Classification Table Overview

Research for pandemic simulation is happening across the world, as seen in the large number of countries represented in the Classification Table. 21 countries and 6 continents have produced research into this topic, with the majority coming from the United States, Scotland, and Canada. Since research is being produced across the globe, there is a diverse range of stochastic simulation applications to the current pandemic. Along with the location of the university carrying out research, the focus locations of these publications is important to note. As expected, the vast majority of publications have an international focus in which results could theoretically be applied to anywhere in the world. However, of specific countries studied, the United States and China are the most common. These two countries are unique in demographic composition, leading to powerful analysis in pandemic simulation. Another factor that is important to analyze among these simulation analyses is the publication date. Because most of the articles focused on COVID-19 specifically, it is no surprise that most articles were published in 2020. The majority of other articles focused on other diseases such as influenza. This current focus on COVID-19 provides the most modern and up-to-date application of stochastic simulation available today.

Majority of the research done did include a model in them with machine learning and testing accuracy being the most dominant. In addition, there are several intervention methods used against COVID-19 and observing this geographically, taking notice that each country/ region focuses on different methods however facial coverings and different types of masks in addition to reinforcing the practice of social distancing are the leaders as well as the most used intervention methods. As they may seem like the easiest to accept and implement among the people in addition to their effectiveness.

The majority of the types of models examined were agent based models. Agent-based modeling systems work by looking at each agent (in this case people) and taking steps based on a set of predefined parameters/rules. The research included in this paper includes the discussion of many commonly examined parameters such as PPE, social distancing and vaccine types and also more complex parameters such as culture and governmental influence.

COVID-19 is a disease that has resulted in the death of over a million people and has affected the life of millions more. It is crucial to research what affects the spread and stop of the virus so that countries and people can better understand and control this pandemic.