The focus, for some time, has been on new daily case numbers. But what if we are looking at the wrong figure? We should focus on the average number of cases “under investigation” over the last 14 days.
A preliminary study published online this week estimates Australia had 60,000 undiagnosed COVID-19 infections by July. But there are a range of limitations to the study.
The pandemic has exposed many of us to new statistical concepts, on the news, in everyday conversations and on social media. But how many are you getting wrong?
Friaaz Azeez gets tested for COVID-19 by a health-care worker at a pop-up testing centre at the Islamic Institute of Toronto in Scarborough, Ont., on May 29, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Overall, Victoria’s roadmap is good. It identifies the right goal, provides explicit criteria for when restrictions might be lifted, and involves mostly appropriate restrictions.
David Welch, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Genetic analysis of virus samples from New Zealand’s latest COVID-19 cases is now much swifter. It’s providing key information, but hasn’t yet answered the question of where this second wave started.
A night manager at one of Melbourne’s quarantine hotels has been designated as “patient zero” in Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19. Here’s what that actually means.
On Aug. 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that a coronavirus vaccine developed in the country has been registered for use.
Russian Health Ministry/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
As Russia fast tracks a coronavirus vaccine, scientists worry about skipped safety checks – and the potential fallout for trust in vaccines if something ends up going wrong.
Health care workers use a nasal swab to test a person for COVID-19 in Pembroke Park, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images News via Getty Images
A recent report by the CDC estimated that the true number of COVID-19 cases in the US could be six to 24 times more than the number of confirmed cases. A public health scholar explains the implications.
Random testing conducted in Indiana gives public health officials some of the most representative and accurate data to date.
AP Photo/Darron Cummings
A team of researchers from Indiana University performed random testing for SARS-CoV-2 across the state. The results offer some of the most accurate data to date about important aspects of the virus.
To control the COVID-19 pandemic through random testing would require about 6.5 million test a day. Using group testing and machine learning could get that number down to fewer than 40,000 day.
Daily deaths from COVID-19 have rarely been below 600 in the U.S. since March.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
Some of the priorities were drawn from the World Health Organisation’s Roadmap; others were expressed by researchers in and from Africa as being important to the continent’s many contexts.
Hospital and nursing staff wear face masks and observes social distancing guidelines at an event in the U.K.
Ben Birchall /Getty Images
Going to a protest may increase your risk of COVID-19. But calling out the structural racism that takes black lives and affects health outcomes for people of colour is also vital.
Professor of Epidemiology, Population Interventions Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne