Stanford Medicine partnered with Apple in creating an app to help responders get access to drive-thru coronavirus tests. As of the moment, the app is currently being used by firefighters, police officers, and paramedics. According to 9To5Mac, there is a chance that the program will be available to other workers later on.
A person reacts after undergoing a test for coronavirus (COVID-19), at a drive-thru testing site at George Washington University in Washington, U.S., April 9, 2020.
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How does it work?
Apple-Stanford app helps firefighters, police officers, and paramedics in California to drive-through COVID-19 testing if the responders are showing symptoms of the virus.
To use the app, users will take a survey with questions about their symptoms. After taking the survey, and the result suggests you are likely to have COVID-19 infection, the app recommends testing.
Responders can take that result to the contact at their workplace in charge of health--in the app, it is referred to as "department infection control officer." Through using this app, you will be scheduled for priority testing at a Stanford Health Care site.
The First Responder COVID-19 Guide app is one of the new technology that helps connect people at high-risk for COVID-19 infection with testing, according to CNBC. There are experts, and officials agreed that increased testing is essential to protect medical workers and patients. Apart from that, it also helps the public to understand the widespread the coronavirus in the country. Unfortunately, there are no enough tests that are being conducted, according to officials.
The app has been first used by police officers, firefighters, and paramedics because they're essential and more prone to catching the virus. Just like a previous report on Apr. 1, it said more than 1,000 New York City police officers had tested positive for COVID-19.
"If we have a first responder who has symptoms, it's really important for them to get screened and potentially test it because they're going to be very patient-facing and very community-facing. That's what their jobs are," said Dr. Bob Harrington, chairman of the Stanford Department of Medicine.
As of the moment, the app is available in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in California.
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