JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has drastically changed life in the United States, as the country has recorded over 8 million cases and 220,000 deaths to date. In the absence of an effective vaccine for COVID-19, testing and surveillance are critical for detecting and stopping possible routes of transmission. Contact tracing has become an important surveillance measure for COVID-19 control in the United States, and mobile health interventions have found increased prominence in this space.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to investigate the use and usability of MyCOVIDKey, a mobile-based web application to assist COVID-19 contact tracing efforts during the 6-week pilot period.

Methods:

A six-week study was conducted on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville, TN. The population, consisting primarily of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty in the Chemistry Department at Vanderbilt University, was asked to use the MyCOVIDKey web application during the course of the study period. Paradata was collected as users engaged with the MyCOVIDKey web application. At the end of the study, all participants were asked to report on their user experience in a survey, and the results were analyzed in the context of the user paradata.

Results:

MyCOVIDKey enrolled 45 users during the pilot period. An analysis of their enrollment suggests that initial recruiting efforts were effective, however participant recruitment and engagement efforts at the mid-point of the study were less effective. Application usage paralleled the number of users, indicating incentives were useful for recruiting new sign-ups, but did not result in users trying to artificially inflate their usage as a result of the prizes. Time-to-completion of key tasks were low, indicating that the main features of the application could be quickly used. Of the 45 users, 26 (58%) provided feedback through a post-pilot survey. The MyCOVIDKey app in its entirety was rated 70.0 on the System Usability Scale, indicating that it performed above a threshold for usability. When the key-in and self-assessment features were examined on their own, it was found that they individually crossed the same thresholds for acceptable usability, but that the key-in feature had a higher margin for improvements.

Conclusions:

The MyCOVIDKey application was found overall to be a useful tool for COVID-19 contact tracing in a university setting. The majority of users suggested simple to implement improvements, such as replacing the web application framework with a native application format, or changing the placement of the scanner within the workflow of the app. After these updates, this tool could readily be deployed and could easily be adapted for other settings across the country. The need for digital contact tracing tools is becoming increasingly apparent, particularly as case numbers continue to increase while more businesses begin to re-open.