Vic Branch – COVID-19: modelling and public health policy

Epidemiological modelling is critical to help make evidence-based decisions about how to handle and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Join us to hear from two experts who are deeply involved in this effort.

Allen Cheng is an infectious diseases physician, Director of the Infection Prevention and Healthcare Epidemiology Unit at Alfred Health and Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. He is involved in hospital infection prevention and control, influenza surveillance and public health policy for vaccine-preventable diseases. He is currently an invited expert on several government advisory committees responding to COVID-19.

Freya Shearer is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Freya’s primary research interest is in the use of models of infectious disease as tools for public health decision-making. She is involved in developing decision support systems for pandemic influenza and other emerging pathogens. She is currently part of the modelling team supporting the Australian Government response to COVID-19.

Slides and recordings

Video: https://vimeo.com/ssavic/20200428-covid19
Audio: https://tinyurl.com/ssavic-20200428-covid19
Allen's slides: https://tinyurl.com/ssavic-20200428-slides-cheng
Freya's slides: https://tinyurl.com/ssavic-20200428-slides-shearer

Links

For some more technical information about the modelling, have a look the following links.

Early modelling:
https://www.doherty.edu.au/news-events/news/covid-19-modelling-papers

Recent situational awareness:
https://www.doherty.edu.au/news-events/news/covid-19-technical-modelling-report-and-press-conference
https://www.doherty.edu.au/uploads/content_doc/COVID_19_early_epidemic_analysis_Doherty.pdf