How Taiwan Used Simple Tech to Help Contain COVID-19

Taiwan has been able to contain COVID-19 through a relatively low-tech tracing system developed by the g0v collective of designers, coders, and activists. When COVID first hit Taiwan, g0v started crowdsourcing solutions to emerging problems like contact tracing and mask rationing, eventually devising a hybrid scheme. The system employs quick response (QR) codes and a corresponding 15-digit code that can be texted freely without a smartphone to the 1922 hotline at Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center. Businesses post QR codes that customers must scan whenever they enter, text the 1922 hotline, or fill in a pen-and-paper form in the event of a community outbreak. The QR codes have helped local health authorities retrace an individual's movements when a positive case is detected, while Taiwan's cellphone networks also were tapped to find and contact potentially exposed persons. [ Click on the image to read the full article ]