(above) Image fromContact tracing is an imperfect tool for controlling COVID-19 transmission and relies on population adherence available here

JUNIPER Consortium Newsletter
September 2021

Dear friends and associates of JUNIPER,

Welcome to this months edition of the JUNIPER consortium's newsletter. We've had a little break from the newsletter over the summer, but we are now back to our monthly updates on the past, current and future activities of the consortium. Last month Dr Jon Read (University of Lancaster) and Dr Gwen Knight jointly gave the monthly JUNIPER seminar at INI on nosocomial infections in the UK during the first Pandemic wave. If you missed it you can watch the talk here.

Events

MONTHLY SEMINAR SERIES AT ISSAC NEWTON INSTITUTE

Speaker: Dr Petra Klepac (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)
Title: Contacts in context: large-scale setting-specific social mixing matrices from the BBC Pandemic project
Abstract: The BBC Pandemic project was a massive citizen science project that took place n 2018 and collected self-reported contact data from over 36,000 volunteers. In this talk I will outline fine-scale age-specific population contact matrices by context (home, work, school, other) and type (conversational or physical) of contact that took place generated from this rich dataset. I will also outline the ways in which these matrices have been vital in understanding the potential impacts of non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as contact tracing and physical distancing, to control the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Date: 11th October 12:00pm-1:00pm (BST)
Register here

WEEKLY SEMINAR SERIES

We have a weekly informal seminar on Wednesdays at 16:00-17:00 BST followed by a virtual beer hour. If you are interested in attending please sign up here. 

Recent Papers & Articles

Article in Nature Communications showing the importance of adherence and reporting on the performance of contact tracing systems by members from Big Data Institute University of Oxford and LSHTM. Check out the full paper here and you can also watch lead authors Emma Davis' JUNIPER seminar talk on this paper here.

Correspondence in the Lancet on hospital acquired SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first COVID-19 wave in the UK by members from University of Lancaster. Check out the full article here.

Article in Nature Communications on using layered interventions to mitigate potentially high levels of COVID-19 transmission on re-opening of universities, by members at University of Bristol. Check out the full article here.

Article in the Royal Society Interface on the COVID-19 vaccine prioritisation for a fixed number of does by members at the University of Warwick. Check out the full article here.

Article in the Royal Society Open Science on SARs-CoV-2 infection in university students in the UK by members at University of Warwick, University of Bristol and University of Cambridge who are part of the Isaac Newton Institute working group on COVID-19 and Higher Education. Check out the full article here.

Article in Epidemics on modelling SARS-CoV-2 transmission within UK university settings by members from University of Warwick. Check out the full article here.

We are happy to be working with Plus Magazine to bring the work from consortium members to a wider audience. Check out the full list of articles here. Recent highlights include COVID-19 and universities: What do we know?. 

For a full list of outputs from the consortium, check out our website here​.

Upcoming events

Mathematical Modelling of COVID-19: using models to understand SARS-CoV2 transmission and interventions a one-day virtual workshops on 11th October organised by Robin Thompson at University of Warwick. More information available here and if you are interested in attending please register here (please ignore anything to do with in-person details).

Recovery from the Pandemic: Hospitality & Leisure a three-day virtual study group  12th - 14th October. For more information including how to register check out the event page here.

Modelling Behaviour to Inform Policy for Pandemics is a four-day virtual workshop 2nd-5th November ​which forms part of the RAMP continuation work. Find out more including how to register here.

Thank you as always for your continued support and interest. 

- JUNIPER consortium

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Contact: Dr Ciara Dangerfield - ced57@cam.ac.uk (JUNIPER scientific programme manager)

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(above) Image from Modelling that shaped  the early COVID-19 response in the UK available here