Crowdsourcing of COVID-19 symptoms map in Ecuadorians

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the city of Guayaquil. The complex dynamics associated with the geography of SARS-CoV-2 made it difficult to monitore the spread of COVID-19 in Ecuador. Data collection and reporting were, in most cases, some of the main obstacles to understanding the (real-time) situation of COVID-19 outbreak. This study presents a crowdsourcing initiative to complement data collection efforts that inform the progress of contagion in Ecuador. We used a digital survey to collect information regarding positive cases and symptoms associated with COVID-19. We further developed an online dashboard that shows descriptive statistics based on collected data. In total, there were 1450 responses. Additional information such as geographical data led to the identification and visualization of the areas with the highest prevalence of symptoms associated with COVID-19 in some of the main urban areas of Guayaquil city. © 2021 Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions. All rights reserved.