Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency and the CDC has already announced a flu epidemic, so it's about time to get that flu shot if you haven't already. Even if you've have, there's another way to avoid getting sick in the near future—avoid infected areas. To make this easier, the Germ Tracker app has been created.
Germ Tracker collects data from social media outlets such as Twitter by targeting keywords like "sick" to highlight infected areas around the country, including San Francisco and Boston in addition to New York. Though data is reportedly imperfect due to the various uses of a word like "sick," users can adjust the data to determine who's actually sick based on color markings of red, yellow, orange and green.
As of Friday evening, the New York Post determined that Hell's Kitchen, the Upper West Side and East Harlem were home to the "most flu-like symptoms in Manhattan." Other potentially dangerous neighborhoods include the East Village, Elmhurst and Carroll Gardens.
[via Gothamist]
