A mathematical framework could help safely ease social distancing

A new mathematical framework that mimics the spread of a virus using mobile phone technology could lead to safer and more effective easing of social distancing. "Safe Blues" exchanges anonymous digital 'tokens' between phones, acting like a contagious disease spreading in the population, allowing policymakers to see how policy adjustments work in real time. Seven weeks ago, University of Queensland Associate Professor Yoni Nazarathy and colleagues from Cornell, MIT, and Melbourne University decided to join the battle against COVID-19. "Armed with mathematics, statistics, programming skills, and a general desire for fighting the virus, we started to think about where we could be useful," Associate Professor Nazarathy said. "After all, a key part of the battle against COVID-19 relies on data, measurements, modelling, and computations. "We soon realised that COVID-19 is not the only issue - the economic and social effects of social distancing must also be addressed. "This doesn't mean that social distancing measures shouldn't be imposed - far from it - it just means that the battle against COVID-19 includes understanding exactly when we need to start transitioning to more business-as-usual-type arrangements.