Coronavirus Spread In Phoenix: What Is Your Risk Of Exposure?

PHOENIX — Researchers from several universities have 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.

With the holidays fast approaching and COVID-19 rates climbing, public health officials are urging people to avoid gatherings of any size.

The tool shows the estimated chance — between 0 and 100 percent — that you'll encounter at least one person with the coronavirus at an event in your county. You can reduce the risk by wearing a mask, distancing and gathering outdoors in smaller groups, researchers said.

As of Tuesday, if you were to attend an event with 15 people in Phoenix, there would be a 18 percent chance that someone at the event would have the virus, according to the COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool. If you hang out with ten people, the chance drops to 13 percent. But a gathering of 25 people would put the risk level at 25 percent.

On Tuesday, Arizona reported 2,984 new coronavirus cases and 10 confirmed deaths. 1,646 of the cases came from Maricopa County.

Two Georgia Institute of Technology professors led the creation of the project, and 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."

Access the COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool here.

While Arizona officials haven't offered official guidance on Thanksgiving, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends small gatherings of family and friends, or holding virtual celebrations instead.