Deveryware facilitates emergency management for real-time decision-making to combat the spread of COVID-19: now completely free of charge
Its POCRISC app shows population sectorised infection levels locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
It is now a clear and proven fact that there is a need to pinpoint the epicentre, environments and ramifications of catastrophes. It has barely been ten days since the start of compulsory confinement in Spain ordered by Royal Decree 463/2020 of 14 March declaring a state of alarm to manage the country’s health crisis caused by COVID-19 (a state which is to continue for at least another fortnight after it ends on 29 March).
However, it is already possible to make various assessments about whether or not these measures are controlling the pandemic.
Below, we look at each area in turn.
Spain has imposed a set of preventative measures aimed at stopping coronavirus spreading that are supposedly among the most restrictive in Europe if not globally. It can also refer to the experiences of China and Italy (Spain’s closest neighbour in terms of location and time).
Control of the pandemic could have been sectorised
…rather than regionalised or localised to give health authorities and the Civil Defence a better understanding of the situation. Such bodies could have used a handy algorithm based on real-time data in their decision-making.
The algorithm would help:
- analyse critical information about those infected
- the spread of disease they are responsible for, how serious their infection is
- the location of their compulsory confinement after a positive PCR test result
- profiles of infected people, etc.
It would also help optimise healthcare resources in hospitals and palliative settings at every stage: confinement, hospital admission and ICU. In short, official bodies could have used efficient information management to take control of the situation.
What is needed to achieve this control ?
Especially when time is also key to saving human lives. A management tool that can provide all this data and facilitate data and results using algorithms designed, driven and tested using simulated and real-life facts.
Deveryware already provides a software platform for coordinating assessments of building damage and liveability after disasters.
This was developed as part of the European “POCRISC” POCTEFA INTERREG project which dates back to the 2011 Lorca earthquake, where over 30,000 homes were affected and 3,000 response troops were coordinated.
There is a real need for an assessment tool
In this case, the tool was required to look at seismic damage, but the principle could be applied more widely to any catastrophe whether natural or man-made, indeed to any eventuality including the one the whole world is currently facing.
In truth, the method used was simple: a code involving the colours green, yellow and red reflecting whether or not a home was safe to live in. Applying the same system to COVID-19:
- green could mean a negative test without an infection
- yellow could mean a positive test with a slight infection that only requires self-isolation and some medical input
- while red could mean a positive PCR test and a serious infection requiring hospital admission.
This would allow a real-time infection map to be created with the profiles of every sufferer and virus-free individual: age, family unit members, previous illnesses.
Civil Defence and healthcare services could then take action to target the heart of things and the government could make decisions based on what is actually happening.
What could be the impact on coronavirus spread?
This map could also help them achieve their goals as it could be used for purposes like:
- controlling people on public highways
- coordinating delivery of food and medicine distribution
- assessing old people’s homes and managing incidents
- traffic flow to businesses and disinfection programmes.
This innovative project is designed to equip civil and health authorities with a real continuous decision-making cycle:
- top-down (data acquisition)
- bottom-up (data) and (analysis and identifying actions)
- top-down (actions and new data acquisition).
Deveryware doesn’t analyse information. It provides a technological tool which connects users and relevant authorities, only intervening to monitor the status of data acquisition tasks to make sure they are carried out and triaged, and that data is exported.
Tested and certified in Malaga
The tool has already been successfully tested in practical exercises (simulations). All results have been satisfactory:
- data acquisition using an app installed on a smartphone or tablet with an Android operating system
- a control panel accessed via an administrator screen on a web browser, secure data transfer to authorities only
- emergency management, etc.
Málaga Provincial Government’s Civil Defence unit is currently using the tool to coordinate tasks to be carried out by different civil defence groups in the province with support and advice on detecting use cases from:
- the Chair of Security, Emergencies and Catastrophes at the University of Málaga (UMA)
- the Geography Department at the UMA
- the Association of Civil Protection Technicians of Andalusia (ATPCA)
- the COVID-19 Geovolunteers group organised by ESRI ESPAÑA
- Colegio de Administradores de Fincas de Málaga y Melilla.
Through its Spanish branch, Deveryware is offering a free licence to authorities and emergency services as an R&D project and for as long as management of the crisis caused by COVID-19 is required to validate the app functions.
Benefits include quick integration and deployment, making it incredibly quick to start using.
It can also be integrated with the PEMEA network as it uses standards (ETSI TS 103 478) in operation on the European platform and compatible with any tablet or smartphone on the market.
What’s more, it can operate internationally and nationally between areas with their own legislative powers like Spain’s autonomous communities.
In French territory, RESILIENCY (Deveryware subsidiary) is used to connect to the SIG analysis platform.
For more information, contact us.
ETSI TS103 478 https://www.ghale-services.com
COVID-19 Geovolunteers https://geovoluntarios.org
UNIVERSITY OF MÁLAGA https://www.uma.es/sala-de-prensa/noticias/un-equipo-de-la-uma-elabora-una-cartografia-de-los-afectados-por-coronavirus-en-malaga—/
An article by Paco Martinez
Paco Martinez Paco Martinez has worked at Deveryware for 4 years and has been promoted to POCRISC Development Project Manager for more than 2 years.
He is the author of 3 publications concerning seismic risk and the resilience of dwellings to seismic risk.
He was also the head of 3 companies specializing in digital, one of which is more specifically in geolocation.