COVID and
COVID and
Toronto Licensed Childcare Centres
Toronto Licensed Childcare Centres
(Written January 2021)
Whether you're a parent, caregiver, or other interested party; COVID is likely a factor in your decision whether or not to send your child to child care. Reporting of cases in Ontario's LCCs began in September 2020.
Whether you're a parent, caregiver, or other interested party; COVID is likely a factor in your decision whether or not to send your child to child care. Reporting of cases in Ontario's LCCs began in September 2020.
Using Python and ArcGIS I started to build some visualizations using this data as the foundation but more specifically for Toronto region.
Using Python and ArcGIS I started to build some visualizations using this data as the foundation but more specifically for Toronto region.
Please do not accept these visualizations as the final truth, but rather as a tool to aid you in further research, to ultimately make your own informed decision.
Please do not accept these visualizations as the final truth, but rather as a tool to aid you in further research, to ultimately make your own informed decision.
My interest in this topic stemmed from our own decision as to whether or not to send our son to daycare.
My interest in this topic stemmed from our own decision as to whether or not to send our son to daycare.
Ontario publishes the list of licensed childcare centres with active cases but I found it difficult to see the history without downloading the complete dataset.
Ontario publishes the list of licensed childcare centres with active cases but I found it difficult to see the history without downloading the complete dataset.
When I searched on GitHub and Kaggle for research that others might have undertaken, I found there was a lot on the topic of COVID but very little as relates to childcare centres and schools.
When I searched on GitHub and Kaggle for research that others might have undertaken, I found there was a lot on the topic of COVID but very little as relates to childcare centres and schools.
When I started looking at the data, I was only interested in the childcare centres for myself and for our friends. I was also interested in companies that may have multiple centres and whether one of their other sites had cases.
When I started looking at the data, I was only interested in the childcare centres for myself and for our friends. I was also interested in companies that may have multiple centres and whether one of their other sites had cases.
I had begun work on this then very quickly due to pursuing other interests in Data Analytics (and that we had decided not to send our son to childcare), dropped this for a couple of months. Under the advice of others to start building more, I tried to get this into a semi-complete state.
I had begun work on this then very quickly due to pursuing other interests in Data Analytics (and that we had decided not to send our son to childcare), dropped this for a couple of months. Under the advice of others to start building more, I tried to get this into a semi-complete state.
The barchart below represents Ontario's daily updates for active COVID cases in Licensed Childcare Centres starting from September 2020. I used Python and matplotlib for stacked barchart exhibiting those daily updates on active cases, splitting Toronto and rest of Ontario.
The barchart below represents Ontario's daily updates for active COVID cases in Licensed Childcare Centres starting from September 2020. I used Python and matplotlib for stacked barchart exhibiting those daily updates on active cases, splitting Toronto and rest of Ontario.
During our course at York University's Big Data Analytics certification, I had overheard another student mentioning the use of ArcGIS for mapping and geo-spatial exercises. I was curious and the more I read, understood it to be quite pervasive in the field.
During our course at York University's Big Data Analytics certification, I had overheard another student mentioning the use of ArcGIS for mapping and geo-spatial exercises. I was curious and the more I read, understood it to be quite pervasive in the field.
After a quick online tutorial, I mapped all the licensed childcare locations reported by Ontario whether the COVID case was currently active or happened in the past.
After a quick online tutorial, I mapped all the licensed childcare locations reported by Ontario whether the COVID case was currently active or happened in the past.
So now what?
So now what?
Obviously the numbers are increasing in the childcare centres, just not at the location I'm interested in...for now.
Obviously the numbers are increasing in the childcare centres, just not at the location I'm interested in...for now.
What would I do next?
What would I do next?
I am dropping this again for now as due to other factors we have now reversed our decision to send our son to childcare.
I am dropping this again for now as due to other factors we have now reversed our decision to send our son to childcare.
With the luxury of more time I would like to improve the map in many ways: having a sliding scale to see the change in COVID cases over time, differentiate between cases on children versue caregivers, COVID cases in the childcare centres in relation to the cases in the respective neighbourhood, in relation to the schools...
With the luxury of more time I would like to improve the map in many ways: having a sliding scale to see the change in COVID cases over time, differentiate between cases on children versue caregivers, COVID cases in the childcare centres in relation to the cases in the respective neighbourhood, in relation to the schools...
With my newfound knowledge in AWS and Azure, I would take advantage of Lambdas or Functions for serverless method to keep my data updated in line with the daily updates published by Ontario.
With my newfound knowledge in AWS and Azure, I would take advantage of Lambdas or Functions for serverless method to keep my data updated in line with the daily updates published by Ontario.
I could try to find a better medium for publishing the findings (right now the code is just sitting under my GitHub gathering dust). I'm torn...publish on one's own website, throw it up on Kaggle/GitHub/other, blog on Medium or using WordPress. I still haven't figured this out so for now, putting it on this quasi-blog, quasi-portfolio.
I could try to find a better medium for publishing the findings (right now the code is just sitting under my GitHub gathering dust). I'm torn...publish on one's own website, throw it up on Kaggle/GitHub/other, blog on Medium or using WordPress. I still haven't figured this out so for now, putting it on this quasi-blog, quasi-portfolio.
I'd welcome your ideas on best practices...hit me up
I'd welcome your ideas on best practices...hit me up
There's many ways I could further extend and improve this project but for now, my next immediate interest is towards Natural Language Processing, especially around sentiment analysis on Twitter.
There's many ways I could further extend and improve this project but for now, my next immediate interest is towards Natural Language Processing, especially around sentiment analysis on Twitter.