South African website lets you measure your COVID-19 risk

A South African website called COVID Checkup, founded by two local fintech entrepreneurs, lets you measure your mortality risk and screen for COVID-19.

The site, started by entrepreneurs Wayne Zwiers and Pramod Mohanlal, uses algorithms and data from peer-reviewed scientific journals to provide probability-based risk assessments.

The website has two separate tools — a COVID-19 screening tool and a mortality risk tool.

The screening tool looks at any symptoms you may be experiencing. These include aches and pain, fever, sore throat, and more.

It also asks whether you have family members with symptoms.

Once you check the symptoms on the list, it delivers the likelihood that you have COVID-19. However, it also notes most people who test positive for COVID-19 are actually asymptomatic.

For the mortality risk assessment, the questionnaire asks for your sex, date of birth, height, and weight.

It also asks whether you have any of the following comorbidities: coronary heart, respiratory, chronic hypertension, diabetes, or cancer (last two years). Finally, it asks whether you smoke and if you do smoke, for how long you have been smoking.

Based off of this information, the site delivers the likelihood that you could develop fatal complications from COVID-19.

Why doesn’t the risk assessment have more co-morbidities?

We reached out to the creators to find out a bit more about the tool — including why it doesn’t differentiate certain respiratory conditions (e.g. asthma versus cystic fibrosis) or include auto-immune disorders.

According to the creators, this is based on the data that is available.

“The risk algorithms use Odds Ratios published in scientific journals. We are not aware of any studies, or published papers where auto-immune disorders have been classified as a risk factor for mortality from COVID-19,” an emailed comment said.

Conditions like asthma and other respiratory illnesses are all grouped together under the respiratory category.

As more data and studies become available, the algorithm will be updated.

How to use the COVID-19 risk assessment site

To try out the tool, you can head on over to covidcheckup.co.za.

The website says that all data is kept anonymous. But we recommend using your browser in private browsing or incognito mode with third-party cookies disabled to add an extra layer of privacy.

Feature image: CovidCheckup.co.za

Read more: Cape Town urges residents to use online services during COVID-19 second wave