SHARING PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION: Can humanity fight a deadly, fast-spreading virus by sharing correct health information? Yes, apparently. This is where big data meets medical care. It’s become increasingly clear that a fast, effective way to help your community fight a pandemic is by sharing correct health information. Lying about your travel history or your risk factors could be deadly not only for yourself or your doctor, but also your loved ones. Using AI mining millions of personal health record and travel histories, given on the web or through an app (following a set questionnaire) health authorities and biological data analysts could better fight viral outbreaks, by allocating scarce resources (PPEs, test kits, respirators) where they’re most needed — ahead of time. It’s almost like fighting virus with the right information, where people give their medical histories and risk factors, and symptoms (i.e. coughing, sore throat, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of taste of smell or taste or even temperature reading) to beat the virus. This, however, could turn the standard doctor-patient confidentiality practices and laws on their head.
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