What type of mathematical model is CommunityFlu?
CommunityFlu is an individual agent model, which means that it tracks, on a daily basis, the transmission of influenza among each individual person that populates a representative community. CommunityFlu tracks, for each person, their daily contacts in a variety of locales such as home, school, and workplace. Each contact represents a chance for the disease to spread from an infectious person to a disease susceptible person. The representative community comprises approximately 1,000 households with 2,500 persons. Each person in CommunityFlus community belongs to a household or a long term care facility. Depending upon age, a member can attend a daycare center, school, or workplace. School age children in the CommunityFlu community, for example, may attend one of four elementary schools, two middle schools, or one high school.
