Interactive tool tracks COVID-19 risk nationwide

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - With families deciding whether or not to travel for the holidays, there's a new tool that can help them weigh the risks during the pandemic.

It tracks COVID-19 infection reports around the country by county in real time.

The site will tell you the approximate chance of someone having COVID-19 at any given gathering based on the amount of people there.

The peer-reviewed site was built by researchers at Georgia Tech University.

Using a 15-person gathering as an example, the site shows the chances of someone having COVID-19 in Santa Barbara County at six percent, and San Luis Obispo County at 15 percent.

The data assumes there are 10 times more cases than are being reported. In places with more testing availability, the rate may be lower.

The chances of someone being infected at a 15-person gathering in Cook County, Illinois, home to Chicago is 53 percent. The same size gathering in Clark County, Nevada, home to Las Vegas has a 30 percent chance of someone having COVID.

The data does not indicate the chances someone will get coronavirus, it is the approximate chance that someone at a gathering will have it.

With COVID-19 cases growing nationwide, health officials are discouraging holiday travel out of the area and mixing of groups outside your immediate household.

To view guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, click here.

If you do get together with others, health officials say it's best to keep the gathering small and outdoors, stay physically distanced, and wear a mask. Gatherings should also not last more than two hours.