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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Coronavirus Spurs New Interest in Citizen Science Projects

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Wednesday, June 10, 2020   

RALEIGH, N.C. -- More people are showing interest in citizen science projects to help shed light on the novel coronavirus and the ways it spreads within communities.

Calvin Cupini, citizen science manager for Clean Air Carolina, said crowd-sourcing projects have been a critical source of data on air pollution, especially in marginalized communities. He said several ongoing projects allow individuals to report their COVID symptoms in real time.

"One of the most interesting I find is called COVID Near You," he said. "It's actually an adaptation of an app called Flu Near You, which had the express intent of crowdsourcing people's flu symptoms to get a better understanding of where flu seasons were impacting the most people."

He also mentioned FoldIt, a free puzzle-solving game that allows users to help researchers discover new antiviral drugs that might have the potential to stop the coronavirus. For a list of citizen science resources related to the pandemic, look online at citizenscience.org.

Cupini said he believes citizen science efforts can also impact environmental justice and health equity. He noted that the Covid Racial Data Tracker was launched by journalists at The Atlantic as data emerged to indicate the coronavirus disproportionately was affecting people of color.

"I think each of us now thinks a lot more like a scientist," he said. "People care about what would otherwise be very complicated, epidemiological topics."

He added that, to date, crowd-sourcing projects also have been used to funnel donations of personal protective equipment to local hospitals and to combat misinformation about COVID-19.

COVID Near You is online at covidnearyou.org, FoldIt is at fold.it, the COVID Racial Data Tracker is at covidtracking.com/race, PPE Crowdsourcing is at coda.io, and the COVID Misinformation Tracking Center is at newsguardtech.com.

Disclosure: Clean Air Carolina contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Energy Policy, Environment and Environmental Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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