Unless continuous testing of people is being done, it’s hard to predict where a COVID-19 cluster can popup. This is because of the virus’ incubation time which is said to be around 14 days, meaning that anyone could be walking around for two weeks while being infected without necessarily knowing about it.However, Facebook thinks that they might be able to help by using AI to help forecast the spread of the virus. According to the company, “COVID-19 has advanced rapidly and unpredictably, stifling reopening plans in some states and introducing new hotspots in others.”
“This potential for resurgence underscores the need for better understanding of the disease’s progression geographically. Building on our commitment to help keep people safe and informed about the virus, we are publishing new AI-powered forecasts that predict the spread of COVID-19 across the entire United States at the county level.”
By using AI to forecast the spread, Facebook is hoping that maybe it can give places time to prepare themselves and put measures into place to deal with it if and when it happens. For now, this AI tool will be used in the US. We’re not sure if there are plans to eventually expand this feature to other parts of the world that are similarly dealing with outbreaks of their own, but it will be interesting to see how this pans out.
Filed in . Read more about AI (Artificial Intelligence), Coronavirus, Covid-19 and Facebook. Source: ai.facebook