草莓污视频导航

March 26, 2020

草莓污视频导航 researchers inform City鈥檚 COVID-19 pandemic response

Data scientists track spread of COVID-19 in Alberta and advise on best interventions to flatten the curve; digital forum March 27
Tyler Williamson
Tyler Williamson presents at the March 6 event A new Decade in Public Health.

It鈥檚 been 71 days since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Canada, and as cases continue to climb, now into the thousands, scientists are racing to produce information needed to slow the spread.

When Dr. Tyler Williamson, PhD, with the at the (CSM) received the call from 草莓污视频导航 leadership that the City of Calgary needed Calgary and Alberta-centric data to inform the municipal response to the pandemic, he jumped into action.

鈥淚 reached out to my colleagues at the (CHI) on a Saturday morning and they just got to work,鈥 says Williamson, CHI associate director. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very fortunate to have a team of highly skilled data scientists at the university in a time like this. They were poised and ready to tackle this threat.鈥

  • Photo above:聽Tyler Williamson presents at the March 6 event A new Decade in Public Health. Williamson is one of the lead researchers involved in tracking the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta.

Using data from publicly available sources such as the Government of Alberta, the Public Health Agency of Canada and Johns Hopkins University, the researchers are exploring a provincial breakdown of when and where the virus is spreading, and to what is happening elsewhere in the world, all through the lens of different public health interventions in various jurisdictions.

Williamson and his team are also working closely with their colleagues at Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services to predict when the peak of the curve will occur, how many cases we may see at the provincial and municipal levels, and what the demand will be on the health system.

鈥淎ll decisions need to be made with data,鈥 says Williamson. 鈥淲hen we鈥檙e talking about decisions of this magnitude, where lives and livelihoods hang in the balance, you鈥檝e got to have the best information possible to inform the people leading our response.鈥

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi agrees. 鈥淭he only way that we can overcome the challenge before us, and really, any challenge, is to follow evidence-based decision-making,鈥 says Nenshi. 鈥淭o do that, it is critical to have great evidence. In Calgary, we鈥檙e incredibly fortunate to have the benefit of the great research from the teams at the 草莓污视频导航. The work they鈥檙e doing to understand the spread of this virus in our province will lay the groundwork for the policy decisions we need.鈥

Williamson will present his findings at , a digital forum presented by the O鈥橞rien Institute this Friday, March 27, at noon.

Fighting disease outbreaks with data

Fortunately, Canada doesn鈥檛 have to start from scratch when it comes to fighting COVID-19. Countries in Asia and Europe have been managing COVID-19 outbreaks since late 2019, and offer important lessons to inform Canada鈥檚 response.

Working to decipher these lessons is Dr. Nishan Sharma, EdD, with the O鈥橞rien Institute鈥檚 , who will also take part in the March 27 forum.

    Nishan Sharma will speak at the COVID-19: Anatomy of a Pandemic digital forum on March 27.

    Nishan Sharma will speak at the COVID-19: Anatomy of a Pandemic digital forum on March 27.

    鈥淭he measures we鈥檝e taken, including promoting physical distancing, closing schools and daycares, and limiting travel, could be effective based on what we know from other countries,鈥 says Sharma. 鈥淏ut we need to keep going and consider other measures, which is why Tyler鈥檚 work is so important.鈥澛

    Sharma says action is needed to protect vulnerable people, including those experiencing homelessness or living on reserves, where close quarters and a lack of health care resources could cause the virus to spread more rapidly.

    This week The City announced it will start moving some homeless Calgarians into hotel rooms in order to reduce the population in shelters, with Mayor Nenshi saying the possibility of COVID-19 spreading through the shelters is the "greatest public health issue we're facing today."

    Tracking an outbreak provides unique insight into the handling of a crisis, and with this insight Williamson and Sharma both say they are impressed with the response from The City and the Province.

    鈥淯nder the leadership of Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Henshaw, MD, the province has been proactively implementing public health interventions and making informed decisions,鈥 says Sharma.

    草莓污视频导航 leadership, including 草莓污视频导航 President Ed McCauley聽and Vice-President (Research) William Ghali聽have also been key in fostering university-led innovation to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, he says.聽

    Williamson adds, 鈥淚n a time when science often comes under attack, having leaders in our province who are willing to look to the University for support and knowledge is why Alberta is going to ultimately make it through this crisis.鈥澛

    Read more about the COVID-19: Anatomy of a pandemic digital forum series .

    Nishan Sharma is a member of the O鈥橞rien Institute for Public Health and education lead for the W21C Research and Innovation Centre, an initiative within the O鈥橞rien Institute focused on improving the safety and quality of our health systems.

    Tyler Williamson is an associate professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Cumming School of Medicine and a member of the O鈥橞rien Institute of Public Health and the .

    COVID-19 resources

    • For the most up-to-date information about the 草莓污视频导航's response to the spread of COVID-19, visit the聽
    • For resources to support students, faculty, staff, alumni, and all our communities during this unprecedented time, visit the聽