TAMU-CC COVID-19 Researchers Urge Caution During Labor Day Weekend

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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – With the Labor Day weekend approaching, researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are hoping residents and visitors will avoid the types of large gatherings during Memorial Day that contributed to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

“Now is not the time to let down our guard,” said Dr. Philippe Tissot, interim director of the Conrad Blucher Institute. Tissot leads a special COVID-19 task force that is tracking numerous sources of data to develop models designed to help leaders and the community understand how the virus is spreading. While some of the data is showing downward trends, researchers are concerned that a lapse in social distancing and other precautions during the Sept. 5-7 Labor Day weekend could recharge the rate of transmission of the virus.

“We’re hoping that Labor Day does not kick off an outbreak the way that Memorial Day did,” said task force member Dr. Chris Bird, Associate Professor of Biology at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Data shows new COVID-19 cases steadily climbed in the weeks after Memorial Day from just a handful per day to more than 50 per day per 100,000 people in Nueces County. That trend was mirrored in neighboring counties and across the state.

“We were seeing significant increases all across Texas for much of June and July,” Bird said.

Soon after, the hospitalization rate also jumped, which included significant numbers of people in intensive care units. Not long after, an increase in fatalities followed. Eventually, the increase in numbers of new cases and hospitalizations began to level off, then begin what appears to be a slow decline.

“It has only been in the past few weeks that we have seen encouraging signs that we’re moving in the right direction as a state,” Bird said. “We have to remember that while the numbers appear to be dropping, there is still a long way to go to get back to the levels of new cases and hospitalizations we were seeing before Memorial Day. This is no time to relax or become complacent about following COVID-19 precautions.”

The task force members attribute the trend downward in some part to a greater awareness of the importance of social distancing and following precautions, such as regular handwashing, a commitment to wearing face coverings, not gathering in groups, and staying at home whenever possible.

“We have shown that by changing our behavior, wearing masks, social distancing, and other precautions we can make a difference in the transmission rate of this terrible virus,” Tissot said. “Now let’s show that we can maintain those safe practices through this upcoming holiday weekend and continue our downward trend.”

Bird and other members of the task force are preparing in-depth reports and public presentations each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that model the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend. The updates had been presented on Fridays since April, but are now being presented on Tuesdays at 5 p.m.

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Del Mar College Part of New $20 Million National Artificial Intelligence Research Institute

By Luisa Buttler, Del Mar College, Contributed Content

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Hailed as a “historic milestone in environmental science,” the National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with seven other federal agencies, has announced an overall investment of more than $100 million to establish seven inaugural national centers across the nation to further explore how to best develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) to benefit our society.

Collaborators include Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) and Del Mar College (DMC), which are part of a unique partnership headed by the University of Oklahoma (OU) that will investigate how to enable rapid integration of trustworthy AI for increased societal impact.

Dr. Amy McGovern, OU professor, leads the NSF AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate, and Coastal Oceanography, which received $20 million of the NSF funding. The partnership is made of multiple academic institutions, two national laboratories, and private industry partners including Google, IBM, and NVIDIA.

“This institute is a convergent center that will create trustworthy AI for environmental science, revolutionize prediction and understanding of high-impact weather and ocean hazards, and benefit society by protecting lives and property,” McGovern said.

In the Texas Coastal Bend, the partnership will launch a first-of-its-kind pilot AI certificate program between TAMU-CC and DMC that will teach AI to a community college audience, and broaden participation by creating a pipeline for underrepresented students in different parts of the country. Through the institute, private industry partners, along with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, internships and mentoring programs for underrepresented groups and unique workforce retraining modules will be created to engage users in learning AI for environmental applications. McGovern believes the certificate to be tested at DMC – slated to begin in fall 2021 – will soon be the first certificate for AI in geosciences in the nation.

The Coastal Bend team is led by Conrad Blucher Institute’s (CBI) interim director, Dr. Philippe Tissot, who is working in close partnership with TAMU-CC colleagues including Dr. Scott King, Computer Science Professor, along with a DMC team led by Dr. Phillip Davis, Computer Science Professor. The local team is supported by $3.2 million over the next five years.

Developing Coastal AI models using big data and satellite imagery to better predict and understand beach inundation which impacts beach goers and nesting of sea turtles will be one of the current goals of the inaugural AI center.

“The impact of mankind on our environment has continuously increased and our planet has effectively become a managed system,” Tissot said. “We must be smart, efficient, and creative if we hope to evolve towards a new balance between humankind and our earth. AI has the potential to take advantage of the large data sets now available and growing computational capabilities to help us do a better job in the face of challenges such as climate change, increase of extreme events and relative sea level rise.”

At TAMU-CC, the center will fund several graduate students, faculty, and undergraduate researchers and house DMC students participating in the research.

“Our partnership continues with TAMU-CC to develop a pipeline of GIS and remote sensing students, specifically students starting at the high school level who then move on to earn an associate’s degree from DMC as well as pursue a bachelor’s degree from the University,” said Davis, who noted that this innovative 2+2+2 program will serve as a model for other universities and colleges as the AI field grows nationwide between 2020 and 2030.

Local research will also focus on ways AI models can help better manage the environment and the economy. For example, how combining satellite imagery and numerical models to predict coastal fog will help manage ship traffic.

“The Texas Coastal Bend is thrilled to work with such a great team to bring and develop its Coastal AI expertise and create fantastic opportunities to a very diverse community, including many Hispanic and first-generation students,” said Dr. Ahmed Mahdy, TAMU-CC Vice President for Research and Innovation. “The Island University is the intellectual capital of the region. Our interdisciplinary research, like Coastal AI, is strategically unique and is a result of our innovation ecosystem.”

TAMU-CC COVID-19 Researchers See Drop in Visits to Corpus Christi After Beach-Driving Ban

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are watching data that shows a parallel between beach closures and the number of people visiting the Coastal Bend.

A special COVID-19 research team is tracking and modeling data to help leaders and the community understand how the virus is spreading. The team has produced maps that show the numbers of people coming to Corpus Christi from other areas.

“The maps measure the number of times a cell phone from a non-local user goes into a restaurant” said Dr. Lucy Huang, Associate Professor at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who analyses cell phone app data. Each map represents one week of activity of such visits. The number of visits peaked in early June at 140,000 visits, leveled off for several weeks around 100,000 visits, then began dropping in mid-July.

The next week, just after beaches in this area were closed to vehicular traffic, the maps show a 25% decline to 70,000 visits, followed last week by another drop – to 64,000 visits.

“Overall, that’s a 36% decline from when the beach closure order was put into place,” said Dr. Chris Bird, Associate Professor of Biology at A&M-Corpus Christi. Bird noted that people who usually come here knowing they can drive right onto the beach may have changed their plans upon hearing of beach closures to vehicular traffic, and decided to go elsewhere. “I suspect that there is some deterrence in people coming to the Coastal Bend for vacation because of that beach closure.”

Bird gave a weekly update Friday, Aug. 7, to the community on the data being tracked and modeled by the task force, which started its work in April. Closing beaches to vehicular traffic is one method of attempting to control spread of the virus by discouraging visitors from elsewhere.

The maps of visits have been prepared since Memorial Day weekend. The latest map, with 64,000 visits, is the lowest number seen so far. The maps also show the percentages of visitors from various cities. San Antonio regularly leads in visits to Corpus Christi, varying from 15% to 26% of all visitors. Others come from just about every part of Texas, with significant percentages on most maps from Houston, Austin, and Georgetown, Texas.

“Are there other reasons why this number declined?” Bird said. “Probably, but it seems that the beach closure is correlated, at the very least, with this decline in the number of visits.”

Among other information researchers are tracking is cell phone data that measures the number of visits to parks, museums, and the beach. Starting in early May, beach traffic began to increase, more than doubling by the middle of June. Beach traffic then began to slow until mid-July, when it began a sharp decline back to levels not seen since mid-May.

The team emphasized that while the beach itself may not be a particularly likely location for someone to contract the virus, when a visitor comes to visit the beach, they also visit other areas and businesses.

“Sure, the beaches are outdoors and therefore of a lesser risk, but there is everything else that is associated with a visit, such as restaurants, service stations, hotels, all making indoor gatherings likely,” said Dr. Philippe Tissot, Interim Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute at A&M-Corpus Christi.

The update from the task force showed that the number of cases across the Coastal Bend has now surpassed 14,000. The task force has seen the number of new cases per day reach a peak and start a slow decline, although the Coastal Bend still has one of the highest rates of new cases per capita when compared to the rest of the state. Data shows 7,811 people in the Coastal Bend have recovered from the virus.

The researchers urge people to follow precautions carefully, such as social distancing, hand-washing, wearing face coverings, staying at home, and not gathering in groups in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The task force also recommends being particularly careful about attending family gatherings with relatives one may not see every day. The public is especially cautioned to avoid contacts with older members of their families.

Tissot, Bird and other members of the task force are preparing in-depth reports and public presentations each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that model the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend.

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.

Blucher Institute researchers taking a deep dive into Hanna - KRIS6 News

Conrad Blucher Institute researchers were interviewed by KRIS 6 News - Corpus Christi on August 11, 2020 about the impacts of hurricane Hanna and how we can use data from the storm to better prepare for the future. See the video and article below, or click here to see it on the KRIS 6 website.

TAMU-CC Researchers Urge Continued Caution Despite Peak in COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations

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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are watching data that shows a hopeful peak in the number of cases of COVID-19 as well as the number of hospitalizations and people in the ICU, but warn that now is not the time to let down our guard.

“We peaked in cases, we peaked in total hospitalizations, we are peaking in the numbers of people in the ICU, and fatalities,” said Dr. Chris Bird, Associate Professor of Biology at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Bird gave a weekly update Friday, July 31, on the data being tracked and modeled by a special task force.

However, Bird is concerned by other data that shows a slowdown in social distancing, measured by cell phone encounters. He noted that cell phone encounters were dropping during recent weeks but now appear to have leveled off or started to increase.

“It’s important that we don’t let up now,” he said. “It’s looking like cabin fever, apathy, boredom, or just being tired of it is setting in.”

Other models updated in Bird’s report showed there have been more than 12,000 reported cases in the Coastal Bend since March, with more than 6,100 active cases. The research team is following the Centers for Disease Control estimate that about 10 times more cases are active than the number who test positive, giving the Coastal Bend an estimated 60,000 cases or more. That translates to one in 10 people in the community are infected.

Bird said while South Texas still leads all other areas of the state in the number of new cases per day per 100,000 people, the number of new cases appears to be declining. But because the numbers are so high in most categories, even a downturn does not mean precautions can be ignored.

“Because there are just so many people who have COVID now, just a little change in behavior, just wearing masks a little less, distancing a little less, has a much bigger impact now than it would have had in March, April and May,” said Dr. Philippe Tissot, Interim Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute at A&M-Corpus Christi.

The researchers urge people in the community to commit themselves to carefully following precautions, such as social distancing, hand-washing, wearing face coverings, staying at home, and not gathering in groups in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The task force also recommends being particularly careful about attending family gatherings with relatives one may not see every day, including funerals, baby showers, weddings, and other family events. The public is especially cautioned to avoid contacts with older members of their families.

Tissot, Bird and other members of the special task force are preparing in-depth reports and public presentations each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that model the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend.

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.

CBI in the Field After Hurricane Hanna

Beginning Wednesday, July 29th, Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying Science began the first of several field campaigns to the survey the the damage along the Texas coast from Hurricane Hanna. The field operations crew from the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying Science and the Measurement ANalyTIcS (MANTIS) Lab are working together to collect UAS and mobile lidar data for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County. The UAS and mobile lidar data collected can be processed to generate high resolution (2 cm accuracy) interpolations of the post-storm ground surfaces. Presently, survey priority has been given to the beach between the horse path (south of Access Road 6) and Packery Channel (see map in photo gallery). With beach access points damaged by the hurricane, especially in more remote locations, UAS data will be paramount in aiding city planners as they assess the damage from the recent hurricane. This data will also help inform their decisions for repairing and rebuilding in the wake of Hurricane Hanna.

Weathering Environmental Change Through Advances in AI

Philippe Tissot, Interim Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying Science, collaborated with several machine learning experts in the EOS (Earth and space science news and analysis) article Weathering Environmental Change Through Advances in AI. The article discusses convergent multisector research which may improve AI trustworthiness and, ultimately, assist decision makers.

TAMU-CC Researchers Urge Residents to Follow Precautions to Slow Rapid Increase of COVID-19

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Researchers are urging people in the community to commit themselves to carefully following precautions, such as social distancing, hand-washing, wearing face coverings, staying at home, and not gathering in groups in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Data and models developed by researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi show that the Coastal Bend is in the middle of a sharp increase in deaths related to COVID-19 with even more expected over the coming weeks, particularly if precautions are not followed.

“To control the pandemic, it is vital that all members of the community stay home if they can, wear masks outside of their home, stay home if they have any COVID symptoms, wash their hands frequently, and observe all other recommendations,” said Dr. Philippe Tissot, Interim Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute (CBI) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

The task force recommends being particularly careful with family gatherings with relatives one may not see every day, including funerals, baby showers, weddings, and other family events. The public is especially cautioned to avoid contacts with older members of the family.

“The sooner and the more people implement safety measures, the fewer casualties in a few weeks,” Tissot said.

Data assembled by the research team forecasts sharp increases in the number of fatalities related to the pandemic, with average daily deaths per capita in Corpus Christi now ranked second-highest metro area in the state. This time last month, Corpus Christi had one of the lowest rates per capita across Texas.

“As of July 14, the pandemic is still growing fast in the Coastal Bend and the impact of walking back some of the opening measures has yet to be felt,” Tissot said. “According to the analyses of the Coastal Bend COVID-19 Joint Taskforce, Corpus Christi is now the number one metro area in Texas for new COVID cases and second in fatalities per capita.”

Average daily cases in Corpus Christi are now more than 80 per capita per day, far ahead of San Antonio, with fewer than 40 per capita per day, and Houston, with fewer than 30 per capita per day. A month ago, Corpus Christi was among the three cities with the lowest rate of new cases.

In average daily deaths per capita, McAllen, Corpus Christi, and Laredo are far ahead of the rest of the state. The rate in Corpus Christi is now more than double the rate in nearby cities, such as San Antonio, Austin, and Houston.

Deaths are a lagging indicator and given the continued large number of new cases in the Coastal Bend, task force members expect the casualty rate will unfortunately continue to be very high for several weeks.

Tissot and other members of the special task force are preparing in-depth reports and public presentations each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that model the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend.

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.

Geospatial Science Students Win 2020 National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) Student Competition

Pictured, left to right: José Pilartes-Congo, Heather Zavesky, Kevin Michael, Demetri Andreadis, Allison Brozusky

Pictured, left to right: José Pilartes-Congo, Heather Zavesky, Kevin Michael, Demetri Andreadis, Allison Brozusky

After several podium finishes (first place in 2017 and second place in both 2018 and 2019), students from Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) finally take the gold at national competition placing first in the 2020 National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) Student Competition. The competition was to be held in conjunction with the NSPS Spring meeting on March 31st – April 2nd but proceeded remotely due to safety measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams were judged based on a Technical Report and Research Poster submitted to NSPS.

The topic this year was “The Terrestrial Reference Frames of 2022 (TRF2022) and the North American-Pacific Geopotential Datum of 2022 (NAPGD2022) of the modernized National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) and their application in your jurisdiction”.

Each team had to act as if they had been invited to present at a Professional Land Surveyors meeting/conference in their jurisdiction (e.g. state), and provide an overview of the 2022 datums highlighting the practical considerations of which attendees need to be aware with the release of the new datums. A Technical Report was prepared so that attendees could, in theory, use it to increase their understanding and aid in the development of competency on these issues.

To prepare for the competition, the students presented a rough draft of their project to more than one-hundred professionals in attendance at a free continuing education course hosted by the Conrad Blucher Institute earlier this year.

The team would like to take this time to thank the generous sponsors that supported them this year. The funds were not used for travelling expenses due to cancellation of the in-person meeting, so funds will be used by the team attending the same competition next year. The team extends their gratitude to Davey Edwards, Galen Scott, Randall Kircher, and Bryan Gillis for providing their invaluable feedback and recommendations.

2020 Sponsors: Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying & Science, Dark Seas Mapping Co., Fenstermaker, Fontier Surveying Co., H. A. Kuehlem Professional Surveyors- A Baseline Company, J.P.L.S.- Ron Kolacny, McGray & McGray, Native Survey Company, Ron Carroll Surveying, and Topographic.

TAMU-CC Researchers Expect COVID-19 Cases to Hit Over 500 New Cases a Day, Precautions Vital for Control

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – With hundreds of new cases of COVID-19 being reported daily across the Coastal Bend, models developed by researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi show new cases could hit over 500 a day by Sunday, although temporary limitations of the testing capacity may impact the numbers.

Dramatic increases will only be slowed when people in the community commit themselves to carefully following precautions, such as social distancing, hand-washing, wearing face coverings, staying at home, and not gathering in groups.

“The rapid increases will continue until the recent measures begin to have an effect,” said Philippe Tissot, Interim Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute (CBI) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Researchers are hopeful that as behavior changes, the outbreak will begin to slow, as early as Sunday, but the effectiveness of new measures will depend on how seriously people follow the precautions.

“We were able to do it in March; we should be able to do it in July,” Tissot said.

Nueces County has now risen above all other Texas metropolitan areas in the average number of new cases per day per capita, surpassing even Austin and Lubbock. While data from April and May typically showed new cases per capita per day in San Antonio at more than two times the level of Nueces County, now Nueces County has more than two times as many cases per capita as San Antonio.

Researchers also reported the number of cases in Nueces County is increasing more rapidly than almost any other city in Texas, trailing only College Station-Bryan and Laredo.

Dr. Chris Bird, Associate Professor of Biology at A&M-Corpus Christi, noted that even rural areas are experiencing high levels of positive cases of COVID-19.

“You can’t hide from COVID in the lesser-populated areas of the Coastal Bend,” he said. With the virus so prevalent in South Texas, the importance of taking precautions to help prevent the spread of the virus are more important than ever, and wearing a mask should be as common as wearing shoes and a shirt into a business.

“No shoes, no shirt, no mask, no service,” he said, referring to a sign commonly seen at business entrances. Wearing a mask is now mandatory in public buildings, businesses and when using public transportation in Nueces County, and will be mandatory across Texas starting Friday.

Bird stressed the effectiveness of wearing a face covering.

“They protect you and the people around you,” he said.

In a regular weekly news conference today, July 2, Bird also gave an update on cell phone data that showed in some categories, people are going out less frequently, but in other areas, no change has yet been seen.

A major concern is how fast the transmission rate has grown, making it almost impossible to measure. With hundreds of new cases every day, widespread transmission of the virus is almost inevitable with even minimal transmission from one person to another.

Bird, Tissot, and other members of a special task force are preparing in-depth reports and public presentations each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that model the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend.

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.