With Prime Minister Abe’s long-awaited emergency declaration for Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka yesterday, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan has entered a new phase. As many people have pointed out, these new measures are not a “lockdown” of the sort that has been implemented in many countries around the…
Editorial
COVID-19 testing, putting a face to the numbers
Earlier this week we launched the COVID-19 Testing Map. In only a few days we’ve already received contributions from across Europe, North America and Asia which is already beginning to tell a new piece of the story. Since 2011 we have tried to create a platform that gives some control back to people, so they…
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Making sense of COVID-19 numbers in Japan
Safecast has launched a crowdsourced COVID-19 testing information map. Please check it out and share it! Last week we wrote an article about COVID-19 testing in Japan. We’ve also been publishing an (almost) daily newsletter, which we hope you’ll subscribe to here. For several weeks we’ve been pointing out that it’s difficult to find clear…
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COVID-19 Testing in Japan: The situation and ramifications
Source: VOX Basic COVID-19 testing numbers for Japan as of March 16, 2020: Tested: 13,026* Detected: 1,496 (both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases) Deaths: 24 Sources: Toyokeizai, MHLW, Japan Times, Vox *Note added March 18, 2020: MHLW data gives two sets of testing figures; daily report for Mar 18 now gives 33,212, which is noted…
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Best Practices In Reference To COVID-19
As we observe the global spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus and the responses to it, we can’t help but feel a bit of déjà vu. Since Safecast began in March 2011, we’ve accumulated significant experience and insight about trust, crisis communication, public perception, and what happens when people feel threatened by the lack of reliable…
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An Open Letter, 9 Years of Safecast
Friends, In 2011 I was living with my family in Los Angeles. We lived in a little grey 2 bedroom 1 bath house once occupied by Henry Rollins, an author & musician whose punk rock/DIY ethics & integrity had already played a formative role in my life. In early March I would celebrate my son’s…
Safecasting Fashion
[:en] One of the less obvious uses of open data and open licensing is that things can be used in ways that someone might never consider an option with all the traditional hoops that need to be jumped through. While not specifically related to licensing, Tara’s recent post about using bGeigie logs to generate music…
8 year old bGeigie Builder
[:en] We have a new record: Our youngest bGeigie builder ever! While we’ve organized and helped with many workshops for children future scientists around the world, we usually focus on the science behind community environmental monitoring and very easy and quick kit builds. Building a bGeigie is a serious time and mental commitment that can…
An Open Letter To EPA Employees
We hope this letter finds you well, though after hearing that Republican Representative Matt Goetz of Florida has actually introduced a bill to terminate the EPA completely, we imagine some of you are already dusting off your resumes. That’s only kind of a joke, because we think that what’s happening over there is terrifying both for all of…
Open Data: Now More Than Ever
For those interested in knowing what is in the world around them, the current news is disgusting. All US Environmental Protection Agency grants have been frozen, and employees are being prohibited from discussing the changes or talking to the public. The ban also halts all new contracts and the agency is being told to remove information from it’s website. It’s…