The Bozo Index is an attempt to compare "Is West Chester doing better at wearing masks than Media? That Downingtown? Than Coatesville?"
"I'd love a smoothie. Should I get curbside pickup from Jaco?" "Better wait until tomorrow, the Bozo Index in West Chester on Saturdays is crazy."
(Please improve on me!)
This is used to calculate the bozo index for a particular street at a particular time.
Park in a parking spot, and for thirty minutes:
- Count the total number of people on the street: T (for "Total")
- Count the number of people not wearing a mask: N (for "No mask")
- Count the number of people carrying a mask, but not wearing the mask: P (for "Partial")
BOZO INDEX: N + (0.5 * P) / T
This results in a bozo index for a particular spot (for instance, Gay and High streets in West Chester) at a particular time (12:00 to 12:30 on a Saturday)
Using imaginary numbers: West Chester, Tuesday afternoon: 100 total people, 20 non-mask wearers, 40 partial-mask wearers, Bozo Index of 4. West Chester, Saturday lunchtime: 100 total people, 60 non-mask wearers, 20 partial-mask wearers, Bozo Index of 7.
Outdoor Dining? West Chester often has folks eating outdoors at sidewalk seating. You can't eat through a mask, so they shouldn't be counted as mask-wearers. But the restaurants often pack the seating together so that people are seated within inches of each other, back-to-back. How should that situation be recorded? Should there be an additional component for "non-mask wearers eating outdoors within six feet of other tables?"
Improper Mask Usage: What about folks dangling their nose out of their mask? Are they counted as non-wearers or as partial wearers?
Runners: How is a runner who is not wearing a mask, but is carefully avoiding other folks recorded? Since the Bozo Index is a snapshot of a particular town center, maybe they are recorded simply as a non-mask-wearer?