Global Status Board Keeps Eye On COVID-19 Situation

When it comes to keeping abreast of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are basically two schools of thought. Some people would rather not hear the number of confirmed cases or deaths, and just want to focus on those who recovered. That’s fair enough. But others want to have all of the available data at their disposal so they can form their own conclusions about what’s happening with this virus on a global scale. Looking at this incredible COVID-19 status board, we’ll give you one guess which category [Reuben] falls into.

Note the laser engraved component labels

Constructed out of 2020 extrusion with both 3D printed and laser cut parts, this wall-mounted display is built to last. Clearly [Reuben] believes we’re in this one for the long haul, and taking a peek at the plethora of data points this device can show at once, it’s not hard to see why.

Stats are pulled down every hour from a JSON API by an ESP32 and stored on an SD card. A running total of confirmed cases, deaths, and recoveries are shown on several TFT displays located behind the face of the display. On the right, the relative severity of the infection in 32 different countries is visualized with LEDs of varying brightness.

Perhaps the most visually striking element of the display is the large annunciator panel on the left side, which lights up to show various conditions all over the world. We appreciate that [Reuben] has thought ahead and added a light that can be used once a vaccine is deployed for COVID-19, but the inclusion of a “MARTIAL LAW” indicator certainly doesn’t help us shake the feeling we’ve all found ourselves in a proper dystopia.

For those who’d would rather get their information from the source rather than have it filtered through the media, we’ve recently covered a few APIs that will allow you to pull your own up-to-date COVID-19 stats. Whether you’re looking to build something as elaborate as this display, or just want to echo it out to the terminal, making sure you’re seeing accurate data is key to identifying the turning point.

25 thoughts on “Global Status Board Keeps Eye On COVID-19 Situation

  1. Sorry This is pointless project. It looks like something from the 70s. It’s like one of them MB electronic games that use to take them old C size batteries. I feel hackaday as gone right down hill now. Seems like you put any old rubbish on now.

  2. What the heck? First 4 comments are incredibly negative on a frankly awesome build! I absolutely dig the 60’s-70’s James Bond aesthetic and appreciate the vast amount of work of building a “hardware” based dashboard which could have been thrown together on a web-page, but wasn’t!

  3. What a well-executed build and a fun (if scary) idea. The aesthetic is great, it reminds one of the Pandemic video game and 70’s era NASA displays. Great work!

  4. Meanwhile in Italy:

    https://www.ilcittadino.it/cronaca/2020/04/02/contagiati-senza-saperlo-all-avis-sono-ben-40-su-60/KYwVaGiHShP3odU4dY4zx3/index.html

    40 out of 60 blood donors were infected with coronavirus without even noticing it – found out through testing that they had antibodies for the disease. The sample is small, but it indicates that 70% of the population has already had the disease and Italy is well on its way to herd immunity by now.

    1. With these news it’s slowly becoming apparent that the virus was not actually worse than seasonal flu, and could have been dealt with without the extensive lockouts which really came too late to do anything.

      For example, in Castiglione d’Adda there are 80 coronavirus victims in a population of 4500. If 2/3 were actually infected, then the real mortality rate is under 1%. The influenza season of 2016/17 in Italy saw slightly over 1% mortality as well but it didn’t get so much publicity back then and practically nothing was done about it. The main reason for the high mortality seems to be lots of old people in poor health.

        1. If nothing else the fact that Italy wasn’t able to deal with the number of dead bodies should have clued you in. That is remarkable, they didn’t have that problem with the 2016/2017 seasonal flu.

  5. If some company pays me 10 grand to build this for them I will do otherwise as others suggested completely useless project.
    Just have a raspi4 with a large tv + google chrome kiosk mode set to https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ done, again who want to see the infection rate…

    Also don’t forget to restart the ESP every day otherwise it will crash sooner rather than later :(

  6. This is a neat and well-executed project. I wouldn’t build one, but I definitely understand why somebody else would, and I appreciate the craftsmanship. And, as is frequently the case with Hackaday-featured projects, there are ideas here that are transferable to other types projects. So, well done.

    Hackaday–As a rule I’m not a big fan of having forum moderators, but is it too much to expect that the comments about a project–pro or con–actually be about the project? Paul’s mother apparently told him he’s “special,” which has led him to believe that I give a sh*t about what he thinks about the president of the United States, the management of the Covid19 crisis, or anything else not directly related to Reubin’s project.

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