A newly peer-reviewed online tool allows people to assess the risk of going out to a restaurant, a bar or a dinner party during the pandemic. And the numbers across our region don’t look good.
If you're going to a bar in Boise, Idaho or Reno, Nevada, there’s about a 50/50 chance someone carrying COVID–19 is going too. Your odds are even worse in Laramie, Wyoming and Bozeman, Montana.
That’s according to a realtime COVID–19 risk assessment tool developed by a group of university researchers, including Mallory Harris of Stanford University.
She compares to a weather forecast that tells you the percentage chance it will rain.
“In that same sort of spirit we’re showing you the risk that someone where you are has COVID," Harris said. "But that’s not the same as the risk that you get sick and if you see that the risk is high where you are there are things you can do whether it’s wearing a mask or going outside or moving the event to be online.”
The tool was peer-reviewed in the scientific journal Nature earlier this month.
