CovidTesting

Inspiration

COVID-19 has had a large negative impact on the United States. The civilian life, economy, and health of American citizens and businesses have suffered due to the risks posed by the coronavirus. Many citizens in our community are not, however, aware of these risks and do not have access to proper information about the virus. Through CovidTesting, we attempt to bridge this information gap by providing a comprehensive dashboard that provides users with locations of COVID-19 testing sites, basic safety guidelines, as well as a preliminary survey users can use to gauge their condition.

What it does

CovidTesting provides users with a source of information extremely useful in taking action against the COVID-19. Users can educate themselves of the current state of the pandemic in the United States and what guidelines they should follow to stay safe during the pandemic. Users can also gauge their current condition by taking an interactive survey, after which they can easily look for convenient testing center locations if they wish to confirm whether they have the infection or not.

How I built it

We built this website using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Python. The website used the Google Maps JS API along with the Google Geocoder API. A text database of COVID-19 testing centers was geocoded and placed into the map as markers.

Challenges I ran into

Geocoding and placing markers on the map posed the greatest difficulty in the project. The API limited the number of markers that could be placed on the map to no more than 11. Also, although we have not completed this aspect of the project yet, we are working on making a web server which can take user input and can act as a platform that allows users to donate PPE and essential supplies to healthcare professionals that need the resources. This is posing some challenges, which we plan on overcoming for future versions.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

We were able to overcome the challenge of the Maps API only allowing 11 markers at maximum at a time. We were able to do this by using Python to iteratively query the Geocoder API with location data (e.g. 1110 Brown Rd, CA). The Python script used this location data returned an array of objects which contained the latitude, longitude, and relevant information.

What I learned

We learned that, although we may be limited in our ability to work during quarantine, web development can act as an effective way in which we can contribute to the well-being of society. As beginner web developers, we were also able to overcome the intimidation that comes with learning new kinds of programming and development. We hope to preserve and amplify this momentum and continue working on making our project better and multi-functional.

What's next for CovidTesting

We envision CovidTesting to be a complete dashboard that patients, healthcare professionals, and the general public can use for their educational and diagnostic needs. For this reason, our main next-step in our project is to build a platform in which users can post and claim resources such as PPE and sanitary items. Another thing we will simultaneously focus on is improving the aesthetic of the website. Next, we may develop a React frontend, which may provide an improved user experience, especially for mobile users.