Problem Statement
When we are in a pandemic situation where the transmission is from human to human and the mortality rate is high, we have 2 options to tackle it and at least that is what we have seen in case of CoronaVirus situation. The first option is to do a rapid test to get a flat curve and the second one is to lockdown everything to get it under control. While the first option is expensive and puts many more people's lives in danger, the second option is not great for the economy and can be operationally challenging as well. Unless we get the vaccination and a proper medicine to cure the virus, we can only limit the damage. Here is my technology based idea/proposal to minimize the impact of deadly CoronaVirus.
Proposed Solution
The proposal and idea itself is pretty simple and the implementation can be expensive or complex. What we will really need is an IoT based band which can do the following.
- Track any other individual with a Band comes within ‘x’ meter of this person i.e. the person has come in contact with another person. ‘x’ being the configurable parameter which defines the social distance.
- Can change its color from Green → Amber → Red. How will the color change is explained in the next paragraph.
- It has the ability to contact the health department to report any symptoms.
Color Changes for the Band
I. Green - To start with the band will be Green. Green means the person is totally healthy and hasn’t come in contact with any other individual with infection. He is free to move around and work etc. We assume a lot of the population will fall into this category by using our system.
- The band will change from Green to Amber when any person you have come in contact with turns ‘Red’ i.e. they are tested positive with CoronaVirus.
- Green will change to Red, when you show severe symptoms and you ask the health officials to get it checked and you are tested positive.
- Color will change from Amber to Green when you have completed ‘n’ number of days of quarantine period and haven’t developed any symptoms.
- Color will change from Red to Green when you are cleared by the health official after the tests.
II. Amber - When Amber, the person will have to stay quarantined. Cannot walk outside of the house until the quarantine days are over.
- A person will change to Amber from Green, when he has come in contact with any other infected person in the last ‘n’ days.
- A person will change to Red from Amber when the person develops some symptoms and is tested positive.
- The color will change Amber to Green when the quarantine period is over.
III. Red - Red, of course means the person is infected. He will either stay at home until he is completely cured or go to the hospital when the symptoms become severe.
- The band will change Red from Amber, when the person develops some symptoms and is tested positive.
- The band will change Red from Green when the person develops severe symptoms and is tested positive.
- When the person is totally cured, the Red band will change Green with an intermediate Amber for ‘n’ days.
Containment Zone
The containment zone can be as small as a society to as large as the entire world. However there will be travel restrictions from non-containment zone to containment zone. If someone is travelling from a non-containment zone to a containment zone, will be marked Amber as soon as he enters the containment zone and will be in quarantine for ‘n’ number of days. When they turn Green, they will be allowed to move around and work.
Conclusion
This is an idea at a high level to tackle coronavirus. This is not a vaccination and only a technology solution to limit the damage until we have the proper vaccination and cure in place.
