Could a Neural Network Have Predicted This Pandemic’s Impact?

World leaders are being blamed either for ignoring the data belying the significance of the novel coronavirus, or paying too much attention to it. Perhaps it would help if neural networks made that data more relevant.

“Governors and mayors need a reliable forecast of the future — anything to give them a foundation for making rational, often bold, policy decisions. They are simultaneously responsible for the lives of their citizens by way of public health, and their livelihoods by way of economic health. Progress for one compartment requires sacrifices from the other. . . Perhaps there’s a certain logic in letting the most terrible decision an executive can make be informed by as much of the best math that can be utilized.”