Nashville Data Company Predicts Areas in Middle Tennessee Most Vulnerable to 2nd Wave
A Nashville-based AI healthcare company predicts a second wave of COVID-19 infections is most-likely in counties near major Tennessee cities.
Decode Health creates software for healthcare companies aimed at identifying diseases and creating data analytics. The company has released a map of counties in the state showing where they believe people are most at-risk of being hospitalized and/or dying from COVID-19.
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A Nashville-based AI healthcare company predicts a second wave of COVID-19 infections is most-likely in counties near major Tennessee cities.
Decode Health creates software for healthcare companies aimed at identifying diseases and creating data analytics. The company has released a map of counties in the state showing where they believe people are most at-risk of being hospitalized and/or dying from COVID-19.
According to their data, counties most vulnerable in middle Tennessee include Davidson, Sumner, Robertson, Montgomery, Wilson, Rutherford, Williamson, Bedford, and Maury counties.
The data compiled by the company found certain social determinants of health features such as county demographics, socioeconomic status, food insecurity, chronic disease rates, and challenges accessing healthcare contribute to the vulnerability of counties.
FOX 17 News spoke with Chase Spurlock, PhD. and Julia Polk, the founder and co-founder of Decode Health, respectively. Spurlock says the data used to compile the map is both proprietary and public sourced from local, state, and federal agencies. “We are trying to get an evolving picture of which counties are at-risk by combining that county data with social detriments,” Spurlock says. Polk added now that the Tennessee Department of Health is allowing the public to see specifics, it also allows for better modeling. “We have enough data now to really assess the changes tha occur as reopening takes place and we can do it faster,” Polk says.
The company has been developing the models for each state nationwide, making presentations to a variety of local and state officials. Spurlock says by being able to look at Tennessee’s neighboring state data it can also help local policy makers in decision making. Spurlock and Polk say the next phase of their work will be drilling trends down to the community and even neighborhood level.
