Smartphone Apps’ Impact on the COVID Pandemic

Nature Biotechnology recently published a review on the impact of smartphone apps on the COVID pandemic. The evaluation aimed to observe how smartphone apps can inform epidemiology and prevent disease spread.  

The paper identifies that strategies used in the early COVID pandemic were not radical but had been used for decades, if not centuries. With smartphones having a global and almost instantaneous reach, the researchers looked to answer how apps can affect outbreak epidemiology, individual screenings, and contact tracing. 

The review of outbreak epidemiology criticizes traditional outbreak tracking due to delayed communication times. The basic level of smartphone participation in outbreak tracking is active surveillance. Many apps focus on symptom tracking in certain areas. Participants are meant to download the app and take daily surveys in which they report COVID-like symptoms.  

Universities, such as Northwestern University, have developed symptom tracker apps and implemented their use across campus. This has allowed them to track and mitigate disease outbreaks more readily.  

In addition to individual symptom tracking, smartphone apps can assist in understanding and disseminating epidemiologic information by delivering data on disease trends, local outbreaks, and personal risks.  

Along with epidemiologic data, individual screening data is available with smartphone apps. Not only have daily symptoms reports and risk assessment apps been in use, but there are apps available to monitor symptoms directly. For example, the Digital Engagement & Tracking for Early Control & Treatment (DETECT) study app tracks symptoms like heart rate in real-time.  

Finally, “contact tracing was the most ubiquitously used COVID-19-related smartphone app function, despite the dearth of real-world outcomes,” stated the researchers in the paper. Despite potential benefits, contact tracing apps also raise concerns about data security and privacy.  

With the COVID pandemic disproportionately impacting people of color and lower socioeconomic status, many researchers and public health officials are looking for more effective ways to flatten the curve and reduce disease transmission.  

The researchers in this article make recommendations on how smartphone apps can be altered and repurposed for better pandemic management. Not only do they hope to integrate more individual monitoring through wearable sensors but also, they suggest further advancement on a population level.  

“It is time to respect and optimize the power of these digital health tools,” concluded the writers in the study.  

It will be up to public health officials and governments to foster further development in these apps and address issues of data privacy.