Park Hyusim, Jin Peng, Jung Sungyong, Kim Jayoung
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA.
Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Transl Androl Urol. 2021 Feb;10(2):939-953. doi: 10.21037/tau-20-1042.
The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented event that has caused incredible challenges in all areas of society. However, unlike previous global pandemics, modern advancements in technology and medicine have made it possible to respond much more rapidly. Within months, countries around the world developed diagnostic kits and smartphone applications to tackle the virus. Many of these diagnostic kits vary in what they target and have different uses. Smartphone applications have been developed to provide real-time information to users regarding potential exposure, statistics, updated news, etc. Depending on the country, resources and government policies have created a wide range of products and applications. This narrative review paper focuses on providing a general overview of diagnostic kits and smartphone applications in three major countries, the U.S., South Korea, and China. Smartphone applications were used for tracing person-to-person contact and preventing the spread of COVID-19. These tools allowed public health officials to quickly identify people who may have had exposure to COVID-19 and allows them to act accordingly. In addition to discussing the mechanisms behind diagnostic kits, topics in legislation and policy for contact tracing will also be discussed. As nations enter into the next phase of the pandemic, there are serious considerations to be made about how technology can be integrated into handling future healthcare crises.
新冠疫情是一场史无前例的事件，给社会的各个领域都带来了巨大挑战。然而，与以往的全球大流行不同，技术和医学的现代进步使得能够做出更快的响应。在几个月内，世界各国就开发出了诊断试剂盒和智能手机应用程序来应对这种病毒。这些诊断试剂盒中的许多在检测目标和用途上各不相同。智能手机应用程序已被开发出来，为用户提供有关潜在接触情况、统计数据、最新新闻等的实时信息。根据不同国家的情况，资源和政府政策催生了各种各样的产品和应用程序。这篇叙述性综述文章着重概述美国、韩国和中国这三个主要国家的诊断试剂盒和智能手机应用程序。智能手机应用程序被用于追踪人与人之间的接触情况并防止新冠病毒传播。这些工具使公共卫生官员能够迅速识别可能接触过新冠病毒的人，并据此采取行动。除了讨论诊断试剂盒背后的机制外，还将讨论接触者追踪方面的立法和政策话题。随着各国进入疫情的下一阶段，对于如何将技术融入应对未来的医疗危机，需要进行认真的思考。
