Will more states follow California’s lead in adopting new COVID-19 lockdown measures?

Samuel Scarpino, an assistant professor in Northeastern’s Network Science Institute, says far-reaching lockdowns, such as the regional stay-at-home orders that went into effect in California, will be necessary to bring the surging pandemic under control in the coming months. “Inaction to the surge will lead to tragic consequences,” the researcher warns.

• by Khalida Sarwari   December 9, 2020

If rich countries monopolize COVID-19 vaccines, it could cause twice as many deaths as distributing them equally

Researchers from Northeastern’s Network Science Institute have partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to predict COVID-19 deaths based on two different ways of distributing vaccines.

• by Emily Arntsen   September 14, 2020

Disease surveillance leaves out the communities that need it most

As the current COVID-19 crisis has made abundantly clear, public health agencies need reliable, up-to-date information to effectively address evolving health problems at local, state, and federal levels. But, according to a recent study, systems to track disease outbreaks are leaving out people living in impoverished neighborhoods.

• by Laura Castañón   July 9, 2020

People in the US started moving around more before stay-at-home measures were lifted

Even before most states began loosening the measures intended to keep people physically distant and slow the spread of the coronavirus, people were starting to travel further and see each other more, according to research from Northeastern’s Network Science Institute.

• by Laura Castañón   May 26, 2020

‘A network is crucial to describe how infectious disease spreads, and this is what we do’

On Thursday, Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, joined Alessandro Vespignani, who directs the Network Science Institute, to discuss where we are now in the COVID-19 crisis, where we’re headed, and what policymakers can do to prepare for the next pandemic.

• by Laura Castañón   May 14, 2020

Models can predict how COVID-19 will spread. What goes into them, and how can we use what they tell us?

On Thursday, Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, will sit down for a conversation with Alessandro Vespignani, the director of Northeastern’s Network Science Institute, who is leading one of the major efforts to model this disease.

• by Laura Castañón   May 13, 2020

The coronavirus was in the US in January. We need to understand how we missed it.

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, was circulating in major U.S. cities as early as January, says Alessandro Vespignani, director of Northeastern’s Network Science Institute. And if we want to keep our communities safe going forward, we need to understand how we missed a virus that was right under our noses.

• by Laura Castañón   April 26, 2020

Network scientists identify 40 new drugs to test against COVID-19

Researchers at Northeastern mapped the way proteins within human cells behave after a cell is hijacked by the virus to find new and existing drugs that might be able to fight COVID-19. The team is now working with other experimental researchers to begin testing those drugs.

• by Roberto Molar Candanosa   April 2, 2020

Northeastern models are helping shape US COVID-19 policy

Northeastern researchers are part of the network of teams creating models to advise the Trump administration on the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., White House officials said Tuesday. They said data from the models formed the basis of the decision to extend “social distancing” guidelines through April.

• by Laura Castañón and Khalida Sarwari   April 1, 2020

Closing borders can delay, but can’t stop the spread of COVID-19, new report says

Travel restrictions will not stop the spread of COVID-19, but observing quarantines and avoiding public events gives us a chance to slow the epidemic, says Matteo Chinazzi, a research scientist in the Network Science Institute. “Closing airports will buy you time, but it’s not enough.”

• by Emily Arntsen   March 6, 2020