Speaker: Prof. Yair Goldberg
Title: Estimating COVID-19 susceptibility and infectivity of children using data from the city of Bnei-Brak
Zoom Link
Abstract:
One of the most significant unanswered questions about COVID-19 epidemiology relates to the role of children in transmission. We estimate the susceptibility and infectivity of children compared to that of adults. We used data on 613 households in the city of Bnei-Brak, Israel, in which all family members were tested using PCR for COVID-19. We developed a novel estimation method based on a discrete stochastic dynamic model of the spread of the epidemic within a household. The model describes the propagation of the disease between household members allowing for susceptibility and infectivity parameters to vary among two age groups. The parameter estimates are obtained by a maximum likelihood method, where the likelihood function is constructed based on the stochastic model via simulations
Bio:
I obtained my Ph.D. in Statistics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2009. From 2009 to 2011, I conducted postdoctoral studies at the Department of Biostatistics at UNC Chapel Hill. From 2011 to 2018, I was a faculty at the University of Haifa. Since 2018, I am a faculty member at the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management in the Technion. My research interests include statistical theory and machine learning mostly in the biostatistics context. I currently work on research topics in both of these fields, and at the interface between them. During the last year, I take part in a research team that advises the ministry of health in the context of COVID-19.
