COVID-19 modeling consortium: Since April 2020, Dr. Jagpreet Chhatwal has led a multi-institutional COVID-19 modeling consortium (www.covid19sim.org) that aims to inform several time-sensitive policy decisions around management and mitigation of COVID-19 in the U.S. The consortium is funded by research grants from the National Science Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Gorton and Betty Moore Foundation. Findings of this work have received wide attention from popular media outlets, including MSNBC, NPR, Boston Globe, Fox News, and Newsweek. Below are examples of two tools from this project.
- COVID-19 Simulator evaluates the impact of different interventions (by varying their intensity and timing) on reduction in the spread of COVID-19 (and its variants) in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Since May 2020, the outcomes of the tool have been used in the weekly COVID-19 forecasts by the CDC. The tool was featured at MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show in April 2020.
- COVID-19 Outbreak Tool predicts the doubling time COVID-19 cases in each county. The tool provides unique information that complements the New York Times COVID-19 dashboard by informing how fast COVID-19 is spreading in a county.
Hepatitis C elimination: In partnership with the CDC, Dr. Jagpreet Chhatwal developed an interactive policy modeling tool, the Hep C State Policy Simulator (www.hepcsimulator.org/), that allows policymakers from each state to evaluate the feasibility of hepatitis C elimination at the state level. The findings of the Simulator were instrumental in the removal of hepatitis C treatment restrictions in multiple states. Policymakers have also utilized the tool to identify the screening rate and budget needed to eliminate hepatitis C
