The role of smartphone apps during the COVID-19 pandemic

News-Medical.Net June 22, 2022
By Bhavana Kunkalikar Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc.

In a recent study published in Nature Biotechnology, researchers assessed the role of smartphone apps during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Background

Smartphone apps were widely used for tracing, tracking, and educating the general public about COVID-19. While there are major concerns related to data privacy and data security, evidence suggests the usefulness of apps in understanding the infection outbreaks, individual screening as well as contact tracing.

Outbreak epidemiology

In the present study, researchers reviewed and assessed major digital app projects according to outbreak epidemiology, individual screening, and contact tracing.

The team divided the COVID-19 epidemiology into (1) surveillance of active user participants, (2) population-level tracking of passive users, (3) individual risk assessment, and (4) forecasting viral illness. Participatory...

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