On the false assumptions of the SIR model of epidemics

The validity of the continuous susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) is questioned. It is pointed out that the basic assumption used in the model equations is wrong. The classic SIR and susceptible-infected-recovered-susceptible (SIRS) models have the form of the state ordinary differential equation (ODE). These equations do not reflect the spatial distribution of individuals. Moreover, what is more important, the SIR model equations do not reflect the huge collective memory of the modeled system. Such issues as the probability distribution of the immunity period and other time intervals are not taken into account in the ODE SIR model. It is pointed out that the model results depend strongly on these distributions. A comparison to the agent-based model (ABM) and corresponding computer simulations is done. In the paper, the validity of SIR epidemics model is questioned, the deficiency and the basic assumptions of the SIR model are pointed out. This makes the existence of the corresponding differential equations doubtful. ©The author ©World Scientific © International Journal of Modeling, Simulation, and Scientific Computing.