Google’s launch of Symptom Search Datasets in Ireland

Google has launched Symptom Search Datasets in Ireland. The Symptoms Search Dataset, which has already launched in the US, is a new Irish-specific dataset designed to help researchers monitor and predict Covid-19 outbreaks in different parts of the country.

The dataset includes aggregated, anonymised search trends for over 400 symptoms, signs, and health conditions, such as cough, fever, and difficulty breathing. Like Google Trends, this dataset does not show individual search queries.

Search is often where people go to get answers on health and wellbeing, whether it’s to find a doctor or treatment centre, or understand a symptom better just before a doctor’s visit.

In the past, researchers have used Google Search data to gauge the health impact of heatwaves, improve prediction models for influenza-like illnesses, and monitor Lyme disease incidence.

With this dataset of search trends, researchers can study the link between symptom-related searches and the spread of COVID-19.

Google hopes this data can provide researchers with an earlier and more accurate indication of the re-emergence of the disease in specific regions as well as the secondary impact of Covid.

Using the dataset, researchers can develop models and create visualizations based on the popularity of symptom-related searches.

The COVID-19 Search Trends symptoms dataset is powered by the same anonymization technology used in the Community Mobility Reports and other Google products every day.

No personal information or individual search queries are included. The dataset was produced using differential privacy, a state-of-the-art technique that adds random noise to the data to provide privacy guarantees while preserving the overall quality of the data.

Similar to Google Trends, the data is normalized based on a symptom’s relative popularity, allowing researchers to study spikes in search interest over different time periods, without exposing any individual query or even the number of queries in any given area. More information about the privacy methods used to generate the dataset can be found in this report.

The dataset was released in the US earlier this year and from today is available in the UK, Ireland, and a number of other English-speaking countries. It was developed to specifically aid research on COVID-19 and will be available for the duration of the pandemic.

Researchers and public health experts are doing incredible work to respond to the pandemic. Google hopes this dataset will be useful in their work towards stopping the spread of COVID-19.

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