Google: Coronavirus Powersearching

• How to frame your medical search query accurately.

• Ways to limit the search results to just the past week, month, or year to get the latest medical information.

• How to collect information from a variety of different medical websites, putting claims into a spreadsheet side-by-side to let you assess their accuracy.

• Methods for finding the best times to visit stores in your neighborhood in order to minimize your potential exposure to Coronavirus.

Coronavirus Powersearching (CPSWG) Syllabus

1. Introduction—Why learning medical powersearching skills is important

- finding basic information about Coronavirus
- principles of medical powersearching
- making a good query
- how to read the search results page
- finding symptoms
- COVID-19 self assessment
- finding testing locations nearby

2. Searching for Coronavirus risk factors

- who is at risk of serious illness?
- framing your query is simplest possible language
- determine the source of your information
- when is an image search useful?
- find out when the information was published (and how)
- medical information changes over time

3. Discovering how Coronavirus is spread

- finding the best masks to wear
- comparing information about masks from different sources
- using a simple spreadsheet to compare data
- how to filter search results by time (last hour, past week, past month…)

4. How much Coronavirus is in my community?

- how to search your county health department for data
- reading the data provided in the search results
- how to notice the details about the data (city? county? state?)
- comparing Michigan data with California data (and to YOUR location)
- searching for tools to compare data across the country

5. Finding strategies for living in a world with Coronavirus

- how to find your local recommendations and guidelines for health
- search pattern for your location
- how to search for how busy a business is; how to find less-crowded times