As South Africa braces itself for the peak of the Covid-19 infection curb, technology could be the solution to help safeguard us from a resurgence of the virus – as and when more industries fully open.
This is the word from Steven Curzen, chief operating officer of Hower and co-founder of Keep.Out.Covid, who says: “There is a huge reluctance and fear from many South Africans to embrace technology fully during this period and this can be partially due to the fake news and myths that are doing the rounds on social media about Covid-19.
“However, what South Africans need to know is that the current systems that are being used are outdated and only help spread the virus even further.”
He refers to paper-based tracking systems that could help to spread the virus while being if limited usefulness in terms of information gathered or referenced.
Curzen says that using apps specifically designed to eliminate any and all contact, such as Keep.Out.Covid and others, helps to not only streamline the process but it also helps reduce the amount of time spent on such issues.
The system provides exact dates and times in the event of a track and trace and provides security of information for the public.
Such systems have been used and continue to be used for major international sporting events such as Formula 1, Moto GP, English Football and more.
Locally, there are a few organisations that have migrated from the paper system to digital, including BMW Auto Bavaria Midrand.
“We started looking into a digital solution when we realised that we were going through 300 pages of paper per day to keep track of people in and out of our dealership,” says Sue-Mari Smit, service manager at BMW Auto Bavaria Midrand. “We realised that this would be impossible to reconcile for track and tracing in the case that there was an infected person on our premises.”