30 November 2020
What are the factors that could affect the extent of future waves of the pandemic? What do we know about ‘long Covid’ and its implications for long-term health and mortality? What are the likely mortality impacts of a post-pandemic economic recession? These and other issues are examined in the latest Longevity Bulletin from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) released today (30 November 2020). The coronavirus issue brings together the most up-to-date thinking in several key areas from a range of actuaries and guest contributors who have been closely monitoring the way the coronavirus has affected health, wellbeing and life expectancy.
Matthew Edwards, Editor of the IFoA Longevity Bulletin, said:
“Covid-19 is a global challenge with a great deal of uncertainty around what happens next. Actuaries are trained to advise on risk and provide an assessment even when many factors are still unknown. It is our job to make sense of a situation where information is still incomplete and changing from week to week. Given our expertise across mortality, health and economic modelling, we have an essential role to play in helping society navigate this catastrophe.
“We hope these articles will help inform the difficult debates and decision-making around mortality, health and wellbeing, and the impact of an economic downturn. We are still many years away from understanding the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic on this generation, and possibly generations to come. But as I discuss in the final contribution, we are moving away from an assumption of mortality always improving to a more complex world of mortality uncertainty.”
A list of the articles and authors featured in the Covid-19 edition of the IFoA Longevity Bulletin can be found below:
- Pandemic second wave risk management.
Gordon Woo, Catastrophist at Risk Management Solutions - Winter mortality 2020/21: what should we expect?
Dr Achim Regenauer, Chief Medical Officer at PartnerRe - Long Covid: the longer-term effects of Covid-19.
Nicola Oliver, Director of Life and Health at Medical Intelligence - Life on Pause: the cost of interruptions to non Covid-19 medical services.
Conor O’Reilly, Head of Analytics at Club Vita, and Steven Baxter, Head of Longevity Innovation at Club Vita - Likely mortality impacts of the post-pandemic recession.
Kenneth McIvor, Director at Willis Towers Watson - Socioeconomic differences in mortality due to Covid-19.
Michael Anderson, Head of Longevity and Catastrophe at Canada Life - Sources of future mortality variation resulting from the pandemic.
Matthew Edwards, Director at Willis Towers Watson.
~ENDS~
Contact
Sonia Sequeira, Media Relations Manager, IFoA
Tel: 07525 592 198
Email: sonia.sequeira@actuaries.org.uk
Notes to Editor
- Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Longevity Bulletin. Issue 13. ‘The coronavirus issue.’ November 2020.
About the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries
The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) is a royal chartered, not-for-profit, professional body.
Research undertaken by the IFoA is not commercial. As a learned society, research helps us to fulfil our royal charter requirements to further actuarial science and serve the public interest.
Actuaries provide commercial, financial and prudential advice on the management of a business’s assets and liabilities, especially where long term management and planning are critical to the success of any business venture. They also advise individuals, and advise on social and public interest issues.
Members of the IFoA have a statutory role in the supervision of pension funds and life insurance companies. They also have a statutory role to provide actuarial opinions for managing agents at Lloyd’s of London.
Members are governed by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. A rigorous examination system is supported by a programme of continuing professional development and a professional code of conduct supports high standards reflecting the significant role of actuaries in society.
The IFoA is available to provide independent expert comment to the media on a range of actuarial-related issues, including COVID-19 and its long term consequences, mortality, pensions, life and general insurance, health and care, finance and investment, climate change and sustainability, systems thinking, uncertainty and judgement, and risk management.