COVID through a statistical lens

Abstract

Exploring Your Universe at UCLA is a volunteer-run science fair for all ages that brings in thousands of participants from the greater Los Angeles area. Its mission is to provide a hands-on learning experience each year for people of all backgrounds. This talk was to a general audience. In it I noted that the field of Statistics focuses on the question: ‘How can we learn from data?’. I then looked at what we learned from experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles. We were awash in statistics and information of all sorts and from multiple sources. At the same time we had little data on aspects of the epidemic vital to guide public policy and personal behavior.