Much as we used to look at how many people were googling the symptoms of influenza to follow influenza across the USA (ok, that didn’t end well, but those mistakes have now been ironed out), so perhaps we can look at other web trends to track Covid. This one uses bad reviews for scented candles on Amazon to provide when one person calls:
Here are some bad reviews for scented candles on Amazon:
The thing is – if you don’t get it (and many commenters didn’t) – the lack of smell associated with having a Covid infection. So track the bad reviews and maybe you can track the Covid.
One individual with an interest in statistics pointed out that the figures always peaks at this time of year – probably because many people get scented (or unscented) candles as gifts at that time of year or they are buying them to make their festive house smell (or not smell) nice for the holidays.
But if that was the case, where is the peak from Christmas 2019 going into 2020, when notably, there was no Covid in the US?
So maybe it needs to be America’s most robust COVID and Christmas data tracking system.
But then here’s another look at those same data, but plotted as a percentage of reviews, rather than an absolute count.
Again, no peak at the left hand side. But a little one in June 2020, another (as we know) at Christmas last year, and an upturn from August 2021 to the present day.
And here’s a graph of new cases in the US.
Of course, correlation is not causation. But as a starting point for a nice, fun little study on different ways to track Covid, this seems to fit quite nicely.
And why would this be useful instead of looking at the actual Covid-19 data? Well, because that latter option relies on people actually creating those data in the first place. And these are Americans:
Er… you go and have a Covid test.
In fact, even if you have a good sense of smell, if you think you might have Covid, going and having a Covid test still ranks as Number 1 in the best ways to tell if you have Covid.
Not that anyone would tell you differently. Oh wait.
Er… I’m not sure that would…
I… but… what if…
Ah Jesus.
Yes. Yes. This is it.
Keeping rotten food in your fridge is definitely the best way to tell if you have Covid.
It’s also a great predictor of whether you are going to have food poisoning.
Two birds, one very stupid stone.