Healthcare IT Today July 1, 2021
Who could benefit from a geographical map that ranks counties by the risk of residents getting COVID-19? Certainly, such detail is valuable to public health agencies-but also to municipal governments, hospitals, clinics, and even private businesses.
Japan illustrates the powerful benefits of identifying geographic clusters, which it did early enough in the spread of COVID-19 to avoid a total lockdown of the country and the economic devastation that would accompany it. Taiwan implemented a cluster-based approach too, avoiding a lockdown, and Vietnam needed a national lockdown for only 15 days. Of course, other measures were instituted in these countries too (controls over people entering, masks, etc.), but this article focuses on how geographic distinctions can help regions provide locally appropriate...