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Unlike data released by the federal or state government, Facebook is releasing potential COVID-19 trends at the county level.

BUFFALO, N.Y. Every day we are inundated with data as it pertains to COVID-19. Whether it be state or federal data even county data but the data released on a daily basis only paints the picture of what has happened and doesn't necessarily speak to what may happen.

Facebook, along with partners at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Maryland, and many more, are using artificial intelligence, aggregated mobility statistics, and user surveys to forecast future COVID-19 trends.

"Our AI forecast is really just using artificial intelligence to predict what COVID-19 will look like two weeks out using both this information from public health systems," said Laura McGorman, public policy manager at Data For Good, a program spearheaded by Facebook.

McGorman says that Facebook uses readily available public health data as part of its AI-powered forecasting. The big question you probably have; however, is Facebook and its partners looking at your profile information to see if you went to Aunt Ginny's at Thanksgiving in order to lump you into their forecast?

The answer is no, not by default at least.

"It's completely separate, the Data For Good program takes sort of user control very seriously," McGorman said. "In the case of the mobility statistics that we generate for COVID-19, that's only being generated from people who choose to share their location information with Facebook when they use the app on their phone."

If you opt in to sharing your location while using the Facebook app, the app will track you. By tracking you Facebook will know if you're in a particular area that has seen recent spikes in COVID-19 cases. This information is only part of the complete picture that Facebook's AI is trying to paint.

"We train this model alongside 15 other forecasts," McGorman said. "On average, at a county level on a daily basis, we were within about 20 or so cases from the actual number."

Facebook is releasing this data in conjunction with the Humanitarian Data Exchange and Direct Relief.

The dashboard, updated multiple times a day, allows uses to look at the two-week forecast for each county in the United States. According to McGorman, this allows local leaders to analyze the data to make decisions on responding to spikes, and what the future may hold.

"What we're able to offer Erie County is a view into their county in particular," McGorman said. "In terms of what case count is going to look like over the next two weeks, we are trying to be more detailed than the average forecast here."

2 On Your Side reached out to four Department of Health offices in Western New York. None of them knew about this tool, the data it contained or didn't respond to our inquiry.

Read more here:
Facebook, other partners using artificial intelligence to forecast future COVID-19 trends - WGRZ.com