We’re in kind of a precarious spot in Los Angeles right now. On the one hand, the state’s stay-at-home order has been lifted, vaccinations are slowly but surely increasing and the daily number of coronavirus cases is sharply dropping. But at the same time, thousands of people in the county are still becoming infected each day, there’s a looming threat of more contagious virus variants and with gathering-prone events like the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day on the horizon, we could easily slip back into a scenario where hospitals are once again overloaded (at which point, Public Health has made clear they’d reimplement some restrictions).
All of this is to say: How well you’re able to wear a mask, distance from other people and avoid crowds could easily nudge things one way or the other for both yourself and fellow Angelenos—and the city now has a tool that lets you know how good of a job you’re doing.
The anonymous risk survey CV19 CheckUp comes from tech company BellAge in partnership with the L.A.’s Department of Aging—but don’t let that geriatric affiliation fool you, CV19 CheckUp is just as useful across all age groups.
Here’s how it works: Over the course of a five-minute-or-so survey, you’ll answer some basic questions about your living situation, any chronic health issues and your out-of-house habits. Then, on a color-coded scale, it’ll let you know your risk level of giving or getting Covid-19 based on your behaviors (basically how well you adhere to social distancing guidelines), the places you visit and how many people you’re seeing (that last one also factors in the current case levels where you live, so expect even small numbers of close contacts to have a high risk attached to them in L.A. right now. Finally, it’ll use your demographic and background info to calculate how likely you are to be hospitalized or not survive if you were to get sick from Covid-19.
Is it all an exact science? No: The final report clearly says it’s not medical advice. But it can be an eye-opener that you’re more of a pandemic risk-taker than you might have thought (or that you’re being perfectly safe, in which case, pat yourself on the back and order some more takeout).