Two Georgetown startups launched a COVID-19 testing locator website

Two startups in the Georgetown University Venture Lab teamed up to launch a website that shows nearby COVID-19 testing locations.

The COVID-19 Testing Locator was created by The Social App and Basil Labs teams. The Social App, which is still under development, is a messaging platform that will allow users to communicate online without an active internet connection. Basil Labs uses AI to help organizations craft stronger marketing campaigns.

This free tool, which lists more than 3,000 testing sites, is available to anyone in the United States. To test it out, this reporter typed in her own home address and was able to locate over 30 testing centers within 25 miles.

“We want to provide people with a centralized area to find testing locations and feel a sense of empowerment in an atmosphere that has most of us feeling otherwise in the dark on the information,” The Social App founder Raakin Iqbal said in a statement. “Our goal was to build a platform for the common good.”

The COVID-19 Testing Locator uses Google Maps tech. Users can not only see how far they are from testing facilities, but they can also filter locations based on preferences like drive-through options and children’s testing centers. You can also see contact information for testing centers if it’s publicly available.

Using AI, the site also uses an outbreak prediction algorithm, which features visualizations and addresses pain points for testing centers. With this data, The Social App and Basil Labs eventually want to partner with hospitals to help manage resources, and with city governments to help identify the virus’ hot spots.

“Across the country, COVID-19 testing sites are popping up but are not communicating enough with one another. This is dangerous. Silos lead to information gaps between facilities and slow adaptation of best practices,” Basil Labs founder Theo Goetemann said. “We need to survey and understand patient experiences in order to maximize efficiency and safety at testing centers, improve in-patient flows and share this knowledge with testing centers across the nation and world.”