Predicting the pandemic’s psychological toll: mechanistic and statistical modelling
Jayashri Kulkarni, Professor of Psychiatry at Monash University, on the challenges of modelling in health. Read more in The Conversation
“A forecasting model is an opinion column with more maths”
What will happen when we lose faith in modelling? Parnell Palme McGuinness in today’s Financial Review (Nine Media paywall access required).
Australia’s COVID-19 lifestyles revealed in latest ABS reporting
One in five Australians is eating more snack foods with a similar proportion increasing alcohol consumption. Household chores, hobbies and cooking participation levels increased. Read the latest [...]
Before epidemiologists began modelling disease, it was the job of astrologers
We turn to epidemiologists and infectious disease models; during the Bubonic plague people turned to astrologers. [Read more history from UQ’s Michelle Pfeffer at The Conversation]
Swedish model trades more disease for less economic damage
“If we are to reach a new normal, in many ways Sweden represents a future model.” [Analysis and statistics in today’s AFR ] – Nine Media paywall access required
The positives and negatives of mass testing for coronavirus
No test is perfect and all carry a risk of harm of some kind … we must recognise this is also true for coronavirus. Jennifer MacLachlan and Benjamin Cowie of the Doherty Institute on [...]
The costs of the shutdown are overestimated – they’re outweighed by its $1 trillion benefit
Economists Richard Holden (UNSW) and Bruce Preston (University of Melbourne) counter the movement advocating more rapid relaxation of containment measures on the basis of economic costs, and the [...]
What impact is the COVID-19 pandemic having on women in the STEM workforce?
Rapid Research Information Forum response from Australia’s Chief Scientist Read more through the Australian Academy of Sciences
April Labour Market Statistics for Australia: “the scale and speed are difficult to comprehend”
University of Melbourne economist Professor Jeff Borland overview in ‘The Conversation’ this morning. [Read more]
‘As Australia reopens, staying on top of transmissions requires better data’:
Silent infections often carry similar levels of the COVID-19 virus, and modelling data shows they can contribute significantly to transmission. University of Melbourne Medical Dean Shitij [...]
