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If you are still not sure what symptoms constitute COVID-19, the World Health Organization is making a mobile app for you.
Reuters reported on Saturday that the WHO is developing an app that will guide users (particularly those in countries with limited resources) through the symptoms to help them determine if they have the disease caused by the coronavirus or not. It should be out sometime this month. Individual governments will also be able to use the technology for their own applications.
It is worth noting that this is not a replacement for a COVID-19 test. From the looks of it, the app will ask you questions about your current status and offer you testing information according to your country.
This could be useful for people in countries without strong technological or educational infrastructure. Misinformation can also happen anywhere, so having an official resource from the world’s leading health authority could straighten things up for people who are still unsure of what makes COVID-19 different from a cold or a flu.
This is not yet set in stone, but apparently WHO is also considering including a Bluetooth-based contact tracking feature. Tracing contacts has been part of South Korea’s leading efforts to contain the virus, but similar attempts in places like North Dakota have not been as successful.
That is, none of the privacy concerns inherent in diligently tracking individual people’s movements. Google and Apple have banned the use of GPS in their contact tracking technology, but privacy advocates are concerned about the violation of contact tracking data collected through alternative means.
Regardless of how or if the WHO application enables contact tracking, their existence could be a positive net result from an informational standpoint alone. Until you get out, remember to stay home and wash your hands.
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