Online Portal to Assist Coronavirus Infected Residents in New York

The NYC COVID-19 Engagement Portal was launched, Friday. This portal aims to provide New York residents with information and updates if they or someone they know has contracted coronavirus, according to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Other information that the portal provides includes symptoms experienced and persons who came in contact with someone who tested positive and is in quarantine.

Unlike other apps, this app is less of a way to connect to other people but more an attempt to let the city officials communicate directly with affected people and establish a broader picture of the coronavirus' spread in the city, the city information office said.

The City's Chief Information Officer, Jessica Tisch stated on an email that to combat the coronavirus pandemic, not only medical equipment and testing is needed, but data in real-time is also essential. "This portal will empower New Yorkers to build an unprecedented data set that will reveal the spread of this virus throughout New York City, and enable City agencies to swiftly and effectively respond to the outbreak and communicate with affected members of the public", Tisch said in a statement.

The portal is designed for users who have experienced symptoms of COVD-19, tested positive for the virus, came in contact with somebody who may have had it, or who are currently in quarantine. Users will select which group they belong, then enter personal information like name, age, home address, and ZIP code, how many people they live with, and their contact information. The city assured its users that the personal information given would only be shared with city employees who "need to access your information" to protect public health and provide necessary city services to residents with COVID-19. Employees allowed to access the information are those offices that are limited to the ones "protecting public health" like Office of Emergency Management or the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The city information office assured the users that the personal information given will be secured and will only be used to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The data will not be accessible by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or used for law enforcement purposes.

After entering the personal information, users are given a reference number for their case, allowing them to return to the portal to update their status or other information such as changes in their symptoms, or another person in the house testing positive, among others.

The spokesperson for the city said that the data collected in the portal would allow the city to do regular, targeted communications to groups of people affected by the virus. If data suggests that a specific neighborhood is affected by the virus, the city will push for an increased information campaign in that area. Data from these portals will not replace data from the health department on confirmed cases, but it would help track situations in which people are experiencing symptoms but have not gone to the hospital for testing.

There are no data yet on how many New Yorkers have used the portal as of this writing.

The site is available in 11 languages, and New Yorkers who do not have internet access can call 311 to provide information.