COVID-19 - Navigating the Uncharted Territory with Technology

The unprecedented disruption caused by the outbreak of the Coronavirus is redefining the way businesses, healthcare systems, and governments function. Companies are advising employees to telecommute; patients are being encouraged to use telemedicine. Government agencies are exploring the possibilities of using geo-tracking and social conversions to contain the spread of the epidemic. 

The shortage of medical supplies is putting tremendous pressure on the healthcare system. It is only increasing the risk of exposure to first responders but also limits the ability of front-line doctors to provide timely and quality care. It's also important to effectively monitor the demand-supply situation and, in some cases, reallocate resources/inventory to hot spots.

Technologies like cloud, artificial intelligence, deep learning, augmented, and virtual reality combined with 3D printing, autonomous vehicles, and geo-location offer a plethora of opportunities. However, to date, our public–health response has only scratched the surface of what these new technologies got to offer. Let's explore some of the possibilities with use cases.

Drones and Robots to Manage Logistics

It predicted that the automated material-handling market in healthcare would reach $4.2 billion in 2030, up from $178 million in 2019. Robots and autonomous vehicles can play a significant role in shipping critical medical supplies to hospitals, disinfect healthcare facilities, and make up for the shortage of medical staff. These can also be deployed to deliver food or medical supplies to infected areas that are under lockdown, while effectively minimizing person-to-person transmission. In specific scenarios as a short-term and immediate measure, drones can be used for monitoring and detection during curfew or lockdown. 

Containing Community Spread

Google search terms related to Coronavirus can be used to determine where clusters of cases are on the rise. By leveraging AI-powered data analytics, healthcare professionals can gain valuable insights from online search queries, social media conversions, and telemedicine call volumes to identify early signals, take proactive measures to contain community-based transmission.

Leveraging a non-intrusive and patient-friendly system like geo-tracking on phones can help track infected patients, as well as determine who could have been potentially exposed or infected via direct contact. All this will further help hospitals and local bodies to respond to contain community spread swiftly.

Early Diagnostics & Treatment

Rapid testing/diagnostics is paramount to isolate and treat the infected. Frontline doctors must have an effective system to expedite diagnoses. By leveraging AI/ML and deep-learning labs can quickly detect (from CT scans) and identify pneumonic lesions, including their number, volume, and proportion. Doctors can remotely assess the case and prescribe the desired course of treatment.

Biosensors (self-adhesive patches) can help monitor a person's movement, heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature. By collating this data, medical centers can track suspects and isolate them for testing. Biosensors not only help to improve outcomes but also reduce the workload on the already stressed front-line medical staff.

Diagnostics could become a challenge while screening a large volume of the fast-moving crowd as in an airport. AI-powered, the non-contact infrared sensor system can be used to quickly screen and detect any person having fever or any potential symptoms of the Coronavirus. 

Managing Spike in Medical Supplies

By embedding sensors and chips into a different type of medical equipment like scanners and ventilators, labs and hospitals can monitor the performance and availability of critical equipment. It also enables hospitals or local governing bodies to effectively track utilization across locations and reallocate equipment to the most impacted areas - within a hospital network or a county or city.

3D printing is also revolutionizing the medical industry from human organ transplants to prosthetic limbs. Recently several start-ups and entrepreneurs have built prototypes of medical face mask using 3D printers. When done on a massive scale, this will become a viable option to meet the temporary spike in demand for protective gear.

Telecommuting to Work

Every organization is now advising its employees to telecommute to work. It's manageable if a subset of the workforce telecommutes. But this becomes a considerable challenge when majorly or all of the employees telecommute. It calls for rapid scaling and provisioning of IT systems – desktops, applications, connectivity, security, and related resources. Modern workplace technologies are redefining the work experiences by shifting to an employee-centric model—while keeping business compliant and secure. These technologies help organizations to offer personalized and contextualized employee experience while improving collaboration, productivity, and outcomes. For example, by enabling workspace on AWS Cloud, businesses can provide their employees with access to desktops, applications, and resources anytime, anywhere, and on any device in a secured environment.  

By embracing these technologies, healthcare facilities, businesses, and the government can effectively combat the pandemic. These technologies will not only help track and contain the spread of the epidemic but also drastically minimize the chance of such an outbreak exploding into a global pandemic in the future.