What is the microCOVID project?

This is a project to quantitatively estimate the COVID risk to you from your ordinary daily activities.

We trawled the scientific literature for data about the likelihood of getting COVID from different situations, and combined the data into a model that people can use. We estimate COVID risk in units of microCOVIDs, where 1 microCOVID = a one-in-a-million chance of getting COVID.

We want to help as many people as possible feel more empowered to make decisions around COVID risk by helping them understand how COVID is transmitted. We hope this tool will help hone your intuition, lower your stress levels, and figure out good harm-reduction strategies.

Who are we?

We are a group of community conscious, numerically-minded volunteers. Our project has no funding from any institutionā€”scientific, government, or private. For a list of contributors, see the White Paper.

Disclosure of Affiliations

This project is a purely personal project by volunteers, NOT affiliated with any institution or employer. We do not speak for our affiliates or employers; all statements in this project reflect our own personal views. In the interest of full disclosure: our contributors are affiliated with or employed by organizations including One Medical, Massachusetts General Hospital, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Google, Matterport, Omada Health, Open Philanthropy Project, Hudson River Trading, Academy for Coaching Excellence, and Shapr3D.

Where do I start?

This website contains three outputs of our investigation:

  • a calculator that you can use to calculate your COVID risk
  • a white paper that explains our estimation method
  • and a Risk Tracker to compute your COVID risk in more detail and to track your risk over time.

You should start with either the calculator or the white paper.

Donations

We also welcome donations and tips, if you feel so moved. No pressure, truly. Thank you in advance!