Graph Theory With COVID-19
Graph theory is the study of graphs whose components are made up of nodes and edges. Nodes are a set of objects and edges connect these objects to form some path among multiple nodes. When looking into graph theory, you can discover the many links one object shares to another and find the deeper meaning behind this. All of the objects on this planet are connected in one way or another. Just think about it, the people you consider your friends, have their own set of friends, yet with one mutual friend, complete strangers are somehow connected to you. Social media is a prime example of how connected everyone is to one another: the average distance, in terms of mutuals, between 2 people on facebook is 4.57. The world is definitely connected on a large scale.
Intuitively most of us believe that this grand scale of connectivity is something that is good, but in some instances we forget to think about how it can be detrimental to us. A prime example of this case would be the novel coronavirus. Starting from mid to late 2020, the spread of the Coronavirus grew exponentially. Ranging from different towns, cities, and countries, almost all people in this world either came into contact with someone diagnosed with the virus or have caught the virus themselves. According to COVID-19 coronavirus: Top ten most-affected countries, the virus reached over 170 countries in the world. Through these interactions and connections we form with strangers who could possibly have the virus, we aid the virus in spreading throughout multiple nations. When thinking about these connections we form with people (the edges), we would never have thought that we would create multiple paths of a lethal virus. COVID-19 originated from one part of the world, yet made its way throughout the entire globe. This example in itself shows how powerful our connections with everyone are.
