BRIGHTON, N.Y. (WROC) — Those in the world of academia and research continue to help health professionals and scientists combat the Coronavirus. One local college graduate is using what he learned to help track the virus in another country.
Henry Tenecela — who earned his associate’s degree in engineering science at Monroe Community College — is from Ecuador and came to study in the Rochester area following in the footsteps of his brother who attended the University of Rochester.
As part of a final project for a programming class, Tenecela developed a geographical data map that tracks the severity of the virus. He called it, COVID-19 Tracking in Chimborazo, Ecuador. It displays each province and counties in the South American country. Each one has a color that represents the status of COVID-19 cases — red being severe and green not so serious.
It’s a way to help people avoid traveling into the most serious areas and possibly contracting the virus. Tenecela said by doing this, it will help maximize the efforts to reduce the spread in a country he knows so well.
“Ecuador is an underdeveloped country. I know certain parts of the communities that they don’t understand things that others may understand. I wanted to take the more dynamic approach of my project in order to allow them to understand it. To prevent certain things and consider safety guidelines,” Tenecela said. “It’s to keep them informed actually. which areas are good and which are bad to travel to. always of course under safety guidelines. understand and study how the covid cases are propagating using the geographic data map and taking safety guidelines according to what they see. “
Tenecela hopes to improve this data program while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at Cornell University. He plans to talk to professors and researchers in Ecuador to share his models.