EpiNow2: Expand S3 methods and improve user interaction

[benjaminortizulloa]

EpiNow2 is an R package for estimating the time-varying reproduction number, and growth rates based on underlying latent infections. It is also used to forecast the future course of outbreaks both in terms of forecasting the reproduction number and reported cases. Community support is needed to allow the developers to focus on developing, validating and improving the underlying methodology.

EpiNow2 has evolved over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic with the first version of EpiNow being available in early April for public use. Due to this development approach (driven by the urgent need to produce accurate estimates) the package is often not user friendly or intuitive. On a lower level some of this has been resolved using basic S3 methods but further work is needed in this area.

Tasks:

• Review current S3 methods and other package output
• Identify areas for improvement and suggest options (likely target is all code that interacts with regional_epinow)
• Expand current S3 methods
• Add additional S3 methods for interacting with estimates from multiple regions

[impact: please copy in previous]
[originally proposed by @seabbs]
[suggested repo: https://github.com/epiforecasts/EpiNow2 | @seabbs]
[additional notes: ]