Persistence saving lives

Tech-enable contact tracing saved more than 5,000 UK lives over 3 months.

I wrote recently about the damage that follows an abuse of trust.

Happy, then, to report the success that follows a determined attempt to use technology for good. In this case, saving lives.

Whichever way you cut the numbers, analysis suggests that over 5,000 lives have been saved as a result of the UK’s contact tracing between October and December last year. At the low end of the range, 200,000 fewer cases translates to over 5,000 fatalities applying the UK’s 3% death rate. At the high of the range, 900,000 fewer cases translates to over 25,000 lives.

Try, try, try again
This took persistence*—technical challenges halted the first launch and the work was re-started in August.

You can find the study details here, but the Coles notes are simple:

“For each 1% increase in users,” said the researchers, “we estimate the number of cases will drop by between 0.8% and 2.3%”

In short, every 40 additional users saves a life. Good reason to sign up today?

What’s your biggest impact?

What’s the best way you could use technology?

If you’ve already tried without success, is it time to try again? What will you change this time?

(*) Persistence in innovation is the subject of chapter 6 of Trusting Technology, my book about forming ideas, exploring opportunities with customers and colleagues, and building your future together. Order you copy here.