We live in some scary times. The Covid-19 pandemic has already gotten out of control in most parts of the world and the US made a total disaster by infecting more than 2 million people so far.
Scientists and doctors from around the globe are trying to make sense of the situation. They all race to find the cure and end the problem but it seems like it will need more time for something like this. Follow this link to see what’s happening live.
A faster solution is the prevention of the virus spreading. This, however, might not be in the hands of the medical staff, but in the hands of the IT sector. The future of virus control is in technology.
How can technology help?
As the title suggests, Artificial Intelligence is the key to preventing the virus to spread all around us. AI is a technology that is blooming at the moment and more companies working with its claim that they can easily put things under control by using their simple AI inventions.
With this technology, and with a little help of its companion IoT (Internet of things), all public places can be covered and people will be safe from anyone that might be a potential threat. How can this be achieved? Read on to find out!
AI can be programmed to track almost anything down
With this technology, it’s easy to track down people who are sick and have a fever, which is the main symptom of carrying the coronavirus.
Let’s take a train station where thousands of people walk around every day. There are security guards but they can’t check every single one in there.
A single CCTV camera being boosted with an AI-driven software can handle the problem. The camera will record every person walking under its objective and the software implemented will record the temperature of the people walking around.
Everyone who has a higher than usual temperature will be caught by the software. Then, in a part of a second, it will alarm the authorities in the security room, who will instantly alert the safeguards. They will take out this person eliminating a further threat for everyone else in the area.
This method is already being used in many segments of our lives. The security is vastly using this option. For example, the Athena-security software using AI is catching criminals for a long time by simply explaining to the software what the potential threats are. Criminals are caught instantly as they show on the spot where AI computer is being the “guard dog”.
The same can be done for people with fever. The software can recognize the higher temperature and they will be eliminated from the place.
Why is this a great idea?
We can’t find a cure for Covid-19. At least not right now. That’s why we must find another way to get out of the crisis. Preventing social distancing is one of those ways.
However, in cities with millions of residents, it’s really hard to keep everything function normally and still prevent people from spreading the virus from one person to another. There’s no other way to get control over the situation but this.
If the officials and the private entities too manage to install these items all around the cities, it will be really easy to see who’s infected in a matter of days. Together with the other suggestions coming from healthcare officials, like keeping proper distance, wearing face masks, and avoiding social contact, we might even completely solve the problem and erase any danger from Covid-19.
How does the whole thing function?
There are several key factors to make something like this function. First, you need a camera with an installed temperature sensor that can measure it to people in the focus. Then, this camera needs to be connected with a Wi-Fi connection to the computer that is equipped with artificial intelligence software.
Learn more about the basics of IoT here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things.
When everything is set up well, and the people start walking under the camera and the sensor, the artificial intelligence software starts recognizing people as a potential threat one by one doing it very fast. Everyone who walks under the sensor coverage will be scanned immediately and send an alert to those appointed for keeping the order.
Can this be used for other things too?
Of course. This system was built for uncovering potential security threats inside homes and buildings. It can find out any flaw that will be described as one to the AI software. For example, people walking with a gun inside homes will immediately be recognized by the camera and the software.
In this case, the threat can be described as several things – two or more people standing too close to each other, people not wearing masks, people coughing, or even unusual standing positions that might suggest that something’s not right.
What about those carrying the virus and not having symptoms?
A lot of people are asymptomatic carriers of the disease and it’s hard to recognize them. Better said – it’s impossible to recognize them. For them, there’s no way to do anything as there’s still not discovered a machine that will provide virus results through the air.
We can’t do much about this problem, but this is still something that must be taken into consideration. If we manage to scan and take out all the ones who are infected, and the rest are covered with masks and maintain social distance, then we can be sure that the virus will soon be gone.
Conclusion
These few points explain how easy the solving of the problem can be if people put enough effort into solving it. Sure, these items and technology do not come cheap, but having in mind the disastrous situation in which the economy is, it seems like this is just a drop in the ocean.
The sooner we invest in this and install them in every corner of the city, we can be sure that the problem will be solved faster.