The study designed and used a screening tool and daily symptom journal based on the US Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) symptom monitoring guidelines. Changes made by the CDC were also made on the tool.

Symptom Monitoring for COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Social Distancing in a University Population

Most universities have dedicated websites outlining the COVID-19 approach, which was used to also gather data.
- Harvard University (https://www.harvard.edu/coronavirus)
- University of Oxford (https://www.ox.ac.uk/coronavirus)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (https://now.mit.edu/)

University Websites for COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Social Distancing in a University Population

Using apps that could be published from the app stores, more specifically myTracks on iOS devices and GPSLogger on Android devices, data was sent for three months to the research team. 

COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Social Distancing in a University Population Movement Tracking 

Initial data collection started March 22, 2020, during which universities began responding to the pandemic. On May 5, 2020, geolocation data started for a select number of participants who provided informed consent. 

University of Pittsburgh

Most research is used to understand overall human movement. In other words, only a few individual-level studies that incorporate individual behavior and specific movement patterns are available. One cannot analyze individual movements to symptoms, testing, or individual reasons for (non)compliance to COVID-19 protocols.

COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Social Distancing in a University Population

Wojtusiak, J., Bagchi, P., Naren, S. S. K. R. T., Mobahi, H., Nia, R. M., & Roess, A. (2021). COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Social Distancing in a University Population. Journal of Healthcare Informatics Research, 5(1), 114-131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41666-020-00089-x

COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Social Distancing in a University Population Reference

Contrary to belief, COVID-19-related GPS movement data are owned by private companies and collected in groups, meaning the published data is not specific to an individual. 

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