This is a visualization of the movement of a set of people who were present on one beach in Ft. Lauderdale during spring break. The visualization shows where each person went after spring break was over. The result is startling and frightening to say the least.
This visualization was created by Tectonix, which specializes in visualization of massive data sets; data was collected by location technology company X-Mode. The visualization was created by accessing location data for thousands of cell-phones over the month of March and using special geo-spatial big-data analysis software. The data was anonymized to hide user identification. For those who are alarmed by privacy concerns, keep in mind that our location data is available minute-by-minute to cell-phone companies, whether we like or not. (And they also have access to the searches we make, the sites we visit and the texts we write).
Below is the final scary result of the visualization. This is where the revelers went, scattered mostly across the eastern half of the country, some further west. And those are not just blue states. We can only imagine how many of the revelers got infected among the crowds on the beaches, passed it on to hotel-mates, restaurant and hotel staff, airline passengers, and finally to folks in their hometowns. This is like exploding a massive bomb with incendiary shrapnel falling 100’s of miles away.
Here is the full visualization and an explanation of the technology.
We can also imagine how many other such spring break gatherings took place (this data is for just one beach Las Olas Beach, of people who were actually on the beach). Similar scenario will play out with Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This is a failure of our system, our young people (or rather a certain segment of it), their parents and most of all — the (right-wing) leaders of our country, who have no vision or understanding of the world, beyond their own stock portfolios and political ideology. We will all pay the price for their greed, ignorance and callousness for several months and years to come.
Florida as of today has reported 2,355 positive cases; it can be expected that a much larger number are infected but not tested yet. The reported cases number was probably around 100-200 in mid-March.
It would be beneficial to track down these people and get them tested and perform some contact tracing on them. With this sort of technology, it is possible to do so (will require access to identity information from cell-phone operators). But I doubt that our govt. has the competence or the will to do such a thing.
Similar visualizations and tracing could be done for China and Italy and the travelers from these countries that landed on distant shores. X-Mode has some visualizations on their site that shows the level of social-distancing over time in Shanghai, Rome and Seattle. In particular, their data shows that social distancing decreased in Shanghai between Feb 16 and Mar 15 by 50%, while it increased in Rome during the same period by 87% (more social distancing is better).
Did Students get Infected?
You betcha. How many — we do not know.
News like this will keep trickling in -
Tectonix
Tectonix is a “geospatial data visualization platform capable of rendering the world's largest data sets at earth-shattering speed.” Here is a video introducing the company and its technology -
They just released another video, where they “analyzed movement of mobile devices active in the heart of NYC across the United States just days ago in March. What we saw was a stark picture of just how far a single city's footprint can stretch, and why it is so important we adhere to #socialdistancing. #StayInside”
Technology to the rescue?
It is interesting that similar but more advanced technology based solutions (mobile apps, location tracking) have been used in China and South Korea to slow down Coronavirus. We wrote about it in diary Coronavirus Control - Novel High Tech. Solutions or Mass Surveillance?
China released apps that enabled citizens to find out if they or people in their vicinity have been exposed to the virus.
In late February, they launched a smartphone app which took inputs from users and assigned a colored QR code to each user, based on factors like health and travel history, duration of time spent in infected areas and proximity to potential carriers of the virus. A green code means that the user can move around with relative freedom, while those with yellow or red badges must self-quarantine. Various checkpoints and businesses around the nation require a green code to permit people to let in or pass through. The ratings can change automatically, based on a user’s movement and new reports of infections.
On the positive side, this would prevent those at risk of infecting others from mingling in public places and businesses with others allowing healthy individuals to go about their daily work with more confidence; on the negative side this creates the potential for state surveillance at a scale never seen before.
A mobile app in South Korea allows users to detect if a place has been visited by someone infected or suspected of infection.
This is an interesting and insightful article about Taiwan, where technology and political culture have collaborated with very positive results for its people.
There are other companies in the U.S. using location data to create analytical data for organizations (e.g, www.unacast.com). And they are also creating visualizations and analysis to understand social distancing for Coronavirus in major cities.
Epilogue
How spring breakers will affect infection rates in the next few weeks, we do not know, but it would not be unreasonable to assume that at least a few hundred of these beach revelers got infected and have passed it on to others.
What can we do at a personal level? If we have a young one at home who was out and about during Spring break, let’s get him/her tested or at least take certain precautions. In any case, let’s make sure everyone in the family follows the guidelines about staying home, social distancing, washing hands, getting tested if you notice any symptoms, etc.
Stay strong and give strength and wisdom to others around you.
And while you are home, don’t forget to remind friends and family of the depraved nature of this despicable party called the GOP, members of which are more concerned about their stock portfolios than the health of the People.
Also, think about these and other technologies might help us tackle COVID-19. Would we be OK with location tracking technology to facilitate targeted testing and social distancing? Would assigning infection codes to individuals help put people back to work and save lives? Will our govt. (esp. a republican one) misuse the data? What other technology solutions can you think of?
Further Reading
- www.tectonix.com/…
- Location Data in Action: Heatmaps Help Track Coronavirus Across the Globe — xmode.io/…
- Smartphone data reveal which Americans are social distancing (and not) — www.washingtonpost.com/...
- How China is using QR code apps to contain Covid-19 — technode.com/…
- Coronavirus Control - Novel High Tech. Solutions or Mass Surveillance? — www.dailykos.com/…
- Coronavirus - What steps to take if someone in the house is infected — www.dailykos.com/...
P.S.
For those who want to explore more science-based information about Coronavirus, check out diary “Coronavirus - Myths, Realities and Uncertainties.”