The COVID-19 – the virus that hit the wet market of Wuhan in China in December 2019, has taken the world by storm. Within months, it spread to more than 180 countries around the world. As we enter into a phase where vaccines are now available, but the spread is still infecting people, we question ourselves, what are the chances of getting the coronavirus now?
Well, this question may seem very simple to answer. However, the answer to this question is much more complicated than what we would have expected. If you want to know an answer to this, read this article in full to know what the experts have to say about what are the chances of getting the coronavirus.
What does Ph.D. in biostatistics have to say?
An Assistant Professor for Biostatistics at the University of Florida, Natalie E.Dean claims that it is a complex question. Explaining her answer, she elaborated, the chance to get infected with the COVID-19 depends on multiple factors. It includes your location, age, occupation, if you have a chronic illness or not, etc. Moreover, she also believes, the perfect answer to this question can only be sought out if we also consider the future course i.e., if the restrictions will get tougher with the passage of time or they will get relaxed.
Apart from Natalie, Susan Holmes, Professor of Statistics at Stanford University, believes that it will become easier to estimate the chances of getting the coronavirus if one looks at the rate of positive cases in one’s area. The statistics could help to determine if it is safe to go out shopping or travel in public transport or not.
Other than what experts have to say, you have another way to know what are the chances of getting the coronavirus.
Use Risk Calculators
Thanks to the era that we live in, we now have different applications that can help us find out about the chances of getting affected by the coronavirus. The engineers have developed applications that inform us about the risk of going to an event or an occasion, and what are the chances of getting infected with the virus there.
How does the application work?
We have mentioned about an application that helps to determine the chances of at least one COVID-19 positive person present in the gathering. Stanford University and the Georgia Institute of Technology partnered up to develop this amazing application.
Here is how this application will give you an answer to what are the chances of getting the coronavirus. Let’s say, if you are going to a function in Los Angeles. There are 50 people attending the event. The chances for a person being coronavirus positive will be 69%. Whereas if you decrease the number of people to 15, that number will go down to 29%.
You see, how a gathering with more people means more chances of contracting the virus, and this is only the first step to enter the transmission chain.
Conclusion
Now you know how to determine what are the chances to get the coronavirus. Whatever your chances of contracting the virus are, you must ensure that you stay safe. The reason being, this virus is new and affects different people in different ways. For some, it is nothing more than the flu, and for some it becomes fatal. Therefore, you must always follow the precautionary measures as per the WHO guidelines.
