NASSAU, The Bahamas:--- Two local businessmen today launched a new website to allow Bahamians to easily track through customizable graphs the COVID19 pandemic in our country from the very first case in March.
With almost every country around the world dealing with the Coronavirus Pandemic, tracking cases, waves and fatalities has become an all-consuming pastime for people across the globe. Until now, the citizens and residents of The Bahamas could only track the terrifying path of the virus on our shores through a series of static graphics published daily by the Ministry of Health.
Seeing a need for comprehensive, customizable and easily-understood data on the virus, two local businessmen, Ash Henderson and Ben Jamieson, have developed a new website, CV19BS.com, to provide an interactive look at the virus throughout the country.
Jamieson, founder of local web design company Thyme Online Ltd said, "As a web application developer for the past two decades, I knew I had the ability to build a website to provide up to the minute and historic information on a daily basis, I just didn't have the data. Luckily Ash, a long-time friend and colleague, had been compiling meticulous spreadsheets since the start of the pandemic. I knew we were on to something."
The two built the website, that will be updated daily, in their own time, and Thyme Online has donated the hosting space to keep it online. Initially fairly simple, the website includes interactive charts, allowing visitors to visualise the COVID19 spread throughout the islands in myriad ways.
Henderson, a prominent Rotary member and marketing guru, said of the project, "As a citizen and as a parent, I am constantly worried about the spread of this virus and how it affects our nation. I'd been compiling the raw data since day one, but had no real way to make it useful to others. When Ben and I came up with the idea for the website, it made total sense - he had the web development expertise, and I had the analytical skills to make it work. Now we are on a par with other nations who have fully interactive COVID19 dashboards to give their citizenry a way to visualize the threat of this pandemic."
The two men are excited to be able to offer a tool such as this to everyone in The Bahamas, and hope to be able to expand the system in the future if time and funds allow. The website will be updated daily as soon as information is release by The Bahamas Ministry of Health.
For now, they've created an amazing platform for citizens, residents, and those around the world with friends and family in the country, to monitor how things are progressing throughout the islands.
