Helping health authorities cope with coronavirus

“Above all, we wanted to offer swift assistance to overburdened health authorities,” Weigand says. “The original plan was for these authorities to check on COVID-19 sufferers daily to find out how they were doing. But as the pandemic took hold, the sheer number of cases made this virtually impossible.” Thanks to the pandemic management app, health authorities now have an easy way to stay in touch with those afflicted.

Faster overview of coronavirus progression

Doctors and health authorities don’t have to make extra calls to patients just to keep abreast of their condition because the patients themselves can use the app to transmit information such as temperature, pulse and respiratory rate every day. This allows treatment providers to see at a glance how the illness is progressing in people who have it and to check on those who think they might have been exposed.

Sovereignty over personal data

The app was developed extremely quickly because Fraunhofer IIS collaborated with NeuroSys GmbH, a company that develops medical software.

“Our greatest strength is data protection,” says Martin Mayr, CEO of NeuroSys. “While similar apps require personalized registration, each user of the new COVID-19 pandemic management app creates their own unique ID. This allows each person to decide for themselves who else can connect their name with their ID. In the cloud, each patient remains anonymous, Mayr says.”

NeuroSys has already completed a practical test of the app. The pandemic management app is already being used by hospitals, doctors’ offices and pharmacies. Furthermore,the Luxembourg Institute of Health is using the app in a variety of ways, including to carry out its nationwide coronavirus study.

Constant monitoring at home

The app continues to help even after COVID-19 sufferers go home from the hospital. Without having to get out of bed, they can keep their doctor informed of their progress by sending certain information. In this way, a glance at the app can replace house calls and helps to improve quality of life in patients and to reduce doctors’ and health authorities overload.

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