The Daily Universe BYU Operation Outbreak is a student association aimed to educate students about infectious diseases through experiential learning. It will be holding a virtual simulation of the spread of a disease similar to COVID-19 through participants’ phones. (Forrest Stull/BYU Operation Outbreak) BYU researchers are hosting a campus-wide virtual outbreak of a disease similar to COVID-19 using phones as the “virus” distributers. The outbreak began Friday, Feb. 19. The outbreak simulation is directed by the student association BYU Operation Outbreak in connection with Operation Outbreak, an outreach program by Sarasota Military Academy prep school and the Sabeti Lab at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.