
COVID-19: Monitoring The Global Slowdown
Since the first cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported in China’s city of Wuhan in December 2019, the virus has spread throughout the world and — as of the writing of this article — infected over 1.5 million people, killing at least 94,000 of them. In a March 16 press conference, the Director General of the World Health Organization called the COVID-19 pandemic “the defining global health crisis of our time.”
As the first country affected by the outbreak, China was also the first to implement the social distancing measures that have since become part of everyday life for an increasing percentage of the world’s population. While these measures vary in severity, enforcement, and compliance depending on the region, they have all led to a marked decrease in outdoor human activities. From air travel to outdoor markets, the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced how far, how often, and where we travel.
Some of this reduction in human activity can be observed and measured using open source tools. Previously, we outlined some of the open source tools that you can use to investigate COVID-19 dis/misinformation. In this article, we will use some of these same open source tools to explore how the pandemic has ground much of the world to a halt. Even from the confines of your home, you can freely explore what the world looks like now. Take a moment to look around and observe the global slowdown (what else do you have to do anyway?).
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Πηγή: bellingcat.com