Pandemic Spread Simulation Free Download

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Exponential growth can be a tricky and scary thing.  It's not something that we have a lot of experience with in our everyday lives, so what does it really mean when someone on the nightly news says that there's a virus out there spreading exponentially through the population? This simulation allows you to see for yourself how a pandemic can quickly and unexpectedly blaze through a population. For a few days you're safe and the disease is rare, but suddenly it's everywhere.  How does social distancing help? What does it take to flatten the curve?

This is a simple simulation of how a novel virus (such as the COVID-19 coronavirus) spreading through a population can achieve exponential growth. An easy way for exponential growth to occur is when an organism replicates (like when a virus replicates in a population). One critter becomes two, two become four, four become eight, and things seem small for a while, but suddenly 1000 becomes 2000, 2000 becomes 4000, and 4000 becomes 8000. Starting from just one organism, after twenty generations of doubling you have over one million critters running around.

I was inspired to make this simulation after seeing 3Blue1Brown's video on exponential growth. It's a great introduction to what's going on here! Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kas0tIxDvrg