhong Wu is leading a national COVID-19 math modelling team. The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences has received $666,667, along with local and international partners, to mobilize this national network of infectious disease modellers to develop mathematical technologies to assess transmission risk of COVID-19 and project outbreak trajectories. Co-applicants include Professors Ali Asgary and Adriano Solis in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and Professors Jane Heffernan and Huaiping Zhu in the Faculty of Science. These researchers are evaluating public health interventions for its prevention and control, and to inform public health policy makers. Their goal is to conduct multi-scale modelling to assist in the development of effective intervention and mitigation strategies.

See the full media release from York University on March 23, 2020.