Collaborative:RAPID: Leveraging New Data Sources to Analyze the Risk of COVID-19 in Crowded Locations

Collaborative:RAPID: Leveraging New Data Sources to Analyze the Risk of COVID-19 in Crowded Locations Collaborative:RAPID: Leveraging New Data Sources to Analyze the Risk of COVID-19 in Crowded Locations The goal of this proposal is to develop a cyberinfrastructure that will help scientists analyze the risk of COVID-19 and future epidemics in crowded locations using real-time webcam videos and location based services (LBS) data. We will demonstrate its effectiveness by providing insight into fine-scale social mechanisms that drive risk. In contrast to current models that suggest coarse-scale interventions, such as cancellation of all activities that draw crowds, our approach promises fine-tuned interventions that are less disruptive while still yielding social distancing. We will accomplish this by repurposing existing cyberinfrastructures supported by NSF CSSI and SI2 grants. The CSSI tool analyzes infection spread in crowded areas by modeling the walking movement of individuals using pedestrian dynamics to determine social closeness.