The mess behind the models: Too many of the COVID-19 models led policymakers astray. Here's how tomorrow's models will get it right

IF YOU WANTED TO 'FLATTEN THE CURVE' IN 2019, you might have been changing students' grades or stamping down a rug ripple. Today, that phrase refers only to the vital task of reducing the peak number of people concurrently infected with the COVID-19 virus. Beginning in early 2020, graphs depicting the expected number of infections spread through social networks, much like the virus itself. We've all become consumers of epidemiological models, the mathematical entities that spit out these ominous trend lines.

Impact of COVID-19: research note on tourism and hospitality sectors in the epicenter of Wuhan and Hubei Province, China

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present initial findings from a vulnerability assessment based on the perceptions of practitioners working in four tourism and hospitality sectors in Wuhan and Hubei Province, namely, cruise lines, hotels, travel agencies and touristic attractions. Design/methodology/approach: The research note focuses on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak from January to March 2020.

Transport effect of COVID-19 pandemic in France

An extension of the classical pandemic SIRD model is considered for the regional spread of COVID-19 in France under lockdown strategies. This compartment model divides the infected and the recovered individuals into undetected and detected compartments respectively. By fitting the extended model to the real detected data during the lockdown, an optimization algorithm is used to derive the optimal parameters, the initial condition and the epidemics start date of regions in France.

Mitigating strategies and nursing response for cancer care management during the COVID-19 pandemic: an Italian experience

Aim: To describe our response to the COVID-19 emergency in a cancer centre to enable other nursing organizations to determine which elements could be useful to manage a surge of patients in their own setting. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the most challenging healthcare scenarios faced to date. Managing cancer care in such a complex situation requires a coordinated emergency action plan to guarantee the continuity of cancer treatments for patients by providing healthcare procedures for patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals in a safe environment.

Estimating COVID-19 outbreak risk through air travel

Background: Substantial limitations have been imposed on passenger air travel to reduce transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 between regions and countries. However, as case numbers decrease, air travel will gradually resume. We considered a future scenario in which case numbers are low and air travel returns to normal. Under that scenario, there will be a risk of outbreaks in locations worldwide due to imported cases. We estimated the risk of different locations acting as sources of future coronavirus disease 2019 outbreaks elsewhere.

Dispersion of a new Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 by airlines in 2020: Temporal estimates of the outbreak in Mexico

Background: On January 23, 2020, China imposed a quarantine on the city of Wuhan to contain the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. Regardless of this measure, the new infection has spread to several countries around the world. Objective: We developed a method to study the dissemination of this infection by airline routes and provide estimations of the time of arrival of the outbreak to different cities. Methods: Using the Kermack and McKendrick model complemented with diffusion on a graph composed of nodes and edges, we made an analysis of COVID-19 dispersion to other cities by air travel.

The spatial econometrics of the coronavirus pandemic

In this paper we use spatial econometric specifications to model daily infection rates of COVID-19 across countries. Using recent advances in Bayesian spatial econometric techniques, we particularly focus on the time-dependent importance of alternative spatial linkage structures such as the number of flight connections, relationships in international trade, and common borders. The flexible model setup allows to study the intensity and type of spatial spillover structures over time.

Strategies at points of entry to reduce importation risk of COVID-19 cases and reopen travel

BACKGROUND: With more countries exiting lockdown, public health safety requires screening measures at international travel entry points that can prevent the reintroduction or importation of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2. Here, we estimate the number of cases captured, quarantining days averted and secondary cases expected to occur with screening interventions.