We are few years since Bill Gates' call to action in his TED Talk on preparing for pandemics in 2015, but the status of scalable software for important workflows such as data collection and contact tracking has significantly delayed expectations during the current pandemic.
The Trump administration letter to health agencies regarding data sharing guidelines required for daily Excel uploads and manual contact tracking efforts without software have proven difficult given the magnitude of the current pandemic.
Everything is under construction right now.
Research universities are helping to build Models used by the CDC for case prediction, and this has highlighted the terrible issues related to incomplete data sharing between health institutions and governments.
Dozens of contact tracking apps are springing up, privacy design decisions emerge, the need for newer technologies beyond Bluetooth for near-field communication and leading companies like Google and Apple that affect partnership to enhance cross-platform mobile capabilities.
The good news is that current efforts are taking the need for better software seriously and promoting the innovation needed to help society better prepare for pandemics.
How can detailed case data be shared by hospitals with governments to better predict case and mortality numbers and used to better allocate medical and labor resources?
How can the software help local and state governments to develop better policies and help digitize the track of contacts while appeasing privacy concerns?
The software has the ability to enhance many of these capabilities and is creating new opportunities for startups to control newly formed appetite for better data and digitized workflows from health agencies, local and state governments and other organizations involved in the struggle. against pandemics.
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