CLEVELAND — Case Western Reserve University has released a new online metric that will allow users to find out the relative risk of going out in public in their community due to COVID-19.
The tool, which was created by Yanfang (Fanny) Ye from the Department of Computer and Data Sciences and the Institute for Smart, Secure and Connected Systems (ISSACS) at the Case School of Engineering, is now up and running and allows users to either share their location or type in a location to check out the risk involved.
“A growing number of areas are reporting ‘community transmission’ of the virus, which would represent a significant turn for the worse in the battle against the novel coronavirus,” Ye said in a statement, “That points to an urgent need for expanded surveillance so we can better understand the spread of COVID-19 and better respond with actionable strategies.”
The data comes from county and state demographics and numbers released over the past several weeks and months. The tool also compiles data from mapping technology, as well as social media to track conversations happening about the area.
Users are also able to assess risk of certain locations in their area such as grocery stores, which the tool is also able to assign a risk value to.
To check out CWRU’s mapping technology, click here.