Show HN: A Covid-19 testing location site that a group of us are building

by AndrewKemendo • 6 years ago

305 119 6 years ago

Hi, HN: We saw a need for a site that people could find Covid-19 test locations, so a group of us developers and medical professionals decided to build one. Here's the Ask HN that started the ball rolling a week ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22577979

Over the last week DataDrivenMD and I were able to pull together 15 developers to get this out. The speed that we were able to cobble together a team that can work smoothly, 100% remotely from all different organizations has been amazing. The crisis action team for the state of CA has reached out to see if they can collaborate with us, and we’re doing our best to understand how to work with state and local governments going forward.

Thanks to the fantastic volunteers, we have we were able to refactor early, away from the junk front end I built, to something that we can actually scale on the front and back end. We’re currently struggling with how to scale our collection and updating of test locations as they spring up, and we hope to build an application to allow providers to submit their locations on their own. Right now that whole process is manual, based on manually scraping/validating locations that are publicly stating they are doing testing. If infrastructure existed to identify places that are testing, we would be using it, but it doesn’t as far as we know, so we’re building the communication infrastructure for these test sites as it starts forming.

We’re US only right now but if we can get to a scalable way to collect test location data we can be worldwide.

This is a 100% volunteer effort explicitly for public good. We will not monetize the site, sell access to any resources we have, or in any way monetarily or personally benefit from this project, we have no plans to continue as a group any longer than we need to. No single organization is sponsoring this, and we have credits from GCP and AWS to run our infrastructure so Jorge and I don't go broke!

Please help us: Post in this thread any feedback, suggestions for scaling how we source and verify testing location data (manual currently), or anything you think useful! We’ll be monitoring the thread.

Our code is 100% FOSS: https://github.com/codersagainstcovidorg/covid19testing-map. We're available at @findcovidtest on twitter and contact@codersagainstcovid.org. Thanks!

thesis• 6 years ago

Pretty neat seeing which states have the most testing locations. I'm pretty sure Houston has a few testing locations, but nothing is showing up on the map for me currently.

Just some feedback, this runs pretty slowly for me on my laptop. Is the full screen map necessary? Might be nice to have a Google Maps feel where it has the list on the side of the locations currently in view

AndrewKemendo7• 6 years ago

We need better data sources so if you can help us find them send a note about the locations you know about to:

contact@codersagainstcovid.org

testplzignore• 6 years ago

Echoing what was said about running slowly. On mobile Chrome it is slow but usable. On mobile Firefox it is too slow/janky to use. I appreciate the effort that has gone into this, but I do think it would be good to have an alternative non-map interface without the heavy js. Or figure out how to improve the performance, though that might require swapping out mapbox entirely.

DataDrivenMD7• 6 years ago

Yes - Houston data will be coming soon. It took extra effort to figure out how testing was being coordinated among the TMC hospitals and their community-based partners. Stay tuned for updates - we are pushing data out regularly from this point forward.

g_p• 6 years ago

Nice initiative! Testing seems key to getting control of spread, so anything that can make it easier to get people tested is key. I wonder if there's enough capacity among the testing facilities to signal when they are out of capacity, or severely backlogged on tests, to avoid potentially affected people arriving needlessly?

One technical issue though - I'm seeing a white (blank) page when visiting in Firefox, though it seems to load fine in Chrome.

2 errors in the JS console, in case they help:

TypeError: "navigator.geolocation is undefined" at react-dom.production.min.js:196:194

TypeError: navigator.geolocation is undefined at App.tsx:121:4

AndrewKemendo7• 6 years ago

Thanks! Logged

SquishyPanda232• 6 years ago

so anything that can make it easier to get people tested is key

Unfortunately not necessarily. We are past testing in some areas, and people seeking testing is putting strain on overloaded resources.

See for example:

“Not every single person in the U.S. needs to get tested,” said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “When you go in and get tested, you are consuming personal protective equipment, masks and gowns — those are high priority for the health care workers who are taking care of people who have coronavirus disease.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/21/coronavirus...

oggy2• 6 years ago

Feedback on the website: it's running quite slow for me on Chromium under Linux, especially if there are a lot of locations (for example, unchecking "exclude public health agencies" makes the site very unresponsive). Also, "exclude local public health agencies" is confusing; I'd expect selecting it to show only those that aren't local public health agencies, but it seems to have the opposite effect. Finally, if I click on one of the locations, what I assume to be X-marks are displayed as just rectangles (I guess a missing Unicode symbol in the font on my machine).

Thanks again for making this!

AndrewKemendo7• 6 years ago

Thanks for the feedback. The map is definitely not optimized right now and it's on the fix list

raphlinus2• 6 years ago

Thanks for doing this. Not all heroes wear capes.

MattKelly• 6 years ago

Great to see initiatives like this. However, everyone who can should be using a teledoc and getting instructions before visiting a testing site. Otherwise you're putting healthcare providers and patients in danger (a former colleague drove to multiple stations to try to get tested and he interacted with a bunch of HCPs).

Do you mind making it clear in the tool that someone viewing the site should first contact a teledoc?

joe_the_user2• 6 years ago

I understand that this is how things are now.

But shouldn't an effort be made to make things easier and safer? Imagine a drive-through location with the web address of an intake app over entrance. You do intake with the app in the parking lot and then get cleared to go through. Everything automate and nearly free of human contact.

quickpivot2• 6 years ago

"We saw a need for a site that people could find Covid-19 test locations"

I'm curious what data/feedback you used to conclude this need existed. I haven't seen any news articles that say the bottleneck is knowledge of locations. As many others have pointed out, the issue is with healthcare staff safety, test supplies, etc.

If you end up looking for a pivot, perhaps you could convert this into a map of locations where people could safely donate their excess supplies of masks, etc that they're holding onto unnecessarily. That could contribute to the problem of lack of supplies for healthcare workers.

thanks.

quickpivot2• 6 years ago

here is a drive happening in Austin, Texas:

https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavirus/masks-gloves-and-therm...

denster• 6 years ago

Hi Andrew,

I hope you don't mind, I saw this today and was inspired to build this:

https://tests.covid42.com

I'm planning to extend it with search functionality & an admin interface to help scale the sourcing of new data & validating it at scale.

Would you like to work on this together?

pjc50• 6 years ago

Please check what your local medical advice is on whether you should be getting tested; very few places have surplus testing capacity for the "worried well", so you may be taking it from somewhere it's needed.

maxerickson• 6 years ago

Most places won't run a test for people that don't meet the criteria.

Which I hope the makers here are thinking about how people will behave. I would be tempted to only show places that were basically testing anyone on a map and then provide per state/jurisdiction information about figuring out whether it's worth going somewhere otherwise.

Figuring out where to go to provide a sample is the easy part.

AndrewKemendo7• 6 years ago

Yes, we do.

Most of the locations are by appointment - even that is still hard to get. We need to make that clearer up front so thanks for the feedback both of you.

dillonmckay2• 6 years ago

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

This idea seems like it would only be useful when coupled w a screening app that asks questions, give your temp and O2 oximeter reading, then provide locations, but even then, each county of each state has a completely different protocol for scheduling.

strickjb9• 6 years ago

Agreed. Please get screened first. In Virginia, there are hotlines that you can call first and I'm assuming it is the same in every other state.

LaFolle3• 6 years ago

Really appreciate this guys!

cmiiw, by default the website shows locations which are not public health agencies and "checks patients for symptoms" and if we want to see all locations which provide COVID-19 testing we need to enable (toggle) radio button "Offers COVID-19 testing" in filter which is present in flyout at top left corner. Correct?

DataDrivenMD7• 6 years ago

We were careful not to assume that all public health departments would engage in testing. We manually verified the information, and for those public health agencies that explicitly indicated on their websites or through direct channels that they offered testing we marked them as "offers COVID-19 testing".

That being said, there are many areas of the country where the local, county, and state health departments effectively function as gatekeepers. In those communities, people have no choice but to call their health department and hope for the best. If they meet testing criteria, then they are referred to a testing location or fast-tracked through an existing healthcare provider’s queue.

If nothing else, this site crystallizes the fuzzy image that we all had in mind with respect to testing capacity. The situation is changing all the time, and we expect things to get better. You can help by raising awareness, and asking people you know in the Midwest and Southern states to visit our site and share their on-the-ground knowledge of the situation.

oyebenny• 6 years ago

We need updates on Georgia's (USA) sites bad. Thank you for doing all this.

egonzalesevans• 6 years ago

Emory is on our short list for data entry! We are hoping to get that data shortly. And thanks! :)

AndrewKemendo7• 6 years ago

We need people sourcing data, so if you can help we'll take it. Contact@codersagainstcovid.org

Or you can add a site here that we will validate:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2sCuCrQwEHwi3FLiy...

DataDrivenMD7• 6 years ago

Also want to share that you're not imagining things: best we can tell, those living in Georgia have very few options beyond their health department. Even Emory is limited in its capacity - last I heard they were hoping to be able to get to 400 tests/day by this weekend. We'll add Emory to the site soon. Even so, I encourage those who live in Georgia to share their insight with us by adding testing locations so that we can help others in their community.

We will also continue to research and update the site as new options become available - including home-based testing. We've already heard from a couple of companies in this space, but we're waiting for them to provide us with proof that their test is FDA validated and approved. Once they do that, we'll add their information to the site as well.

oggy2• 6 years ago

Thank you for the work on this.

I have a tangentially related question, hoping that someone knowledgeable can answer. What are the main bottlenecks to scaling testing, in particular in the following stages:

- the supply of virus-specific reagents (primers, perhaps virus-specific reporting probes - are these necessary, or can just generic reporters be used?)

- the supply of other reagents (in case of PCR, polymerase, nucleotide material, buffer)

- the supply of disposable testing equipment. I know that swabs are in short supply for some reason, anything else?

- safety in handling both the samples and the amplified product (can you basically flush the processed sample down the toilet, or do you need to handle it with extreme precautions)

DataDrivenMD7• 6 years ago

Short answer: they have all been bottlenecks thus far. In fact, that's a big reason why testing hasn't improved as rapidly as everyone hoped it would. The biggest bottleneck now is dwindling supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) for those involved in obtaining and handling the test specimens.

40four• 6 years ago

Slow clap ...

This is amazing. Thank guys so much for building something like this. Rapidly building up access to, and information on testing sites is one of the most important things we can do right now.

Our leadership (in the USA) certainly isn’t doing it. I feel like anytime I say we should follow the example of countries who focused on testing, I’m immediately rebuffed with talking points, excuses why it won’t work, or why we should just hide in our house for an undetermined amount of time.

This is one of the best Covid-19 related projects I’ve seen come across the front page. You guys identified one of the most pressing problems, and figured out how to get it done.

Thank you so much!

DataDrivenMD7• 6 years ago

Appreciate the slow clap - would love your help. See Andrew's note to learn about ways to help.

pnw_hazor2• 6 years ago

SK reformed their entire pandemic response in 2015. They were better prepared for Covid-19 because they were better prepared.

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-south-korea-scaled-co...

nerdponx• 6 years ago

But that's the point. Why wasn't the US prepared?

ThomPete• 6 years ago

This is amazing work.

But please don't just go there to check if you have corona unless you have some of the symptoms. Otherwise you are going to flood the already strained system.

certifiedloud• 6 years ago

Is there raw data available somewhere?

DataDrivenMD7• 6 years ago

Yes - all over the place. That was the biggest challenge: sourcing and validating the data. It's also why this is and will continue to be a work in progress: the situation on the ground is dynamic. We need help sourcing and validating data. If you're willing to volunteer, send a note to contact@codersagainstcovid.org

cavisne• 6 years ago

Nice!

I was pleasantly surprised that there is a testing centre 3 blocks from my apartment (i don't know where else I could have found this information).

I also really like this "Unless you are explicitly told otherwise, you MUST complete your self-isolation period - even if your test result is negative for COVID-19." I'm quite concerned by hypochondriac's and general attention seekers spamming the test system, being forced to self-isolate regardless is a perfect deterrent.

souterrain4• 6 years ago

New York City is rationing testing as a measure of lowering healthcare worker exposure and reducing use of limited personal protective equipment supplies.

"If you think you have COVID-19 and your illness is mild, you do not need to see your health care provider and you will not be tested. Getting tested will not change what your provider will tell you to do to get better. They will tell you to stay home so you do not get others sick.

Unless you are hospitalized and a diagnosis will impact your care, you will not be tested. Limiting testing protects health care workers and saves essential medical supplies, such as masks and gloves, that are in short supply."

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/coronavir...

sjg0074• 6 years ago

Are these official state tests or does that include commercial tests?

souterrain4• 6 years ago

I believe the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has regulatory authority over healthcare providers within the City of New York.

Their 2020 Advisory #8 COVID-19 Update for New York City [1] directed towards healthcare providers states in the summary that "Outpatient testing must not be encouraged, promoted or advertised."

Additionally, "To preserve PPE for HCW providing medically necessary care for hospitalized patients, the NYC Health Department is directing healthcare facilities to IMMEDIATELY STOP TESTING NON-HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS FOR COVID-19 unless test results will impact the clinical management of the patient. In addition, do not test asymptomatic people, including HCWs or first responders. COVID-19 testing is only indicated for HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS."

[1] https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/han/advisory/2...

epistasis3• 6 years ago

It is absolutely insane that we are so limited in this capacity, months after we knew we would need it. It is so limited and dire that we are barely able to provide for our own healthcare workers.

I really hope that after this is over, we have the political strength to diagnose the problems and deal with them. However I fear that the current regime will prevent any such correction because of fear that they could blamed, and the extreme dictator-like narcissism that prevents any corrections because it would mean admitting imperfection.

ghufran_syed• 6 years ago

So how long should it take to be able to create a reliable, sensitive and specific test , and then produce millions of such tests, for a virus which didn't exist in humans until 3-4 months ago?

sailfast• 6 years ago

as a measure of lowering healthcare worker exposure and reducing use of limited personal protective equipment supplies.

It's not about test availability, but rather exposure of healthcare workers and use of PPE. If you're already in the hospital people will be wearing PPE if they can get it.

Now that NY has gotten to this point PPE seems to be the bottleneck.

marcosdumay• 6 years ago

Honestly, it's amazing that we can do so much about a virus that didn't even exist 5 months ago. The tech angle of the history feels like an Start Trek episode.

CivBase4• 6 years ago

I'm not so sure it's a huge issue. Like OP's quote says, testing wont change what you need to do to get better. You will be told to take the same actions regardless of if it's coronavirus, flu, or common cold. Even if we had unlimited tests, I would rather our medical professionals be focused on treating those who need it instead of testing those who only have mild symptoms.

knubie• 6 years ago

1. According to Gov. Cuomo [0] New York is now testing more per capita than any place else including China or South Korea.

2. This comment [1] illuminates a bit the point about not getting tested by your healthcare provider.

[0] Around 11:30 https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/coronavirus-blog/2020/0...

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/comments/fmb6p5/just_had_a_sobe...

noelsusman• 6 years ago

It's about PPE. The time for testing was February. That ship has sailed. The disruptions to supply from Asia combined with the massive increase in demand in the US have resulted in widespread shortages of essential equipment.

If you're not sick enough to need hospitalization then don't go force somebody to waste PPE to tell you to go home and stay hydrated.

LaFolle3• 6 years ago

Thanks souterrain for the info.

On a side note, out of curiosity, would you happen to know how much the test costs in US?

souterrain4• 6 years ago

Not sure, but Medicare (the U.S. federal public healthcare system which covers older patients and some others) will reimburse approximately $35 - $50 per test.

https://www.cms.gov/files/document/mac-covid-19-test-pricing...

Shinobi881• 6 years ago

I think the strategy has shifted in terms of just trying to get people tested. It's a pandemic. Now, we're just trying to figure out how make sure the health system can serve those who really need it.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-20/coronavi...

sjg0074• 6 years ago

Sweet Google map.

dumbfounder• 6 years ago

Try to get the attention of these guys: https://www.mercatus.org/features/mercatus-launches-prize-fu...

squidarth• 6 years ago

Hey, this is awesome! Just a heads up that Greenwich, CT is labeled as Los Angeles on the map, not sure if other cities are mislabeled too.

samfisher83• 6 years ago

Some places they are not revealing the location of the testing as they are getting overwhelmed.

keithnz• 6 years ago

Out of interest

In the US, how much help is testing now other than to sample the population to get an idea of the spread?

Would it not be more interesting to know how well people are self isolating? Finding out where the message isn't getting through?

pkalinowski2• 6 years ago

Nice! He're in Poland government _forbids_ taking virus tests. Private companies have plenty of them, but are unable to even give them to hospitals. Ministry of Health forbids hospitals from taking more than X tests per day, so even if somebody has symptoms they need to wait till morning among other patients.

mkl• 6 years ago

What is the logic behind that?

pkalinowski2• 6 years ago

Propaganda. No tests = no virus

idreyn• 6 years ago

Clicking to zoom is giving me a React-style white screen of death and the error "bearing is required for transition". FF/Chrome latest, macOS 10.14.6

droidist2• 6 years ago

Surprised Alaska has so many! Is there a reason there's so many there?

soared• 6 years ago

Why not just make a google map with pins?

cachvico• 6 years ago

I this this may be doing more harm than good. The test centers are a stretched resource at the moment.

People need to call their local non-emergency line for instructions if they have symptoms.

This map is incomplete by your own admission, which makes it practically misinformation.

We don't need guerrilla tactics in this war.

forkexec• 6 years ago

Wasn't Verily supposed to do this, or are they moving too slowly?

Edit: This item's page doesn't work on iPad. After three seconds, the page freezes.

toohotatopic• 6 years ago

How about collecting the price of the test, the expected waiting time and the type of the test?

When I need to be tested, I don't want to phone several providers but I want to find the closest free slot for a test that suits my needs. E.g. if I don't have symptoms, I cannot use an antibody test.

azernik• 6 years ago

Thanks so much for putting this together!

It is insane that this is not being done by the government, and that it's left to random coders to throw this together in their free time.

bathtub3652• 6 years ago

People should be following the instructions of the health authority in their area instead of blindly going to a testing location they see on this website.

ycf00f• 6 years ago

Please make sure to publicize and somehow show evidence that you're NOT that other site: Oscar Health's "free covid19 risk assessment" & testing locator.

Oscar was started by Jared K, (tRUMP's S-I-L). Visitors of their site (at hioscar-dot-com-slash-covid19) are given a "free" assessment and referral to a testing center. So far so good, right?

In the back end, a "service fee" is charged to the Fed Govt for each person that uses the system. Being that Jared's in the family, there's no doubt that Oscar will get paid everything it asks for.

Show HN: A Covid-19 testing location site that a group of us are building

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