COVID-19 National Daily Health Survey

EZ Texting, the leader in SMS marketing software for business, has been selected by Stanford Medicine to support its National Daily Health Survey (NDHS) to learn and predict which geographic areas in the United States will be most impacted by COVID-19. Text reminders are being delivered every day by EZ Texting to prompt thousands of participants to complete the NDHS survey. The survey tracks the occurrence of possible COVID-19 symptoms in communities, collecting data that could flag an uptick in COVID-19 cases before they reach a hospital. Acting as an early warning system for regions of the United States with large populations of undiagnosed individuals, the information will be used to inform local and national responses to the pandemic, such as directing medical resources and improving policies and public guidance for mitigating the impact of the disease. Potential early warning signs from the survey are critical, enabling decision-makers to respond proactively before infections get out of hand. Hofmann describes NDHS as a digital swab providing public health officials with a geographic area assessment of infections within the population. SMS notifications provide a fast, easy and direct alternative to email. Stanfords use of messaging illustrates EZ Textings core mission to enable its customers and partners to engage with their audiences quickly and efficiently through the power of text communications. Other organizations have built smartphone apps, but not everyone finds them simple to download and install, with underlying concerns about being too intrusive. Stanford Medicine plans to scale NDHS beyond the Los Angeles area to the rest of California, then expand to coverage of the United States and, ultimately, the globe.