CLAY COUNTY – A New York City man and four others built a website that tracks coronavirus cases and deaths not just for the city, but for every county in the United States.

Tomas Hoyos is no stranger to the coronavirus. He lives in New York, the current epicenter of the virus in the country. While he hasn’t contracted the virus, his grandmother likely did after showing all of the symptoms of it. His fiancé is also a healthcare worker in a city hospital and Hoyos also works in healthcare as a part of Voro.com, a healthcare social network.

“I think there’s no question that it has hit closer to home both because it’s touched my immediate family and because I live in the epicenter of the virus, New York City,” Hoyos said. “At the same time, I’ve been super fortunate and lucky that thus far, my family’s been safe all things considered, and my grandmother is doing better now. Those things combined I think to make it, so I felt the need to do something, like a catalyst maybe, and so I did.”

Voro.com is a site where usually users can read reviews about doctors, share recommendations, book appointments and more. It’s still doing that today but after a monumental lift from Hoyos and his team, the site is now a coronavirus tracking site.

You can visit Voro.com and search for your county, no matter where you are in the country, and find real-time and automatic updates of numbers associated with coronavirus confirmed cases and deaths.

The idea for the free resource came about two weeks ago when Hoyos found himself frustrated with what he was seeing on the news and reading online.

“You could see things weren’t going well but I got frustrated because the information always seemed to be lagging behind or it wasn’t keeping pace with the latest information coming from the actual reputable sources,” Hoyos said. “There also wasn’t a centralized location updated continuously readily available. I wanted that so I created it.”

It started in New York. Voro then expanded to the entire state. A few days later, the resource covered every county in America. Hoyos said the website updates itself automatically in real-time using information from public health resources.

“We’re fortunate to have already had the tools to do this and to be able to get this online so quickly,” Hoyos said. “The response has been really great. We have thousands of people checking their area’s information all around the country.

“It really feels great to feel like you’re helping people and making a difference. We’re fortunate to be in a position to still have jobs and still be able to help other people in a way that aligns with our mission. It’s a small way that we can contribute to the greater fight that our healthcare workers are on the frontlines of.”

Hoyos said New York City, despite it being the epicenter of the virus, has helped inspire the creation of his Voro coronavirus resource.

“It’s really powerful to see the way that New York has pulled together as one community,” Hoyos said. “In particular, the city has been great about recognizing the heroism of people on the frontlines. Whether that’s doctors, nurses, the people cleaning hospitals, law enforcement or firefighters, these are people that, even though they recognize the danger, wake up every day and go into work to help their neighbors and their community, people they don’t even necessarily know, get through this.”

Hoyos said every city should recognize the heroics of everyone fighting against the virus.

“It’s important to recognize these people for what they are: heroes,” he said.

You can view Clay County specific Voro coronavirus information at https://www.voro.com/coronavirus#Clay-Florida-12019. This site is updated regularly and automatically so anytime new information is released, Hoyos said the site reflects that.