Technology

Cellphone apps designed to track covid-19 spread struggle worldwide amid privacy concerns

Tue, 2020-08-18 08:53 — mike kraft

Cellphone apps designed to track covid-19 spread struggle worldwide amid privacy concerns Widely touted initiatives to introduce privacy-friendly, voluntary smartphone apps to help track the spread of coronavirus have largely foundered. Craig Timberg, Steve Hendrix, Min Joo Kim, Fiona Weber-Steinhaus Washington Post

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Cellphone apps designed to track covid-19 spread struggle worldwide amid privacy concerns
1 comment
Log in or register to post comments

Asian cities virus-proof public transit with smart shelters, thermal scanners

Mon, 2020-08-17 07:08 — mike kraft

Asian cities virus-proof public transit with smart shelters, thermal scanners BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Taking a bus or the subway? Not without first checking your temperature in a smart shelter or touch-free kiosk. Rina Chandran U.S.

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Taking a bus or the subway? Not without first checking your temperature in a smart shelter or touch-free kiosk.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Read more about Asian cities virus-proof public transit with smart shelters, thermal scanners
Log in or register to post comments

opinion: NIH 'Shark Tank' on track to produce quick, inexpensive COVID-19 tests by fall: Senators

Mon, 2020-08-10 08:54 — mike kraft

NIH 'Shark Tank' on track to produce quick, inexpensive COVID-19 tests by fall: Senators While we wait for vaccines and treatments, testing is critical to containing COVID-19 and helping people safely return to school, work and eating out. Lamar Alexander and Roy Blunt USA TODAY

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Analysis

Read more about opinion: NIH 'Shark Tank' on track to produce quick, inexpensive COVID-19 tests by fall: Senators
Log in or register to post comments

Virginia becomes first state to roll out the pandemic notification app

Thu, 2020-08-06 08:17 — mike kraft

Covidwise, the pandemic app from Apple and Google, to roll out in Virginia The technology arrives nearly four months after Apple and Google partnered to create the software for public health agencies. Matt O'Brien and Sarah Rankin USA TODAY

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia has rolled out a smartphone app to automatically notify people if they might have been exposed to the coronavirus, becoming the first U.S. state to use new pandemic technology created by Apple and Google.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Situation Report

Read more about Virginia becomes first state to roll out the pandemic notification app
Log in or register to post comments

U.K. to start distributing 90 minute coronavirus and flu tests.

Mon, 2020-08-03 11:36 — mike kraft

New Covid and flu tests give results in 90 minutes The rapid tests for hospitals and care homes will distinguish between Covid-19 and seasonal illness. BBC News

New 90-minute tests that can detect coronavirus and flu will be rolled out in hospitals and care homes from next week.

The "on-the-spot" swab and DNA tests will help distinguish between Covid-19 and other seasonal illnesses, the government said.

The health secretary said this would be "hugely beneficial" over the winter.

Currently, a third of tests take longer than 24 hours to process.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Situation Report

Read more about U.K. to start distributing 90 minute coronavirus and flu tests.
Log in or register to post comments

Why Contact Tracing Is Failing in Many States.

Sat, 2020-08-01 08:31 — mike kraft

...

Contact tracing, a cornerstone of the public health arsenal to tamp down the coronavirus across the world, has largely failed in the United States; the virus’s pervasiveness and major lags in testing have rendered the system almost pointless. In some regions, large swaths of the population have refused to participate or cannot even be located, further hampering health care workers.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about Why Contact Tracing Is Failing in Many States.
1 comment
Log in or register to post comments

Long delays in getting test results hobble coronavirus response

Mon, 2020-07-13 07:13 — mike kraft

Long delays in getting test results hobble coronavirus response It can take a week or more to learn the outcome — so long that it’s of little use in the effort to control the disease. Rachel Weiner, William Wan, Abigail Hauslohner Washington Post

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Read more about Long delays in getting test results hobble coronavirus response
Log in or register to post comments

What the US can learn from other countries using phones to track Covid-19

Sat, 2020-04-18 14:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A person in China scans a QR code with a smartphone to register their real name before getting off a bus in Wuhan, China. Zhang Chang/China News Service via Getty Images

The US is rolling out digital contact tracing. How has it been working in other countries?

vox.com - by Shirin Ghaffary - April 18, 2020

If and when lockdown restrictions are lifted in the US, would you agree to let the government anonymously track your interactions with people within a 6-foot radius to control the spread of Covid-19?

That’s an increasingly urgent question as President Trump and state governors debate how and when to safely reopen the US economy — and as technology is being touted as a solution that would help people reenter public life.

And tech giants are stepping up. Last week, Apple and Google announced a plan to turn phones into opt-in Covid-19 tracking machines that would, if all goes as planned, make it easier for health officials to identify and alert people if they’ve been exposed to the virus.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about What the US can learn from other countries using phones to track Covid-19
1 comment
Log in or register to post comments

For Ebola patients, a way to see the faces of those helping

Wed, 2015-04-08 09:33 — mike kraft

PUBLIC RADIO INTERNATIONAL by Andrea Crossan April 7, 2015

...for those in hospitals suffering, all they see are masks and robot-looking suits of doctors and nurses caring for them. The medics must wear those protective suits to stop them from coming in contact with a patient. But some humanity is stripped away with the intimidating get-up.

Until now.

Jianjay Potter and Grace Zardon in Monrovia, Liberia.Credit: Marc Campos

Los Angeles-based artist Mary Beth Heffernan saw the Ebola suits on news reports. She thought about how isolating it was for the patients. And she came up with the idea of taking photos of health workers that could be attached to their protective clothing.

In late February, Heffernan travelled to Monrovia, Liberia to do just that.

She brought cameras, six printers, ink cartridges and sticky labels to print the photos on.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Read more about For Ebola patients, a way to see the faces of those helping
Log in or register to post comments

South African brothers create app to help fight Ebola

Fri, 2015-03-06 13:33 — mike kraft

PALO ALTO WEEKLY by My Nguyen March 6, 2015
PALO ALTO, California --

...Malan and Philip Joubert, brothers from South Africa who recently moved to Palo Alto to expand their app-development company, Journey, saw the demand for mobile solutions, so they created the Ebola Care app to help aid organizations in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The app has several core functions, including contact tracing, which identifies and diagnoses people who may have come into contact with an infected person; quarantine management, which tracks and manages the 21-day quarantine period of a patient; psychological assessments to determine the well-being of health workers; social work to build case files for orphaned children; survivor surveys, which are assessments of Ebola survivors upon leaving treatment centers; verification that supplies have been distributed; and event feedback, which captures thoughts from the community after educational events.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags: