Tracking the spread of the coronavirus is an ongoing challenge. But researchers at Johns Hopkins University are conducting a study that uses an app to collect information that can help localise potential COVID-19 clusters and flare-ups.
COVID-19 Control – a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health approved institutional review board (IRB) study, is a new surveillance tool for COVID-19 based on self-reported body temperatures and, optionally, other symptoms, from users around the country using a user-friendly app.
By using spatial science analytics applied to these data they will identify anomalous increases in body temperatures and generate real-time, pre-clinical, risk estimates of potential COVID-19 outbreaks.
The project team from Johns Hopkins is working with ITC Infotech’s Digital Experience (DX) team to further enhance the user interface and user experience (UI/UX) of the COVID-19 Control data collection App.
ITC Infotech’s DX experts are helping the team from Johns Hopkins fast track UI/UX enhancements to drive higher adoption by introducing more user-friendly features.
"Data from this app will allow us to map and identify hot spots of fevers across the United States, potentially indicating emerging outbreaks of COVID-19 before health care or testing is sought. That information can be key in our efforts to control and mitigate the spread of the virus," said team member Frank C. Curriero, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and director of Spatial Science for Public Health Center at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“The COVID-19 Control data collection App by Johns Hopkins University is very well-timed, as stay-at-home and shelter-in-place restrictions start getting lifted. We are happy to collaborate with the team from Johns Hopkins University, especially during this unprecedented crisis when industry-academia collaboration is critical,” said Sudip Singh, CEO & Managing Director, ITC Infotech.
This syndromic surveillance tool will allow healthcare systems and government agencies to potentially pre-empt outbreaks and better deploy resources to mitigate consequences. Acquiring data directly from individuals rather than hospitals/laboratories greatly reduces the delay in identifying new outbreaks of the disease and expands basic monitoring of health, he further said.
