Digital Technologies in Corona Crisis Management
In the context of the global efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, digital technologies are taking on a role that is both visible and controversial. At the same time, the reciprocal relationship between technology and society is often ignored, argue Sophie-Charlotte Fischer, Kevin Kohler and Andreas Wenger in this CSS Analysis. In interaction with other crisis management measures, countries worldwide apply digital technologies in very different ways.
The first pandemic in the age of smartphones, big data, and artificial intelligence has led to a sudden proliferation of digital tools designed to fight infectious diseases. Digital technologies can be used to monitor and control physical distance and quarantine measures, they can facilitate contact tracing, and the detection of infection clusters. They can also help track the health status of individuals. However, digital technologies alone are not a magic bullet in the fight against the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Whether the technical possibilities are used in crisis response, and how and by whom they are used, depends on many factors.
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