A new tool from scientists at UT helps predict what will happen next with the coronavirus.
Researchers created a model of the virus and then plugged in certain numbers and assumptions that help stay ahead of COVID-19
Scientists say each of us could use this new tool in our daily lives.
Take "Diane" for instance. She didn't give her last name, but we talked to her in March at the Waco Target store.
She seemed well-prepared for the coronavirus.
"I am double-masked, I'm over 60, I've got parents I would have to take care of if something should happen to them, and so I don't want to take any chances at this point," she said.
Indeed, now she and the rest of us have a new tool to help us in our personal fights against COVID-19 thanks to researchers at UT Austin.
The new tool shows where we stand against coronavirus and predicts where we're headed up to three weeks out.
"You can compare what's happening today to what happened a few weeks ago. And we hope that allows everyone, to make informed decisions," said Dr. Spencer Fox, Associate Director of the UT COVID-19 Modeling Consortium.
He says you can almost think of the UT COVID dashboard as a kind of hurricane forecast.
Just as forecasters plot so-called spaghetti tracks for the storm, so does the UT COVID model.
"The difference between, you know, COVID forecasting or disease forecasting and hurricane forecasting is, you know, we have the ability to actually change the forecasts," he wisely noted.
That's how the UT model can help. If we see things might get worse, we can take extra protective steps.
But researchers warn us not to let our guard down just because the model might show things getting better.
"I hope that everyone's taking as many precautions as possible but maybe if you see things are trending in the wrong direction, you make a decision to stay home or take extra precautions that day," he said.
Or in Diane's case, take extra steps to protect her elderly parents. She knows we all have to stay vigilant to beat the coronavirus.
"I think we've all got to stick together on this, and everybody's got to be neighborly and do what they can for the other because that's the only way we're gonna get through this," she told us.
UT researchers hope their model helps us make better decisions as to our virus protection.
