As the country continues to take measures to combat COVID-19, testing for vulnerable populations remains a critical component to containment. Managing testing, however, while facing limited supplies, has been a challenge, especially in the country’s larger cities.
Recently, a Cask team, working with the City of Los Angeles, built a rapid scheduling application to support drive-thru testing in four locations across Los Angeles County. Together, Cask was able to develop, test and launch the application, which will support these testing locations, and new ones as more tests become available.
Built a rapid scheduling app to support drive-thru testing
What [the Cask] team has built in such a short period of time is amazing,” a spokesperson from the Los Angeles Fire Department said. “It is better than what Google did with Verily when it was first launched.”
The web portal, hosted on a city website, allows the most high-risk residents living in Los Angeles to sign up for a coronavirus testing appointment. “Those include people with symptoms, those who are 65 and older, who have underlying health conditions, or both,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a press conference announcing the portal.
After patients who meet the criteria visit the web portal, they will be able to set up an appointment at a testing center.
Because of the sensitive population being served, messaging was absolutely critical to get right on the portal. Cask worked to coordinate messaging to incorporate into the solution between the City of Los Angeles communications team and our development team.
One month after Cask deployed the app, Los Angeles became the first major city in
the United States to offer free testing to every resident, even those with no symptoms
This is beneficial for someone who isn’t showing any symptoms, but knows they were
exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. This can also help with
determining who is safe to go back to work, when the economy starts to slowly re-open.
