The “Where There’s a Link, There’s a Way” challenge aimed at developing a virtual, easily-understood platform to demonstrate a link between environmental factors and the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. A study published by Harvard University (see third source listed) has identified a direct relationship between long term exposure to air pollution and the vulnerability of a population to respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19. Consequently, our project compiled and analyzed data on air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter. The AQI Index was used to compare the air quality across various regions over the time. Both surface temperature and population density are posited to play significant roles in the spread of infection. Our website combines each of these factors in an interactive manner, facilitating their comparison to confirmed COVID-19 cases and reported deaths in a specific area. The link between these factors, COVID-19 cases, total deaths, and overall mortality rates can be analyzed on our platform across multiple regions to truly grasp their relationships. Additionally, important socioeconomic factors such as the hospitalization and testing rate achieved by each area are displayed. The website can be used to generate graphs of any two factors selected, thereby illuminating any relationships that may exist. Using our website, scientists and policy-makers, and the general public alike can better understand which areas are the most at risk and will therefore require the expeditious delivery of resources to combat COVID-19.
An additional Tableau dashboard we have created provides an interactive calendar, map, and trend line to depict changing air quality across the globe. Data accumulated from recent months can be used to better understand the impacts of COVID-19 induced lockdown measures on air quality.
Seemingly overnight, COVID-19 brought the threat of infectious diseases to the forefront of international attention. It has heightened humankind’s desire to understand how environmental and other socioecological factors can influence the emergence and spread of new diseases. Counterfactual simulations conducted by Columbia University researchers have indicated that, if social distancing measures were implemented just 1 week earlier, the United States could have prevented roughly 36,000 deaths and 700,000 infections of COVID-19. This work underscores the importance of aggressively responding to emerging infectious diseases. A huge aspect of that is in understanding the places most vulnerable to the disease, so that proper measures can be taken as early as possible to prevent the spread and save lives.
Thus, we chose to investigate several environmental factors that affect the severity of COVID-19 spread and symptom pathology. For example, the level of air pollution in a locale is directly correlated with the susceptibility of that locale’s residents to respiratory diseases, including COVID-19. By presenting the severity of air pollution (e.g. particulate matter concentrations, NOx gases, and SO2) alongside the proliferation of COVID-19 in different cities, the risk factors for the spread of COVID-19 become immediately clear. Due to the suspected relationship between the average temperature of a locale and disease spread, this information was also depicted.
Additionally, we analyzed important statistics based upon COVID-19 such as the mortality, hospitalization, and testing rates of specific areas. The combined presentation of these factors facilitates the assessment of each region’s environmental vulnerability to disease spread as well as their ability to combat it. Looking forward, we would aim to expand our website’s model internationally, and to develop an index for infectious disease threat potential by region based upon these linked environmental factors.
During the creation of our final project, we used JavaScript, HTML, CSS, SQL, and Python as well as the data tool Tableau. As listed in the resources section below, several databases were employed in the development of this project, including Air Pollution in the World and NASA Worldview.
One limitation of our solution was the availability of recent data related to air pollution levels, which affects the relevance of the displayed data. However, this data can be updated once the 2020 Environmental Performance Index is released (June 4, 11 AM). Additionally, the risk determination does not take the efficacy of social distancing measures into account, which significantly affects rates of virus transmission.
Link to video demo here.