News and Event

The COVID-19 Policy Simulator — created by researchers at MGH, Harvard Medical School, Georgia Tech, and Boston Medical Center — predicts that with the current level of restrictions, there could be more than 800 new cases every day in Massachusetts. Under new stay-at-home orders, the computer model suggests the number of daily cases could be brought below 325.

There’s no crystal ball that can tell us what’s going to happen next with COVID-19, but there are computer models that provide some insight into the direction things are heading. Scientists at Boston Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a COVID-19 outbreak predictor computer model, and it’s showing that infection rates are increasing at an alarming rate in many Massachusetts counties. WGBH News Reporter Craig LeMoult spoke with Benjamin Linas, associate professor at the Boston University School of Medicine and an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center, who is one of the computer model’s developers. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.