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SUMMARY:Assisting in the response to the COVID19 pandemic using internet d
 ata\, Dr Elad Yom-Tov - MSR Cambridge\, Lecture Series - Dr Elad Yom-Tov\,
  Microsoft Research
DTSTART:20220509T100000Z
DTEND:20220509T110000Z
UID:TALK172637@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Microsoft Research Cambridge Talks Admins
DESCRIPTION:Research since 2006 has shown that internet data\, including s
 earch engine queries\, social media\, and ads\, can be used to assess the 
 incidence of different diseases. Thus\, when COVID19 began\, it was natura
 l to try and apply the tools that were developed to track influenza-like i
 llnesses from internet data to this novel pathogen. However\, COVID19 pres
 ented several unforeseen challenges\, ranging from the novelty of symptoms
  to the reaction of people and governments to its spread. \nTwo years into
  the pandemic I will try to summarize some of the benefits that internet d
 ata and its analysis provided to health authorities and to people\, the ch
 allenges faced by practitioners (especially at the beginning of the pandem
 ic) and some of the lessons that might be applied in case of a future pand
 emic. \n\nI will exemplify these lessons from three of our projects. The f
 irst provided the UK’s Health Security Agency with weekly reports on ind
 ications for COVID19 anomalies at regional levels in England. The second p
 roject used advertising in North America during the very early stages of t
 he pandemic to help people decide if they should seek medical attention fo
 r COVID19. Data collected during this effort has possibly uncovered an ear
 ly wave of the pandemic in the USA. Finally\, I will discuss a project whe
 re advertising\, together with the Microsoft Health Bot\, helped people in
  Israel decide if they should seek emergency care for COVID19 and provided
  data which allowed us to predict hospitalizations with a lead time of 9 d
 ays.\n
LOCATION:Auditorium\, Microsoft Research Ltd\, 21 Station Road\, Cambridge
 \, CB1 2FB
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