THE NEED: UNDERSTANDING THE OUTBREAK

In the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Rhode Island’s response to the crisis was lauded as one the most progressive and transparent of all the states. In mid-2020 the tides began to change and Rhode Island became a flashpoint of the worsening outbreak.  In an effort to understand, and more importantly mitigate the crisis, IBM’s data and design teams were brought in the understand the problem. While the data science and analytics team gathered insights from the public health record, the IBM design team interviewed the most effected populations to deeply understand the pressure in play, and more importantly provide a template of how to effect the problem.

 

THE RESULT: DATA & OPPORTUNITY
The result was a data platform that holistically tracked the outbreak, pointing to low income, diverse and generally working class citizens who had to trade the risk of infection and spreading the virus, with the need to pay the rent and survive a worsening economy.  The design team interviewed hundreds of constituents, citizens, businesses and healthcare organizations to find root causes. Using these insights the deign team provided multiple strategies and protocols to educate, build trust and communicate services in the most needed populations.