How volunteers from tech companies like Amazon, Apple and Google built a coronavirus-tracking site in six days

Having learned from a failed response to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS), the South Korea government and health officials enacted a proactive and effective strategy to contain the spread of 'Covid-19. Relying on better information control as well as technological advancements that aided contact tracing and quarantine protocols, the country has seen only seen 2.67 deaths per 100,000 people thus far.

In South Korea, the government is using smartphone technology, including various independent apps and text messaging, to implement contact tracing. This has enabled the country's economy to avoid a full shutdown. Early results comparing South Korea to other countries shows that this digital strategy is just as successful as implementing complete lockdowns.

To raise awareness and encourage downloads of a contact tracing app, the team of volunteers who were built the app partnered with the Guam Visitors Bureau to collaborate on a grassroots outreach campaign. Using Zoom and WhatsApp groups to create public trust with "organizations, schools, and cultural groups across the island," the effort culminated in "a rate of adoption that outstrips states with far more resources."

South Korea and Hong Kong have been able to contain the coronavirus without imposing restrictive lockdowns by implementing an aggressive and widespread testing, data sharing and contact tracing regime. In the case of South Korea, the country was able to not just flatten the curve of coronavirus cases in only 20 days, but also maintain a decrease in cases even after a parliamentary election with record-setting turnout numbers.

To better trace the spread of coronavirus, Singapore and China have been using apps that collect data about citizens' whereabouts and let people know if they've potentially been in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with the virus. Now, similar apps are being piloted in New York and Massachusettes in an attempt to better "understand more about the clinical course of the disease."

As word of the coronavirus outbreak spread, so did misinformation, so the World Health Organization began working with big tech companies to put a stop to it. Collaborating with the likes of Pinterest, Google, Twitter, and Facebook, W.H.O. has posted content that disputes the incorrect information across platforms and sites in order to make "falsehoods harder to find in searches or on news streams."

The National Education Association has launched a school-focused COVID-19 case tracker in the U.S., all thank to the efforts of a Kansas theater teacher. Alisha Morris started with an excel sheet and took to online searches to start logging the number of positive cases, first around her state, and later was tracking 48 U.S. states. By the time she handed off the data to the NEA, Morris, along with various volunteers "had logged over nearly 4,300 cases at more than 1,000 schools."

To expand wifi access during the coronavirus pandemic for those who work in the agricultural community and in migrant farmworker camps, the City of The Dalles partnered and collaborated with Google and other community businesses to purchase hot spots and Chromebooks for farmworkers to use. The hot spots don't work in all areas of the county, but in the orchards with cell service where they have been installed, they have been helping to provide access to telemedicine and educational services.

South Korea has effectively crushed the curve in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic by using extensive tracking and tracing on its citizens. Using a combination of GPS tracking, monitoring CCTV footage, and even checking bank accounts to see where people visited, the government released that information publicly to track those who tested positive and warn those who might be at risk. Acknowledged as an invasion of privacy, it has also kept the country out of lockdown.

When it comes to containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, many experts point to contact tracing, in which disease detectives track and monitor the interactions and movements of known infected people, as the key. From more manual, labor-intensive detective methods to high-tech app-based methods, contact tracing tactics can vary, but the basic concept remains the same. However, there is a trade off between safety and privacy.