COVID-19: PERSPECTIVES FROM A DATA SCIENTIST: This is a talk by Dr. Rick Lawrence, a Data Scientist who currently works on the COVID-19 Task force in Ridgefield. The discussion will be at 5:30 p.m. in Room 125 of the Science Building on the Midtown campus.

We begin with an overview of the COVID-19 data reported by the CDC and the State of Connecticut, and describe the data-science framework we have developed to ingest and analyze this data. We then address the following key questions from a pure data-science perspective:

1. What is the current state of the pandemic in the US and Connecticut?

2. Based on the latest vaccination data, will the US reach herd immunity?

3. Do masks reduce COVID infection rates?

4. What is the relationship between vaccination rates, natural immunity, and new case rates?

We conclude with some personal perspectives on the convergence of COVID data science and political science. Our goal is to have this talk accessible to both data scientists as well as a more general audience.