Washington – We are coming out of one of the worst flu seasons in the US in years.
As of mid-February, flu activity in the US had been elevated for 13 consecutive weeks (an average flu season lasts about 13 weeks; it is expected this year’s will go longer), according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There had been 86 pediatric deaths, and record numbers of seniors were hospitalized for the illness.
As many of us know firsthand, this year’s vaccine was only 23 percent effective. So what are we to do?
The developers of Sickweather would have you turn to your phone for warnings about outbreaks of flu and other illnesses. Calling itself the “world’s first Doppler radar for sickness,” Sickweather offers you illness maps instead of weather maps.
Depending on which option you select, you can see maps for grouped illnesses, such as gastrointestinal ailments (under which they list stomach virus and norovirus). Or, you can look at maps of individual illnesses, such as bronchitis, chicken pox or “man flu” (seriously).
Open a grouped or individual illness map, and a little blue cloud-shaped “Sick” bubble floats down to mark each report. If you’re on a grouped illness map, clicking on the bubble reveals which illness was reported; you can open a helpful info button if you don’t know what, say, RSV means (respiratory syncytial virus; can cause complications in small children).
Individual users can report an illness through the app and generate their own clouds; other data comes through Facebook and Twitter. Zoom out and you can see a map for the whole nation.
There are a few problems with the map: It can be hard to glimpse the clouds among all the red Walgreens logos that also float down, and the ads along the bottom are distracting.
But the bigger problem, of course, is that the spotty citings are heavily dependent on crowdsourcing. I’m not sure how helpful it is for me to know that a handful of people near my home or office have reported an illness.
Are we going to cross paths? Do they really have allergies instead of a bug? Or worse, what if they have colds instead of the allergy reported? Can self-reporters accurately diagnose a sore throat rather than strep? And what about those who haven’t reported?
Perhaps the worst thing about the app are the campy “alerts” it sends out: “Attention! You’re near a cough report. Swipe for your local Walgreens to find cough relief – Fast!”
I can imagine cases in which Sickweather might be helpful: If you have a health-compromised family member and everyone in your town cooperates and no one ever visits from the outside.
I don’t think that’s very likely. But, like the real weather, it does give one something to talk about.
STATS
Cost: Free
Operating system: iOS and Android
Creator: Sickweather LLC
User ratings: Apple, three out of five stars (107 ratings); Google Play, 3½ out of four stars (510 ratings)
Bottom line : View this app with a dose of skepticism.
Washington Post-Bloomberg