Late last week, the University of Alabama at Birmingham launched the web site helpbeatcovid19.org, an online symptom tracker where people can log on daily and report their COVID symptoms via brief online surveys.

Anyone can participate, whether they’ve experience symptoms or not.

The system logs that data with the users’ zip code and has an interactive map that shows how many people in each zip code have experienced symptoms that may be consistent with the COVID-19, and whether they’re experiencing one or multiple symptoms.

Doctors and public health specialists are using the data to track the spread of the outbreak in Alabama.

UAB’s Sue Feldman, who helped develop the tracker, said this data can be especially helpful in areas where testing is not readily available and can show where there may be outbreak of COVID before the lab test results start to come back.

“We are looking for emerging symptoms,” Feldman told AL.com’s Ivana Hrynkiw in a Facebook Live interview, embedded below. “We are looking for where in the state of Alabama are symptoms starting to emerge, and this helps public health officials know about emerging symptoms without having to be in those communities."

Feldman said visitors to the site can also access the tracker data on a map to see if there’s been an increase in people reporting symptoms near where they live or work. As of Friday morning, more than 17,000 people had signed up to report symptoms in the tracker, with more than half reporting no symptoms.

“The only way to know where there are symptoms emerging is to know where there were no symptoms previously,” Feldman said.

The initial survey takes only a few minutes. Users are prompted to enter any symptoms they are currently experiencing, if any, and whether they’ve been tested for COVID-19. The tracker also asks about any previous health conditions they may have, their zip code, phone number and email address. Feldman said the tracker uses the person’s phone number to match their responses.

“That’s the only way that we have to be able to match the responses to the person coming back,” Feldman said.

After the first time taking the survey, the user is only asked the questions about what current symptoms they are experiencing, which only takes a minute or two. The tracker includes check boxes for frequent COVID-19 symptoms like cough, fever, trouble breathing, loss of taste or smell, and symptoms that may not be COVID-related such as watery eyes, scratchy throat, vision changes and stuffy sinuses.

There’s also a box for “None,” and a field where users can enter any symptoms they’re experiencing that are not on the list. Feldman said that information can help doctors gather information on other symptoms that may be common among COVID-19 patients that doctors aren’t yet looking for.

“That is the only way that we can figure out what kinds of symptoms are people feeling and experiencing that we don’t yet know about,” Feldman said. “That’s part of the issue is that COVID-19 is so new and affecting people in different ways, so we want to try and collect as much information as we can.”

For more on the UAB symptom tracker visit helpbeatcovid19.org or watch the full interview below.