Virus Spread Lab

Virus Spread Simulation: Track an Outbreak in a Population

The virus spread simulation places students in control of a simulated population and challenges them to understand and contain an outbreak by adjusting variables like contact rate, transmissibility, incubation period, and intervention timing. Unlike the virology simulation focused on molecular biology inside cells, this tool models population-level transmission dynamics in real geographic and social contexts — making it ideal for health science, environmental biology, and civics courses exploring public health decision-making.

What you can do in this simulation

• Set viral transmissibility and contact rate to control how quickly the infection spreads through the population
• Observe the incubation period during which infected individuals show no symptoms but can still transmit
• Deploy social distancing, mask use, or quarantine at different outbreak stages and measure their impact
• Introduce vaccination at varying coverage levels and watch herd immunity slow or halt transmission
• Compare outbreak outcomes across populations with different density, age structure, and prior immunity

Concepts covered

disease transmission · outbreak dynamics · contact rate · herd immunity · epidemic intervention · public health modeling

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