Month: December 2020

Just reached a milestone. When in mid-March I approached Clint Witchalls, one of The Conversation’s editors, and suggested to write an article on how the pandemic might end, I had no idea that 9 months later:

1. The pandemic would still be going on;
2. I would have written 7 further articles for The Conversation; and
3. The articles would attract more than 1 million views.

I am so happy to have been even of such little help in explaining how mathematics and statistics can be used to understand how the virus spreads and how it can be controlled.

But even more, I am so grateful to my family and to my colleagues for their support and encouragement, and to all my readers for their interest and comments – both positive and negative.

With the year 2020 drawing to the end, I do look forward to the year 2021 and hope that in time we will tame the epidemic, suppress the virus, and learn the lessons to create a safer world.

How could the COVID-19 pandemic play out in 2021? How soon can we get back to normal? – and what does normal mean in this context?

I am trying to answer these questions in the new The Conversation article. In a nutshell, things will hopefully get better, but we are yet for a long ride. Also, “back to normal” might not mean “back to what it was pre-2020”.

With the end of the year and a holiday now upon us, I would like to thank you for all the support in 2020. I started this blog a couple of years ago but really stopped after a couple of posts. It was the COVID-19 outbreak, and particularly US President Trump’s decision to shut down the borders (do we still remember this?) that made me want to share more about numbers, statistics – and the pandemic.

However, this blog would have never continued without you, my readers, your encouragement and feedback. Writing here – and knowing that somebody is actually reading it – has been great fun. I hope that I also have made you learn, stop and think. Please do be in touch with any feedback.

So, I would like to wish you all the best for the year 2021. I hope the new year will be as interesting as the old one, but perhaps safer and better. I also hope you will be continuing reading this blog.