23andMe claims to predict COVID-19 risk

There may be a new way to help predict who might get very sick from COVID-19 and who might be asymptomatic.

The DNA-testing company "23andMe" has a new online tool that tries to predict how severe or how mild your symptoms will be if you get COVID-19. The company says its algorithm can also predict the likelihood that you'll end up in the hospital

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The COVID-19 Severity Calculator is based on information from 10,000 people who tested positive and hundreds of whom were hospitalized. It also includes data from a survey of more than a million people who were asked about their ethnicity, lifestyle, underlying health conditions and their genetics.

The COVID-19 Security Calculator is free to use at 23andMe's website. You enter your age, sex, ancestry, weight, height, how often you exercise and if you have any pre-existing conditions. The online tool will then tell you the percentage of people like you who are likely to get really sick or be hospitalized.