Statement of the Problem

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread worldwide and caused drastic changes in different
aspects of human life. These were observed in public health, human behavior, social interactions,
and the world of work. Since the transmission of the virus is identified through airborne
transmission and respiratory droplets, several countries and regions were forced to implement
lockdowns and limit physical interactions. Citizens were also encouraged to adhere to the
mandatory health protocols, precautionary measures, and quarantine regulations administered by
their government to help minimize the exposure to the virus and diminish the growing number of
cases in a community.

As stated by the World Health Organization, COVID-19 is transmitted by respiratory

droplets and fomites during close unprotected contact between an infector and infected.  The
virus spreads easily from person to person. Aside from close contact, fomites such as clothes,
utensils, or any material which can be a possible carrier of the infection can be the cause of
acquiring the disease. Hence, the virus can be avoided by being distant from other people along
with having physical contact with fomites.

The COVID-19 severely affected the growth of the economy of every country. In the
Philippines, many companies and small businesses have to close due to a lack of sales affected
by the pandemic. The Philippines' economy experienced a severe decline in 2020 as a result of
the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Department of Trade and Industry, 90,000 small and
medium enterprises closed during the pandemic. In addition, the airline industry experienced the
worst effects of the pandemic due to a drop in passengers' demand for air transport. In general,
many workers had lost their jobs amidst the global health problem. Some overseas Filipinos
returned home because of losing jobs abroad. The Filipinos try to find ways to cope up and
survive the problems brought out by the health problems to livelihood and economy.

Also, the COVID-19 crisis brought an unprecedented shift to the conventional way of
life. Due to our situation, the transition to the new-normal system led to the modification of the
accustomed habits, routines, and behavior of individuals. However, a year has passed after the
initial outbreak, and people are starting to reopen their businesses, return to workplaces, and
even go on travel vacations. As mentioned by the World Health Organization (2020), the
understandable desire to return to normalcy can cause people to decline in risk perception and
pose relaxed control measures. If some citizens would choose to neglect the public health
protocols or refuse to accept the new lifestyle we need to practice, then it would be a cycle of
lockdowns and high mortality rates all over again.

With that, social distancing became a significant behavioral practice for precautionary
measures. According to Aslam (2020), social distancing refers to the method to reduce crowd
gatherings and interaction to disrupt and decrease the transmission of COVID-19 in a population.
It is also defined as maintaining a safe space by keeping a distance of at least 6 feet from
individuals with unknown health status (Zhao et. al, 2020). Physical distancing is considered a
non-pharmaceutical infection control action that is effective in controlling the spread of a
contagious disease. 
 Social distancing must be observed and followed during this worldwide pandemic.
However, if social distancing is not practiced, there is a strong possibility of transmitting the
virus. The effects of not following social distancing can cause a domino effect. Contact with
another object will result in a continuous spread effect. The virus can spread quickly from one
person to another without noticing it. The virus can be transmitted through airborne and contact
with another person. Based on the news article of Lopez (2020), Secretary Año, a member of the
cabinet, said that a person who will violate the health protocols would face jail charges for 30
days and a fine maximum of 5000 pesos.  If people do not practice social distancing, others
might do the same, leading to an increased risk of acquiring the COVID-19 virus. Involved
persons might face charges and penalties for violating the health protocols.

The social-distancing wristband is designed to alarm when intercepting a person within 6

feet radius. The project will only be focused on the country of the Philippines. The project aims
to implement social distancing through an accessory proposed to be worn by every person during
health emergencies. The product will help society by making them aware of the health protocol
during the pandemic period. Moreover, the project will benefit the government as the project also
aims to reduce the number of infections in the country. Lastly, the project also aims to aid the
government to restart the economy and go back to a stable life.

Recommendation for Solution

In order to address the aforementioned problems particularly the response to health crises
like the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers come up with a simple solution approached
through practical and scientific means. The specific solution is recommended as follows.

The world including many of the communities and its mobilization have been stopped by
the global CoronaVirus Disease known as the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years already
and the cure is already defined but not thoroughly due to lack of supplies of vaccines. Responses
are moving slowly while the virus is spreading rapidly from community to community. The
government’s best preventive measure is to lock down areas to slow down the transmissions yet
people’s mobility is inevitable hence social distancing was highly advised. The researchers focus
on the prevention of community transmission by empowering social distancing since it is the best
achievable way of lessening the risk of being infected with the virus.

This study aims to propose the development and usage of the “Social Distancing
Wristband” with features that the researchers think as essentials for the above-mentioned cause.
The wristband is a wearable technology with a sense-then-alarm system based on the distance of
the bodies possessing a specific condition. Wrist worn type accessories have been one of the
most dominant fashion styles that never goes out of trend. Compared to other accessories, it is
more accessible, secure and it has a wider compatibility range within the different groups in the
society. The wristband designed under this study is composed of three major working systems
that will define its effectiveness and usability.
 The first system is the temperature sensor that is commonly used in smart watches to
determine the wearer’s body temperature. Since one of the symptoms of catching the virus are
fever and sudden rise in human body temperature, detecting it will give awareness if there is a
risk that one is encountering people with this kind of symptoms. The sensor will be embedded
with a digital temperature sensor that can provide accurate measurements with a digital output
signal and small circuit board package to fit in the wristband.

Second feature is the display and connectivity to other wristbands. Given with a thermal
sensor, the wearer will be able to view the temperature in figures through the small screen
display features made using nanostructured Passive-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode
(PMOLED). Solar energy will power this device since this is more efficiently used outdoors.
Displaying personal body temperature will lessen several delays on the contact tracing
information areas in almost all of the establishments today where people need to declare their
body temperature before entering or availing services. It will also display the temperature of the
other wristband users around within the six feet ideal social distancing radius using the Bluetooth
share and display features for the user to be more conscious of distancing for their own safety
purposes. In addition to this, for some instances where it is not possible to maintain the ideal
social distancing radius such us when riding a vehicle, counter payments and other transactions
where much nearer contact is unavoidable, the alarm can only be stopped once the wristband
detects that the user is properly wearing its mask and face shield. This will be made possible
through the face recognition function of the wristband through the use of nanotechnology aligned
with the 21st century advancements. Furthermore, this wristband has been programmed to cope
up with the advancements in the 21st century smart technology which includes installations of
microcontrollers in it. These will enable the wristbands to store all the information gathered for
the last 2 weeks such as temperature, location and possible people wearing the wristband it has
been in contact with. This will allow a better platform for health maintenance and also a faster
way of contact tracing since the virus spreading has both symptomatic and asymptomatic effects
on people.

People might think that it will be uncomfortable and tiring to check on the screen of the
wristband from time to time just to be aware and how about the visually impaired individuals?
But that was also considered by the researchers that will lead to the third specialty of the
wristband. Alarming technology has been a trend lately to security and effectively save lives in
many hazardous situations. The same technology that will be used in this Social Distancing
Wristband to warn the users about their surroundings without the effort of looking into it from
time to time. This alarm is triggered by the sensor used in detecting the temperature not just by
the user but also by the people that surround him inside the six feet radius. Once a detected
temperature exceeds 37 degrees Celsius, the alarm will be triggered, resulting in a bearable
vibration on the user’s hand and a sound signal to inform the user to take a distance apart from
the nearby individuals and will only stop when the person is already out of risk.
 The researchers also look into the situation of the persons with disabilities such as
handicaps who can’t walk or the one’s with amputated arms who can’t wear wristbands. These
factors are subjects for special modifications of the Social Distancing Wristband so that it will be
a privilege to those who can in the conventional manner. The wristband is suggested to be
flexible in many situations that it will be necessary to modify the appearance or way of wearing
without modifying its usage and effectiveness.

Finally, the researchers want to reach out to the possible developers to consider this plan
and be free to incorporate designs and cost-efficient materials of their choice. The researchers
also recommend this project for the Interagency Task Force on COVID-19 Response and the
government to look into and take in consideration as one of their ways to empower social
distancing especially now that the country is gradually opening its economy allowing limited
mobility of people within the community.
COST AND SCHEDULE

This table shows the materials and the estimated prices of each that will be used in making the
"Social Distancing Wristband".

MATERIALS ESTIMATED PRICES

VL53L0X V2 Laser ToF Distance Sensor Php 250.00

Lipo Battery Php 300.00

PCB Board Php 255.00

3VOLT CELL CR2012 Php140.00

3VOLT CELL HOLDER Php 43.00

Suitable Case Php 67.00

HC SRO4 MODULE Php 49.00

ARDUINO NANO Php180.00

Buzzer Php 45.00

LED RED COLOR Php 5.00

HOUSING (alloy metal/plastic) Php100.00

TOTAL ESTIMATED PRICE: Php 1434.00

 The total cost of the product is not yet finalized since the prices listed were only estimated but it
will definitely be affordable for all when the research is done.

Planning, drafting, prototyping, developing, designing, testing/trials, evaluating and launching are
some of the phases in creating the Social Distancing Wristband.

The planning and drafting of the project takes 3 weeks. This include researching, analyzing the
problem, establishing goals/ objectives, and determining the project requirements and the possible cost of
the project. Prototyping is an experimental process where the design team implement ideas into tangible
forms from paper to digital. It will probably take 16-20 weeks to make the prototype together with the
developing and designing of the project. The testing or the trial of the gadget will take 5-8 weeks since
there is a possibility of facing different kind of problems. When the testing and trial are complete and
done, the project will now proceed for the evaluation (1-2 weeks) and launching.

On the whole, making and completing the Social Distancing Wristband will take more or less 33
weeks.

Refrences:

Aslam, F. (2020, April). COVID-19 and Importance of Social Distancing. ResearchGate.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340476408_COVID-
19_and_Importance_of_Social_Distancing.

Lopez, M. L. (2020, July 22). Quarantine violators may be jailed up to 30 days, fined ₱5,000
under proposed rules. CNN Philippines. https://www.cnn.ph/news/2020/7/22/quarantine-
violators-jailed-fined-uniform-rules.html.

Social Distancing. Physiopedia. (n.d.). https://www.physio-pedia.com/Social_Distancing.

World Health Organization. (2020, March 29). Modes of transmission of virus causing COVID-
19: implications for IPC precaution recommendations. World Health Organization.
https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/modes-of-transmission-of-virus-
causing-covid-19-implications-for-ipc-precaution-recommendations.

World Health Organization. (2020, October 13). From the "new normal" to a "new future": A
sustainable response to COVID-19. World Health Organization.
https://www.who.int/westernpacific/news/commentaries/detail-hq/from-the-new-normal-
to-a-new-future-a-sustainable-response-to-covid-19.

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Philippines: WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

Dashboard with Vaccination Data. World Health Organization.
https://covid19.who.int/region/wpro/country/ph.
Zhao, T., Xuan, K., Sun, C., & Sun, Y. (2020, December 2). Importance of Social Distancing
Policy. OUP Academic. https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article-
abstract/doi/10.1093/pubmed/fdaa219/6015906?redirectedFrom=fulltext.