4 ms·

> Just take their mobile phone number, and text them en masse with a quick Y/N question as to whether or not they got sick? I've been wondering why this isn't

by vosper 7y ago

> Just take their mobile phone number, and text them en masse with a quick Y/N question as to whether or not they got sick? I've been wondering why this isn't just being done for everyone in the country, every few days? "The main symptoms of COVID-19 are X, Y, Z. If you think you may have COVID-19 please respond "Yes" to this text message. This is free. Your response is private and used to understand the spread of COVID-19 in our country. Please visit http://some.link http://some.link for more information" If someone responds "yes" you could follow up with some more questions, if that was useful. And then text them a few days later to see if they're feeling better or worse, or maybe ask them to describe how they feel. There are lots of problems with this idea: people lying or not taking it seriously; people not responding; not everyone has a cellphone; some people will be worried about privacy, etc etc... But surely there'd be something useful to learn from it? And it seems like it should be easy to do, really, if you got the mobile providers on board (or just order them to help).

alexis_fr 7y ago
Do you even need to be an official to do that? Perhaps a newspaper could do it, to accurate news.
- notatoad 7y ago
  I saw it suggested on Twitter yesterday that the political polling firms should be doing some coronavirus polling, tracking trends in self-reported cases the same way they track public opinion. I'm not sure if that would be scientifically useful in any way, but it sure would be interesting.
  - jackcosgrove 7y ago
    See my reply to GP.
CydeWeys 7y ago
In Italy they're personally tracking every confirmed case. Meanwhile, here in NYC, I called 311 to report my suspected case and that wasn't even a thing they were tracking. We just don't have our shit together over here, not at a state or national level.
walterbell 7y ago
Vague and/or non-comparable data provides decision deniability and narrative flexibility in many possible futures. Open-source analysis and watchdogs provide one level of defense. https://covidtracking.com/blog/weve-launched-a-new-state-grading-system https://covidtracking.com/blog/weve-launched-a-new-state-gra... > We're rolling out a new, more rigorous system for grading the public health data each state reports.
thedrbrian 7y ago
In the uk at least we have an app that you can update with your current health status/feelings and they can track the Wuhan flu with that. They are encouraging users to report in once a day even if you have no symptoms. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/covid-symptom-tracker/id1503529611 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/covid-symptom-tracker/id150352...
jackcosgrove 7y ago
I recently completed a survey conducted by NORC which asked a series of questions that seemed to test whether I had contracted Covid-19. I received the survey invitation in the mail so it must have been randomized. We'll have to wait to see the results.

by vosper 7y ago

alexis_fr 7y ago

Do you even need to be an official to do that? Perhaps a newspaper could do it, to accurate news.

notatoad 7y ago
I saw it suggested on Twitter yesterday that the political polling firms should be doing some coronavirus polling, tracking trends in self-reported cases the same way they track public opinion. I'm not sure if that would be scientifically useful in any way, but it sure would be interesting.
- jackcosgrove 7y ago
  See my reply to GP.

CydeWeys 7y ago

In Italy they're personally tracking every confirmed case. Meanwhile, here in NYC, I called 311 to report my suspected case and that wasn't even a thing they were tracking. We just don't have our shit together over here, not at a state or national level.

walterbell 7y ago

Vague and/or non-comparable data provides decision deniability and narrative flexibility in many possible futures. Open-source analysis and watchdogs provide one level of defense. https://covidtracking.com/blog/weve-launched-a-new-state-grading-system https://covidtracking.com/blog/weve-launched-a-new-state-gra... > We're rolling out a new, more rigorous system for grading the public health data each state reports.

thedrbrian 7y ago

In the uk at least we have an app that you can update with your current health status/feelings and they can track the Wuhan flu with that. They are encouraging users to report in once a day even if you have no symptoms. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/covid-symptom-tracker/id1503529611 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/covid-symptom-tracker/id150352...

jackcosgrove 7y ago

I recently completed a survey conducted by NORC which asked a series of questions that seemed to test whether I had contracted Covid-19. I received the survey invitation in the mail so it must have been randomized. We'll have to wait to see the results.