CoviReader: Using IOTA and QR Code Technology to Control Epidemic Diseases across the US

Abstract

Despite all scientific advancements, the spread of infectious diseases continue to pose a significant challenge to the health and prosperity of our society. Therefore, the prevention and control of infectious diseases that have the potential of becoming global threats is a central priority of public health. However, the silent emergence and uncontrolled global spread of the novel virus called SARS-Cov-2 has proven that neither governments nor healthcare systems are prepared to respond to a pandemic. As an example, the coming of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has not only disrupted economies and collapsed healthcare systems, but also filled hospitals and separated people from their families and work across the globe. While the outbreak originated in China, the pandemic's epicenter moved to the US, which has more cases than any country in the world (New York accounted for nearly more than one-third of the country's coronavirus infections). As the US continues to adapt its response to the evolving situation of the virus, the nation's coronavirus pandemic has highlighted many practical uses for blockchain-based applications. Motivated by this, we present a solution for fighting the coronavirus outbreak - and future pandemic outbreaks - in the US using IOTA and QR code technology. In this paper, we propose CoviReader: a decentralized healthcare management system that shares user's data anonymously. The system is built on the IOTA tangle platform and provides users detailed, unchangeable, and easy access to their personal information. CoviReader handles authentication, confidentiality, transparency and data sharing (with crucial considerations when revising confidential information). Users interact with IOTA's tangle via a mobile application which holds a FIREBASE database. The purpose of this short paper is to demonstrate a working prototype by which we assess and analyze strategies for mitigating the consequences of the COVID-19 health crisis in the US.