Comparison of longitudinal trends in self-reported symptoms and COVID-19 case activity in Ontario, Canada

Background Limitations in laboratory diagnostic capacity impact population surveillance of COVID-19. It is currently unknown whether participatory surveillance tools for COVID-19 correspond to government-reported case trends longitudinally and if it can be used as an adjunct to laboratory testing. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether self-reported COVID-19-like illness reflected laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 case trends in Ontario Canada. Methods We retrospectively analyzed longitudinal self-reported symptoms data collected using an online tool–Outbreaks Near Me (ONM)–from April 20th, 2020, to March 7th, 2021 in Ontario, Canada. We measured the correlation between COVID-like illness among respondents and the weekly number of PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases and provincial test positivity. We explored contemporaneous changes in other respiratory viruses, as well as the demographic characteristics of respondents to provide context for our findings. Results Between 3,849–11,185 individuals responded to the symptom survey each week. No correlations were seen been self-reported CLI and either cases or test positivity. Strong positive correlations were seen between CLI and both cases and test positivity before a previously documented rise in rhinovirus/enterovirus in fall 2020. Compared to participatory surveillance respondents, a higher proportion of COVID-19 cases in Ontario consistently came from low-income, racialized and immigrant areas of the province- these groups were less well represented among survey respondents. Interpretation Although digital surveillance systems are low-cost tools that have been useful to signal the onset of viral outbreaks, in this longitudinal comparison of self-reported COVID-like illness to Ontario COVID-19 case data we did not find this to be the case. Seasonal respiratory virus transmission and population coverage may explain this discrepancy.

Applying Human-Centered Design Principles to Digital Syndromic Surveillance at a Mass Gathering in India: Viewpoint

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health tools have been deployed by governments around the world to advance clinical and population health objectives. Few interventions have been successful or have achieved sustainability or scale. In India, government agencies are proposing sweeping changes to India’s digital health architecture. Underpinning these initiatives is the assumption that mobile health solutions will find near universal acceptance and uptake, though the observed reticence of clinicians to use electronic health records suggests otherwise. In this practice article, we describe our experience with implementing a digital surveillance tool at a large mass gathering, attended by nearly 30 million people. Deployed with limited resources and in a dynamic chaotic setting, the adherence to human-centered design principles resulted in near universal adoption and high end-user satisfaction. Through this use case, we share generalizable lessons in the importance of contextual relevance, stakeholder participation, customizability, and rapid iteration, while designing digital health tools for individuals or populations.

Technolegal Expulsions: Platform Food Delivery Workers and Work Regulations in Colombia

Precariousness of the Colombian urban economy provides an ecosystem for the development and expansion of digital platforms, intersecting informal working relations with digital surveillance. Reconstructing legal obstacles to gaining recognition as legal and formal workers, it is argued that platforms have assembled a techno-legal network which translates discussions about workers’ rights into the less regulated arena of information and communication technologies. The role of ‘regulatory displacement’ is examined to analyse the evolution of digital platforms for food delivery workers. Drawing on a review of the regulation of it and labour, discussed in Congress in 2017–2018, we explore the regulatory expulsions that digital workers experience, analysing this information with a grounded theory approach, in which we have followed discursive patterns that emerge from legal documents. Addressing this strategic use of the law is key to understanding and overcoming obstacles that platform workers face in their attempts to organize in the Global South.

Surveillance Society in a Digitalized World

Although the surveillance society discussions have been carried out for a long time, they have recently moved to a different stage with the increase of digitalization. There is a new situation that changes the entire historical context of surveillance, and this new situation is briefly called digital surveillance. However, to make sense of digitalization and digital surveillance, it is necessary to explain how digital citizenship contributes to this process. Digitalization without digital citizenship is unthinkable. In short, this study will show the continuities and breaks of the phenomenon of surveillance in the historical process by shifting from classic surveillance practices to digital surveillance forms. Digital surveillance is considered to be much more complex, sophisticated, incomprehensible to all, and transcends all kinds of time and space boundaries compared to classic surveillance.

Wildlife in the Digital Anthropocene: Examining human-animal relations through surveillance technologies

Digital surveillance technologies enable a range of publics to observe the private lives of wild animals. Publics can now encounter wildlife from their smartphones, home computers, and other digital devices. These technologies generate public-wildlife relations that produce digital intimacy, but also summon wildlife into relations of care, commodification, and control. Via three case studies, this paper examines the biopolitical implications of such technologically mediated human-animal relations, which are becoming increasingly common and complex in the Digital Anthropocene. Each of our case studies involves a different biopolitical rationale deployed by a scientific-managerial regime: (1) clampdown (wild boar); (2) care (golden eagle); and (3) control (moose). Each of these modalities of biopower, however, is entangled with the other, inaugurating complex relations between publics, scientists, and wildlife. We show how digital technologies can predetermine certain representations of wildlife by encouraging particular gazes, which can have negative repercussions for public-wildlife relations in both digital and offline spaces. However, there remains work to be done to understand the positive public-wildlife relations inaugurated by digital mediation. Here, departing from much extant literature on digital human-animal relations, we highlight some of these positive potentials, notably: voice, immediacy, and agency.

Solutions to Big Data Privacy and Security Challenges Associated With COVID-19 Surveillance Systems

The growing dependency on digital technologies is becoming a way of life, and at the same time, the collection of data using them for surveillance operations has raised concerns. Notably, some countries use digital surveillance technologies for tracking and monitoring individuals and populations to prevent the transmission of the new coronavirus. The technology has the capacity to contribute towards tackling the pandemic effectively, but the success also comes at the expense of privacy rights. The crucial point to make is regardless of who uses and which mechanism, in one way another will infringe personal privacy. Therefore, when considering the use of technologies to combat the pandemic, the focus should also be on the impact of facial recognition cameras, police surveillance drones, and other digital surveillance devices on the privacy rights of those under surveillance. The GDPR was established to ensure that information could be shared without causing any infringement on personal data and businesses; therefore, in generating Big Data, it is important to ensure that the information is securely collected, processed, transmitted, stored, and accessed in accordance with established rules. This paper focuses on Big Data challenges associated with surveillance methods used within the COVID-19 parameters. The aim of this research is to propose practical solutions to Big Data challenges associated with COVID-19 pandemic surveillance approaches. To that end, the researcher will identify the surveillance measures being used by countries in different regions, the sensitivity of generated data, and the issues associated with the collection of large volumes of data and finally propose feasible solutions to protect the privacy rights of the people, during the post-COVID-19 era.

COVID-19 Exposes Digital Divide, Social Stigma and Information Crisis in Bangladesh

This paper gives an overview of digital inequalities and sociocultural factors (e.g., stigma, religious faith) associated with health-related misinformation during COVID-19 in Bangladesh. It aims to explore how digital inequalities, digital surveillance, socio-cultural and religious factors, and health-related misinformation spread through social media have further exacerbated the crisis. Highlighting the growing digital inequalities and health crisis in Bangladesh, it proposes some recommendations to ensure digital inclusion and improve overall public health education and change behaviour in order to mitigate the risks of COVID-19. This essay will provide a forum and research agenda for academicians and practitioners from the Global South to develop and identify new opportunities or challenges regarding emerging health crisis issues relevant to communication practice in the use of digital media and technology.

Potential Development of Digital Environmental Surveillance System in Dengue Control: A Qualitative Study

Background: The development of digital environmental technology can be conducted to implement reports, surveillance, and manage dengue control. Therefore, this study aims to determine the barriers to the use of paper-based and the potential development of digital environmental technology in dengue control. Methods In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted using 14 key informants and four focus group discussions (FGD) from May-August 2021 in Denpasar City, Bali. The interviews were consistent with the flow of the epidemiological and entomological surveillance system, the obstacles to the dengue control program, the potential for the application of digital technology, and the challenges in the application of digital surveillance technology. Furthermore, open-ended questions and content analysis by qualitative study procedures were adopted. The results were transcribed verbatim and triangulation of sources was conducted for data validation. Results The reporting system that used paper-based was not optimally implemented due to repetition of reporting, speed of information, data bias, performance measurement as well as case surveillance and reporting system constraints. An integrated digital environmental surveillance system (SILIRA) was also developed for dengue control. In the current Covid-19 pandemic, the need for digital applications is high due to the policy of not accepting guests and keeping a distance. Epidemiological surveillance for case data collection, entomological surveillance for larva density, case reporting, and educational videos are the required data in the application. Conclusion The development of an integrated application for an environmental monitoring system can be created for the continuous reporting of case information and larval density for dengue hemorrhagic fever control. Keywords: digital, surveillance, environment, dengue

Long-term Prescription? Digital Surveillance is Here to Stay

An emerging literature has shown concerns about the impact of the pandemic on the proliferation of digital surveillance. Contributing to these debates, in this paper we demonstrate how the pandemic facilitates digital surveillance in three ways: (1) By shifting everyday communication to digital means it contributes to the generation of extensive amounts of data susceptible to surveillance. (2) It motivates the development of new digital surveillance tools. (3) The pandemic serves as a perfect justification for governments to prolong digital surveillance. We provide empirical anecdotes for these three effects by examining reports by the Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford University. Building on our argument, we conclude that we might be on the verge of a dangerous normalization of digital surveillance. Thus, we call on scholars to consider the full effects of public health crises on politics and suggest scrutinizing sources of digital data and the complex relationships between the state, corporate actors, and the sub-contractors behind digital surveillance.