Check out our latest Retro Report #LessonsFromHistory twitter thread.
1/ @Kinsa says data it is collecting from its internet-connected thermometers may be able to map outbreaks of #COVID19. Plotting disease outbreaks on a map has a long #history, and started with cholera.
1/ @Kinsa says data it is collecting from its internet-connected thermometers may be able to map outbreaks of #COVID19. Plotting disease outbreaks on a map has a long #history, and started with cholera.
2/ Today, investigators use maps to pinpoint the origin of diseases, track animal migration, and even to solve crimes. The idea goes back to a map drawn in London in 1854 by a doctor named John Snow.
3/ By plotting cholera deaths on a map, Dr. Snow noticed that many were concentrated around a city well on Broad Street.
4/ He convinced city officials to remove the well’s pump handle. Almost immediately, the spread of cholera began to slow. Read more in @RetroReport’s newsletter: bit.ly/ghostmap
5/ Today, more than a million US households own a smart thermometer sold by @Kinsa. The company can record a fever almost as soon as a user takes a temperature.
6/ Because fever is a common #COVID19 symptom, smart thermometers are being considered as a way to track the coronavirus. Kinsa is using its data to map influenza-like illness: healthweather.us
