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It’s just very important to be cognizant of norms about privacy here

Jain said that got him thinking. Theoretically, it might be possible to obtain a geolocation data set that could be used to help monitor the spread of the virus, but his team concluded many Canadians might not like the idea of being monitored that way.

That’s why they devised a way for Canadians to self-report information, he said.

“It’s just very important to be cognizant of norms about privacy here,” said Jain.

During the past few days, the team has been researching websites that have popped up in other countries, and developing the site further. They want users to update their information every 14 days, for example, and to make the site more accessible.

“We really care that the elderly fill it out,” he said, adding that soon, people will be able to respond for their entire family.

Right now, the majority of the users are located in the Greater Toronto Area, which has skewed some of the results, making the region look like the hardest hit. The hope is that the rest of the country will begin using the site in larger numbers.

They also plan to make changes as the conditions in Canada change. For example, it soon may be less relevant whether someone has travelled abroad in the past 14 days than whether they’ve travelled to a hot spot in Canada.

Meanwhile, they all have pushed their class work back in the list of priorities. Jain said he’s been surprised about how devoted the team is, but the experience is providing its own teaching moments.

“We’ve been given the opportunity to work on this, and we’re getting traction, so who cares what (grades) we get in school? Let’s just go with this,” Jain said.