Need a great coronavirus data site? Build your own

The coronavirus pandemic is about people’s lives, but our view of it is often about numbers. We’re awash in information, from the technical to the political, but sometimes you just want to see the issue in one snapshot.

Avi Schiffmann is a high school student in Washington state and creator of the nCov2019.live site. It offers a set of COVID-19 dashboards for worldwide cases, active cases, deaths and recoveries, all based on recognized sources of data Schiffmann has brought together. And it’s received a lot of attention.

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Coronavirus data site built by a teen gets attention

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“What inspired me is that I was curious about the numbers,” Schiffmann said in an interview with CNET’s Brian Cooley. But he found that those numbers were scattered across a dissimilar array of US and international government sites. He built a basic compilation, starting with a layout inspired by Irish programer Dan Conlon’s popular cov19.cc site. Conlon assisted Schiffmann on his site.

Then Schiffmann added tools including the COVID-19 Survival Rate Calculator. Based on data from three external COVID-19 outcome databases, it synthesizes a short questionnaire into a straightforward estimate of your chances of dying if you contract COVID-19. “It gives you a relative estimate and helps a lot of people (understand) that if you have health conditions, you should stay home,” said Schiffmann.

More recently, Schiffmann has turned his attention to Black Live Matter protests with 2020protests.com.

Clearly a large part of the attention paid to Schiffmann’s sites is not the data they present, but the age of the person presenting it. “At the end of the day, I’m just some random kid working on these websites,” he said. “A lot of that is sort of overwhelming.”

Now What is a video interview series with industry leaders, celebrities and influencers that covers trends impacting businesses and consumers amid the “new normal.”  There will always be change in our world, and we’ll be here to discuss how to navigate it all. 

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.