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Leading infectious disease epidemiologist Professor Adam Kucharski presented on opportunities to generate key insights into pandemic pathogens while implementing outbreak control measures, using insights from COVID-19, as part of a new series of pandemic sciences seminars.

Colleagues from across the University of Oxford joined Professor Adam Kucharski this week for a seminar on using routine pandemic control measures to uncover epidemic drivers.

Hosted by PSI, the seminar launched a new monthly series of events in Oxford to explore interdisciplinary research in pandemic sciences.

Non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as contact tracing and regular testing in workplaces, were used widely during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Although the main purpose of these interventions was generally to reduce transmission, Professor Kucharski illustrated how data generated while implementing these interventions could inform key knowledge gaps in our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology, which could in turn, improve the design of control measures. 

Reflecting on estimates that his team generated during the COVID-19 pandemic using data collected from these routine control measures, Professor Kucharski explored case studies from study populations familiar with implementing interventions and generating epidemiological data, such as healthcare workers, through to novel and unexpected settings, such as Premier League football players and international travellers. 

Research from Professor Kucharski and colleagues also examined data from non-healthcare settings, for example workplaces like the English Premier League, SpaceX and the Crick Institute, which provided estimates on reinfection protection from antibodies, as well as detailed insights into the infection kinetics of each new SARS-CoV-2 variant. 

 

Read the full story on the Pandemic Sciences Institute website.

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