AZBEES_TOPTEN
AZBEES_finalist-2020

This Just In

New Website Helps Calculate Risk of COVID-19 Infection

Andrea Doyle, Senior News Editor

SOUTH EASTON, Mass. — As COVID-19 cases roll across the country, two things are abundantly clear, according to John Galante, president, of hosted-event organizer AE Ventures: The risk of contracting the virus will persist for many more months, and the risks will vary by time and place while businesses and institutions simultaneously try to decide on when, where and how to get back to business.

Having postponed his company’s Tech Home Builder Summit scheduled for August, Galante was working through COVID-19 mitigation strategies when he realized he needed to determine what the risk for infection was for an individual participating in an event. This information was missing for the events industry.

“Our take was that COVID-19 is going to be with us for a while, so we asked: How do we work around it and start business again while remaining safe?” said Galante.

To find the answer, he joined forces with risk industry experts Intelligent Management Trends and Risk Analysis Services to develop the COVID Risk Navigator. A fundamental contributor to the Navigator is MIT’s COVID Analytics project and its predictions team led by Michael Lingzhi Li. A prototype of the Navigator was developed while AE Ventures searched for metrics to evaluate the risk of participating in its B2B events and to analyze cost-benefit ratios on various protective measures.

Related. Cleaning for COVID and Other Infectious Diseases

The COVID Risk Navigator consists of two primary parts:

Geographical Data Array organizes COVID Analytics’ active case data, population and infection rates to illuminate risk levels in specific locations based on mask-wearing and number of encounters. A color-coding system makes this easy to use.

Risk Calculator combines formulas and data points drawn from COVID Analytics to estimate total risk.

For example, TecHome Builder Summit is scheduled to be held in Phoenix Dec. 1-3 and Galante is using the help of the COVID Risk Navigator.

“According to the Risk Navigator, in November, [the number of active cases] will be down to 199,000, a quarter of what they are today. That is pretty positive and it gets us to risk levels that are acceptable for the December event if projections hold steady or improve.” said Galante. “Identifying where infections are waxing and waning and putting a number on the relative risk should help all.”

Best of all, this valuable tool is available free of charge and can be accessed right here.

Reach John Galante at (508) 618-4226 or jgalante@ae-ventures.com.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

TSE Data Center