Tracking COVID-19: Implementing a Web-Based COVID-19 Symptom and Behavior Tracking System

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, rural Indiana communities were faced with the challenge of finding ways to track and monitor their patients' COVID-related symptoms and behaviors. A solution was found through a partnership between IU Center for Rural Engagement, Southern Indiana Community Health Care, programmer and data analyst David Tidd, doctoral student Kristina Mullis and associate professor Jon Macy in the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, who worked together to develop a tool that helped individuals monitor their symptoms and notify public health officials and local providers of coronavirus spread. As the response to COVID-19 changed drastically within short periods of time, the purpose of this project shifted from monitoring COVID-19 symptoms to a focus on understanding stay-at-home behaviors and, most recently, vaccine acceptance or hesitancy.