This model simulates the spread of two different variants in a human population during an epidemic based on a revised SEIR model, i.e., in this model the infectious (I) are fully isolated at home or in hospitals so that they do not transmit the disease. This model allows students to label an individual person in the population and examine the chance at which the person is infected and follow the person through the epidemic.
Grades: 9-12;
THINGS TO TRY
There are so many things you can try in this model. Here are only very a few quick ideas:
How do the numbers of daily cases differ for variant A and variant B when their transmission rates differ?
How do the deaths differ for variant A and variant B when their mortality rates differ?
Dr. Lin Xiang creates this model at the University of Kentucky. If you mention this model in a publication, we ask that you include the citations below.
Xiang, L. (2021). Infectious Disease Outbreak-Variants. Department of STEM Education, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.
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