How Civic Technology Can Help Stop a Pandemic

Situated less than 90 miles from China, the coronavirus outbreak could have been critical in Taiwan, but the country's proactive measures helped to stave off the worst of the disease. Having learned from SARS epidemic, Taiwan had prepared for future situations by creating a comprehensive command center and implementing a transparent communication strategy both of which have helped slow the spread of Covid-19.

The United States and Italy have been playing catch up in the mitigation of the coronavirus pandemic and were resistant to implementing social distancing, while other countries took more aggressive approaches. Now both countries are looking to China and South Korea to learn how sweeping actions and industrialized scaling of measures such as fever clinics, temperature check points, portable CAT scanning, and social isolation, have helped to contain the pandemic.

China has seen success in containing the coronavirus through strict governmental oversight but when the virus made its way to Vietnam – a country with similar rule – the government enacted more transparent approaches and relied on social networks to mitigate the spread. Although it is yet to be seen if one methodology was superior to the other, Vietnam's strategy of accountability and transparency has "proved to be effective and furnished positive results."

Unlike the United States, South Korea has seen rapid success in slowing the spread of coronavirus by implementing widespread testing protocols and increasing transparency. Instead of government officials giving updates, public health experts report to the public while throughout the nation pop-up and drive-through testing sites allow for mass-scale testing, all offered free of charge to citizens.

As word of the coronavirus outbreak spread, so did misinformation, so the World Health Organization began working with big tech companies to put a stop to it. Collaborating with the likes of Pinterest, Google, Twitter, and Facebook, W.H.O. has posted content that disputes the incorrect information across platforms and sites in order to make "falsehoods harder to find in searches or on news streams."

In order to effectively manage the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea, government officials have stepped in by increasing transparency, subsidizing home medical equipment such as face masks, and rapidly distributing testing kits. The efforts have resulted in many more people already being tested than anticipated and behavioral changes taking effect within the population.

As countries around the world work to slow the spread of coronavirus, several places including Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macau have reported success from a handful of methods. Mass testing is a common factor throughout each, but financial incentives for self-quarantine, temperature checks at small businesses, and complimentary hand sanitizersr are a few other solutions that have shown promise.

Identifying the metagenomic sequencing for new outbreaks of viruses can help to better assess how the virus is spreading, which in turn helps health officials figure out how to slow down the contagion. In the midst of a coronavirus outbreak, a tool that was first used to during the SARS outbreak is now being used to track Covid-19 in under-resourced places such as Cambodia.

While many countries are struggling to control the spread of the recent coronavirus outbreak, South Korea has reported a decline in daily caseloads due to their rapid and comprehensive response. By expanding testing sites to include drive-throughs, canceling events and implementing more thorough testing protocols in their international airport, the country has offered lessons for others who have not yet determined a course of action.

As coronavirus continues to spread around the world, social distancing is being implemented due to its proven success with helping to drastically slow the spread of the Spanish flu in St. Louis Missouri. In a comparison of St. Louis and Philadelphia – a city that did not institute social distancing practices – limiting the time in public spaces helped to keep per capita flu-related deaths in St. Louis "to less than half of those in Philadelphia."