Coronavirus Spread In Dunedin: See Your Risk Of Exposure

DUNEDIN, FL — Florida's coronavirus metrics are at their highest point in months. This fall surge led health officials to discourage holiday travel and large family celebrations.

There are no limitations on indoor gatherings in Florida, though the state's Department of Health only recommends canceling large events with 250 or more attendees.

The CDC, though, suggests limiting the number of guests at your holiday meals. It also recommends hosting outdoor gatherings, rather than holding your event indoors.

It's safest to celebrate the holidays with only the members of your household, health leaders said. They suggest spending time with other loved ones over video chat.

Despite this guidance, some people still plan to travel. That carries some risk of catching the coronavirus.

What is your risk of exposure?

Researchers created an event risk planning tool for every county in the nation. The map shows the risk of coronavirus transmission based on an event's size and location.

As of Wednesday, the tool estimated that there is a 15 percent chance that somebody in a crowd of 15 in Pinellas County would have the virus. Those odds drop to 11 percent in a group of 10, the COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool predicted.

You can reduce this risk by wearing a mask, staying 6 feet apart, gathering outdoors and decreasing group size, the researchers added.

Two Georgia Institute of Technology professors created the model. Their team included researchers from Stanford University and the Applied Bioinformatics Laboratory.

"By default we assume there are five times more cases than are being reported," the research team said in a statement. "In places with less testing availability, that bias may be higher."

Residents can explore the data at this link.

Patch staffers William Bornhoft, Amber Fisher and Jacob Baumgart contributed reporting to this article.