Straub J.E. Mathematical Methods for Molecular Science: Supplement on Kinetic Models of Infectious Disease

Longmont: Steuben Press, 2020. — 15 p.A separate Supplement on Kinetic Models of Infectious Disease explores the application of linear differential equations used to model physical kinetics to the modeling and analysis of infectious disease epidemics. The SIR and SEIR epidemiological models of the spread of infectious disease are developed and applied to a variety of epidemics including the influenza epidemic of 1918 and the coronavirus epidemic of 2019 (Covid-19). The parameters of each model are varied to explore the impact of social distancing, reproduction number, and herd immunity on the course of an epidemic. Exponential and power-law models of growth are contrasted and related to characteristics of the underlying network of social contacts.