As the public waits for the COVID vaccine to become more widely available, the best strategy for avoiding the virus is obviously by limiting one’s exposure to it.

To help facilitate that goal, the Dallas-based Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) has released an app that uses machine learning and real-time data to measure COVID-19 exposure risk in Dallas County residents.

“Proximity continues to remain one of the most important factors in pandemic management and personal protection,” said Steve Miff, PhD, PCCI’s President and CEO, in unveiling the new app.

“While we wait to receive a vaccine, we can control our own risk of exposure and help bend the curve. The MyPCI App is a simple to use tool that will give you an understanding of the COVID-19 risks in your vicinity and reinforce the need for social distancing, face covering and hand washing.”

Free to register and use, the app will aim to help individuals make more informed choices by providing on-demand, location-based personal risk assessment of potential COVID-19 exposure. The app also doesn’t require personal health information or track an individual’s mobile phone data.

Powered by a machine learning algorithm, as well as geomapping and hot-spotting technology, the app uses daily updated data from the Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) on confirmed positive COVID-19 cases and the population density in a given neighborhood.

Based on density and distances to those who are infected nearby, MyPCI produces a personal risk score.

“We have been pleased throughout this pandemic to be partnering with PCCI so that we can use their cutting-edge technology and data applications to address COVID-19,” said Dr. Philip Huang, MD, MPH, Director of Health and Human Services for Dallas County.

“This latest tool is another example of how Dallas County benefits from the tremendous resources and partnerships we have here.”

Once users register, they will provide individual location information that the tool will use only to generate a risk assessment, and they can login daily and the app will provide a COVID-19 personal risk level score, along with information to help individuals make informed decisions about how to manage risk.

According to PCCI, data analyses from over 500,000 Parkland patients indicate that an individual with very high or high proximity index had a seven times higher risk of getting infected.

“I am pleased that PCCI is making this service available to the public, as it uses the same tool which has helped us at Parkland better care for the Dallas County community by providing important information that indicates one’s risk for developing COVID,” said Brett Moran, MD, Chief Medical Informatics Officer for Parkland.