Researchers from UofH develop large ‘virtual model’ suggesting COVID-19 mortality rate can be reduced by up to 91% if people over 55 socialize within their own age group

A team of researchers led by Dr. Shani Stern, head of the Precision Disease Modeling Lab at the Sagol Department of Neurobiology, created a large computer simulation to study different scenarios for easing COVID-19 lockdown measures. Applying their virtual model of a 50,000 person community to five lockdown easing scenarios, the team found that strict age separation could dramatically reduce COVID-19 related mortality rates. The age-based socializing approach would allow people over 55 to meet in ‘micro-environments’, but would severely restrict contact with younger age groups. Because social connections are extremely important to the elderly, “until a cure or a vaccine is found, these schemes for age separation will help decrease the total death toll,” the team wrote.  The study, published in Open Biology, was featured in the Daily Mail.  MORE ON DR. STERN’S LAB