The Rockefeller Foundation Launches COVID-19 Modeling Accelerator 04.14.21 Fast-Tracks Medical Research into Real World Decision-Making Tools NEW YORK | April 14, 2021 – The Rockefeller Foundation announced the creation of the COVID-19 Modeling Accelerator and the first cohort of projects. This new initiative, which is designed to enable world-class academic research, is expanding access to the latest data, critical decision-making tools, and actionable solutions for state and local policy makers, public health officials, medical care staff, and others working to stop the COVID-19 crisis in the United States. Right from the start of the pandemic, epidemiologists, and researchers across the U.S. jumped into action, developing novel tools, and providing insights to help state and local governments and communities better respond to the unprecedented crisis. During this time, new tools were launched to calculate the optimal number of times students should be tested for SARS-CoV-2 per week in order to screen for and stop the chain transmission in a schools, as well as to simulate the effects of different lockdown measures and non-pharmaceutical interventions on the number of cases, hospitalizations, and possible deaths that might occur within a specific area, and more.