See Your COVID Exposure Risk In Chesco Based On Gathering Size

Malvern PA

24 November, 2020

5:18 PM

Description

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — An interactive tool developed by researchers from several universities lets you see your risk of exposure to the virus at an indoor gathering, based on where you live. As the holiday season kicks off and officials warn residents about limiting their interactions with others outside of their own household to curb the spread of the coronavirus, people want to know how risky it is to visit with extended family and friends. The tool shows the estimated chance — between 0 and 100 percent — that you'll encounter at least one person with the coronavirus at an event in your county. You can reduce the risk by wearing a mask, distancing and gathering outdoors in smaller groups, researchers said. This week, if you were to attend an event with at least 15 people in Chester County, there's a 20 percent chance that someone in the group could expose you to the virus, according to the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Planning Tool. If your gathering has 50 people, that risk would be 52 percent. Two Georgia Institute of Technology professors led the creation of the project, and their team included researchers from Stanford University and the Applied Bioinformatics Laboratory. "By default we assume there are five times more cases than are being reported," the research team said in a statement. "In places with less testing availability, that bias may be higher." Access the COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool here. The Center for Disease Control issued guidelines for the holidays, suggesting ways to make small gatherings safer. Amber Fisher contributed to this report.