COVID-19 Transmission - Simulation
This simulation uses 3D game mechanics to visualize the spread of the coronavirus (which causes COVID-19) in a fairly densely populated area. It includes a button to issue a "Stay At Home" order which demonstrates the benefits of social distancing in reducing the spread of the pandemic early and the negative results of not doing so. Many of the underlying parameters are adjustable to run different scenarios. Best experienced fullscreen on devices larger than mobile.
Interactive Simulation
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Watch Simulation Video
Watch Simulation Video
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Interactive Simulation
Simulation Video
Simulation Features
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Infected persons are shown with a red bubble representing a chance to infect others.
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Green bubbles represent people who have recovered.
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Clicking the "Stay At Home Order" button, you can try to flatten the curve of the transmission, and thus the potential for death, by ordering the population to stay home. There's still a small chance that some may become infected along the way.
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Checking the Auto box will automatically trigger the Stay At Home order when the number of infected begins to overload the Hospital's capacity to treat the population. When hospitals become overloaded, the chance of death increases.
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You can modify the Stay At Home Duration, and set the speed of the simulation, as well as restart the simulation by clicking the appropriate buttons in the main panel.
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The Graph button shows a simple graph displaying the current number of people infected, the total number of people who have recovered, and the total number of deaths caused by COVID-19.
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You can change the population scale (ratio of simulated people to country population) by clicking the globe button and selecting a country from the list. There are a few more variables which can be modified in a separate panel for more refined tweaking of this simple model.
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At the end of each session (when there are no more infected people in the simulated area), the results for that session are displayed. The numbers of people affected are scaled under the assumption that this model represented a fraction of the entire population in that country.
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Note that these calculations do not take into account variations in population density or other key factors that would be required of a far more accurate model of the spread and effects of this pandemic. This simulation only demonstrates visually how rapidly this virus can spread or be contained by limiting person-to-person contact.
Simulation Last updated: 2020-04-10 4:23 PM UTC
Disclaimer: This simulation is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a tool for decision-making. There are many uncertainties and debates about the details of COVID-19 infection and transmission and there are many limitations to a mathematically simple simulation such as this.