Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Inspiration

At the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak there was little reliable info on the web, received through emails, on TV news, etc. It was diffcult to tell based on symptoms if you have common cold, flu or COVID-19. I also came accross a simple breathing test to check for outset of lung pneumonia, which could be caused Coronavirus. I thought it would be nice if there was an app, so people could get the basic info and follow simple steps for self-test. So I decided to create an app for iOS.

What it does

Coronavirus (COVID-19) app has simple menu:

• About Coronavirus
• Symptoms
• Prevention
• Breathing test
• Self-Check

Breathing test

This test determines shortness of breath, which is one symptom of Coronavirus. Result can be later used in Self-Check. Users can run this test regularly to see onset of lung pneumonia.

Self-Check

List of symptoms, where you can select, which symptoms you have and set their severity from 1 to 3 (low, moderate, severe). You click Start button and the app will evaluate whether you are healthy, have symptoms of another ilness, not related to Coronavirus or if you have 1 or more symptoms of Coronavirus. People could check themselves regularly.

How I built it

Using Xcode, coding, coding, coding, searching for info on Coronavirus on the net, searching, searching, searching.

Challenges I ran into

Finding reliable info on Coronavirus, there was actually a lot of it, but official sources usually avoid publishing conjectures, precise symptoms and details about cure without it being proven over time and confirmed by independent researches, doctors. Such info could be useful, on the other hand it could be completely wrong.

I hit a dead end and that was Apple approval. The app was rejected, because of 2 issues:

1. contains objectionable content, because it is not submitted by reputable institution (for Coronavirus only governments and health care organizations can submit apps of this type
2. app scares users.

Perhaps WHO or CDC or some org like that could take over the app.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Nothing really, it's just a simple app. But I created it in about one day.

What I learned

Governments and big corporations control what can/cannot be published.

What's next for Coronavirus (COVID-19)

We will see... It would be nice to create simple complete self-examination I described earlier, and if the app could be reviewed by someone with medical background. It would be useful to add "Send my status" - which would send results of self-test to some central authority with anonymous info, rough location (city). This idea could actually be extended to deseases in general: pleople would fill checklist of symptoms and send results to central authority. This way central health organizations would have an early warning about potential pandemic, if people report the same symptoms, even before they all visit doctors and before info propagates through official channels.

Built With

• swift
• swiftui