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What can citizens do during a crisis like this one? That was the driving question for most citizens on March 14th after the country declared a state of alarm to control the spread of COVID-19 and cope with the mounting public health emergency.
Over the weekend officials announced that the virus was spreading faster in Spain than in Italy, with the WHO declaring “Europe the new epicenter of the disease.” Faced with this reality, three leading technology companies came together to concept and create the new COVID-19 app to help control the pandemic and empower citizens with better communication channels.
ForceManager, together with CARTO, and Mendesaltaren took the lead to develop the App, working around the clock to create Spain’s first official App in partnership with health officials from the Community of Madrid, and supported by Telefonica, Ferrovial, and Google.
The ‘Asistencia COVID-19’ App was built in record time, provides citizens a reliable information platform to evaluate symptoms, and receive official information about how to react in the case of being infected with the virus.
The App makes it possible for citizens to receive public health information without further congesting telephone lines while relieving the burden on health systems and allowing authorities to increase the effectiveness of their response.
On behalf of ForceManager the project was led by Oscar Macia, CEO and created by a team of senior developers, (Alvaro Gonzalez, Roger Sala, Daniel Balastegui, Jordi Gandía, Jose Company y Alejandro Company) who worked around the clock with great passion to ensure top usability and mobility functionalities.
“It is inspiring to see how an idea conceived just 7 days ago, was created in record time thanks to the expertise and dedication of three technology companies. I’m proud to be a part of this project, and contribute to the global effort to combat, and help contain the spread of COVID-19. The team of ForceManager developers worked around the clock, using their technical skills for social good – and as a direct circumstance we now have a highly effective App to decongest telephone lines and relieve the mounting pressure on health officials” Oscar Macia
First and foremost the application allows individuals to self-evaluate symptoms to determine if further action is required. This will help to relieve pressure on the already saturated emergency communication methods and give clear recommendations for action.
As seen in the screenshots below, of the soon to be released mobile version of the app, citizens enter personal information, including name, phone number, date of birth, sex, address, postal code, DNI and email (optional). They also answer some questions relating to symptoms they may be experiencing with the app advising next steps. All data is protected.
The App is able to geolocate the data, making it possible for the local authorities to visualize infections on an interactive map and perform geospatial analysis to determine high-risk areas. This technology, powered by CARTO allows officials to track how symptoms change over time and by location, allowing them to act faster in certain hotspots.
In an upcoming update, the application will provide greater data insights so cases can be tracked in more detail, advising officials about whether the quarantine is being adhered to in specific neighbourhoods.
All data collected by the system will be encrypted and stored securely with users having complete control over its usage.
Both China and South Korea used technology to combat the spread of the virus and ensure communication during the quarantine. ForceManager and its partners looked at these Apps as inspiration during the concepting phase, realizing that these solutions played a great role in the containment and control of the COVID-19 disease, it became clear that Spain would need to invest in a solution of its own.
The Community of Madrid led the incentive, with the entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky taking charge as the coordinator.
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