Preventing Outbreaks through Interactive, Experiential Real-Life Simulations

Andrés Colubri; Molly Kemball; Kian Sani; Chloe Boehm; Karen Mutch-Jones; Ben Fry; Todd Brown; Pardis C Sabeti

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.042

Preventing Outbreaks through Interactive, Experiential Real-Life Simulations

Cell. 2020 Sep 17;182(6):1366-1371. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.042. Epub 2020 Sep 2.

Authors

Andrés Colubri¹, Molly Kemball², Kian Sani², Chloe Boehm², Karen Mutch-Jones³, Ben Fry⁴, Todd Brown⁵, Pardis C Sabeti⁶

Affiliations

¹ The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Center for Systems Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA; Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA. Electronic address: andres@broadinstitute.org.
² The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Center for Systems Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
³ TERC, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA.
⁴ Fathom Information Design, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
⁵ Sarasota Military Academy, Sarasota, FL 34236, USA. Electronic address: todd.brown@oursma.org.
⁶ The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Center for Systems Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA; Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: pardis@broadinstitute.org.

Abstract

Operation Outbreak (OO) is a Bluetooth-based simulation platform that teaches students how pathogens spread and the impact of interventions, thereby facilitating the safe reopening of schools. OO also generates data to inform epidemiological models and prevent future outbreaks. Before SARS-CoV-2 was reported, we repeatedly simulated a virus with similar features, correctly predicting many human behaviors later observed during the pandemic.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Basic Reproduction Number
COVID-19
Computer Simulation*
Computer-Assisted Instruction / methods*
Contact Tracing / methods*
Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
Coronavirus Infections / prevention & control
Coronavirus Infections / transmission
Epidemiology / education*
Humans
Mobile Applications
Pandemics / prevention & control
Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
Pneumonia, Viral / prevention & control
Pneumonia, Viral / transmission
Smartphone