Monitoring Illnesses during and after Hurricane Florence

As Hurricane Florence threatens a large portion of the East Coast, preparations are in full swing to ensure the safety of people affected by the storm and its aftermath. One often overlooked factor is illnesses, which occur when people are exposed to contaminated water or spoiled food as homes lose power. Other worries include infected wounds in people lacking medical care and rapid spreading of common infectious diseases within shelters. Post-storm concerns continue as clean up puts people in contact with floodwater, the possible increase in mosquito breeding (then spreading West Nile and Zika) and the increase in mold spores in houses increasing respiratory conditions. Sickweather® is a hyper-local illness tracking app, which provides real-time data about illnesses trending in a highly specific area. Just as Doppler radar scans the skies for indicators of bad weather, Sickweather’s algorithm scans social networks and third party data sources for indicators of illness, allowing people to check for the chance of sickness as easily as you can check for the chance of rain. During situations such as hurricanes where people are displaced and seeking shelter in unfamiliar locations, Sickweather can be a valuable tool to help increase awareness of the illnesses around you to minimize your exposure. There is even a function for creating a “Group”, which could be an evacuation shelter, where people can anonymously report health-related activities in that area. The Sickweather app is free and available for download at http://sick.io/ios for iOS and http://sick.io/android for Android. Sickweather is the world’s first real-time map of sickness and the largest crowdsourcing community of its kind, processing millions of illness reports each month. The company has been recognized for accurately forecasting outbreaks up to 15 weeks in advance. Sickweather is committed to providing consumers and businesses the most accurate, predictive and meaningful sickness forecasts in the world, for reducing healthcare costs and saving lives. For more information, visit www.sickweather.com