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Tackling the pandemic with (biased) data

OAI: oai:purehost.bath.ac.uk:openaire_cris_publications/3ebdf621-d762-4544-a8ba-fe0c0438ddb0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi6602
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Abstract

Accurate and near real-time data about the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic have been crucial in informing mitigation policies. Because choosing the right mitigation policies relies on an accurate assessment of the current state of the local epidemic, the potential ramifications of misinterpreting data are serious. Each data source has inherent biases and pitfalls in interpretation. The more data sources that are interpreted in combination, the easier it is to detect genuine changes in an epidemic. Recently, in many countries, this has involved disentangling the varying impact of rising but heterogeneous vaccination rates, relaxation of mitigations, and the emergence of new variants such as Delta.