Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the University has instruction to cancel all in-person events through the Fall semester to adhere to city and state orders limiting public gatherings. Events still running must now take place Online— listed events will include a link in which one may access the Online webspace:

To view Prof. Meyers’ talk, enter his Online chatroom via Microsoft Teams— it will open at 2:00 pm on Friday, November 20, 2020.

Modeling the control of epidemics with antiviral drugs & surveillance tests

Prof. Lauren Ancel Meyers

University of Texas at Austin

Professor, Departments of Integrative Biology and Statistics & Data Sciences 

“As the globe awaits the deployment of safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccines, countries worldwide have enacted unprecedented movement restrictions, social distancing measures, and face mask requirements. In this colloquium, I will describe two modeling studies that address alternative strategies for combatting deadly epidemics. The first model demonstrates that accelerating treatment with a new antiviral drug for influenza can save thousands of lives annually. The second shows that daily COVID-19 testing of all US residents combined with a one-week isolation period for all cases is a cost-effective strategy for mitigating the pandemic over the next few months.”