Digi-Trace: A study on an assistive contact tracing application in Don

Honorio Ventura State University

By:

Member 1 (Melendres, Jett Aldine, P.)

Member 2 (Ortiz, Kelvin Rey, C.)

Member 3 (Serrano, Marc Edward, L.)

Member 4 (Mendoza, Adrian, L.)

Member 5 (Santos, Christian, L.)

Member 6 (Borromeo, Antonio Jr., L.)

Member 7 (Vega, Aldrin, L.)

Course/Year Level/Section

  Date of Presentation        

1. Introduction

The  COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating the country for more than a year now.

Although it is a respiratory disease with similar modes of transmission as influenza, COVID-19

spreads more rapidly from one person to another (Piroth et al., 2021). It is transmitted through

droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes, or through droplets of saliva or

discharge from the nose when conversing in close contact (Han & Ivanovski, 2020). This virus

has been wreaking havoc and has inevitably taken many lives in the Philippines which,

according to the World Health Organization (WHO), currently has almost 18,000 deaths. The

government implements safety protocols to lessen the spread of the virus such as using face

masks, face shields and implementing social distancing when going out, and suggests staying at

home as much as possible. However, some of its citizens stubbornly disobey these protocols,
multiplying the number of cases instead of decreasing it. To somehow alleviate the situation and

help prevent its transmission, the researchers thought of developing an application that speeds up

contact tracing in Don Honorio Ventura State University.

        Contact tracing is “the process of identifying, assessing, and managing people who have

been exposed to a disease to prevent onward transmission.” It protects individuals and their

communities by helping to detect and prevent the spread of a virus and ensure public safety. It

requires individuals to agree to daily monitoring and be willing to report acquired signs and

symptoms of the virus (WHO, 2020). In short, contact tracing contributes in monitoring and

controlling the local spread of a disease. With the help of advanced technology, the proponents

aim to accelerate the process of tracing contacts within the university through an application

called DigiTrace.

        Digi-Trace will be developed as a user-friendly application. First and foremost, it will

provide information and facts about COVID-19 and safety protocols to help prevent it. Usually,

activities that aim to contact trace involve writing on a logbook or manually filling out a form

through the use of paper and pen in which there are unavoidable instances when a person’s

penmanship is not readable and clear. To avoid this, DigiTrace will allow users to create and set

up their profiles with their personal information with just a few taps on their mobile devices.

After creating an account, the app will create a permanent personal QR code that will be scanned

when entering and exiting the university which will record the users’ time and date of entrance

and exit in the school premises.

The proponents thought of taking contact tracing digitally in order to attract the interest

of the consumers. Now that the country is in the middle of a pandemic, citizens, especially

school staff, have more important things to accomplish instead of tediously filling out numerous
documents that take their time. In addition, most people are fond of doing things instantly and

conveniently which is why the proponents would like to develop DigiTrace: to help monitor the

spread of the disease without consuming too much of people’s time.

Applications that involve scanning are widespread, from monitoring school and work

attendance to paying bills online. Some contact tracing applications are to be launched in other

cities and provinces but are lacking in Pampanga. DigiTrace will be of great help as Don

Honorio Ventura State University is an institution with diverse stakeholders coming from

different cities and barangays. Although the app’s scope is small compared to others with city

scales, it will largely contribute to society as the country needs all the possible help it could

receive at present.

2. Statement of the Problem

General Problem:

        Contract tracing plays a big role in today's pandemic, it helps to prevent the spread of

covid19 virus. The contact tracing gives us the ability to identify who are the people we

encounter in our everyday life. In today's pandemic we already have thousands of covid19

positive patients which is why we need to be extra careful and knowledgeable to who we meet

and encounter.

One of the main focuses of contact tracing is safety and health. Unfortunately, this

application only allows you to monitor and record your data and information but it requires a lot

of work and manpower to locate certain data from the book of records. Some people also tend to

skip writing information on a logbook because they find it a hassle and in few cases there are

some people that provide their information but not readable because of their penmanship.
 In our today's generation smartphones have become essential because having phones

helps us to stay connected to our friends and family members. Developing a  user-friendly digital

contact tracing application improves our current situation of manual contact tracing by adding

some features such as fast and accurate information. by just simply scanning a personalized QR

code. And because the user didn't need to write anymore this will solve the misreading of data

and information.

Specific Problem:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Objective of the study

 The objective of the study focuses on how to easily identify the exact address of a person

using this digital logbook when there's a covid outbreak.

 To encourage users to fill up their information hasslefree and readable unlike using with

pen and paper

 To determine the effectiveness of contact tracing to lessen the spread of virus using the

app.

Target Respondents and Locale

The study will be conducted in DHVSU Bacolor Pampanga. The proponents used simple

random sampling techniques and respondents will be random Information technology student’s

of each year level. They will be interviewed online via google forms. The researchers chose

online interviews because of the new normal schooling. The researchers chose the

implementation area because it would give the researchers the necessary information for people
with already contract tracing. All the answers gathered will benefit the researchers to complete

the information needed. The study will be conducted in the second semester of the 2021

academic year. -- Mag eeat munako byebye

Significance of the Study

As we go further, the study is significant in manner on how the respondents benefited

through the informatics provided by the application. Other than that, this study has the aim to

retain and to think that the usual gathering of information will have an innovation. And through

questionnaires we want to know from the respondents, which are the students of Don Honorio

Ventura State University BS in Information Technology Department, how they accept Digi-

Trace Application. Furthermore, as we all know that Filipinos are very pretentious about the

information especially for their personal information. This Digi-Trace application aims to help

promote the gathering of information with safety and innovation.

Contact Tracer – The system will help them find the nearest possible Close Contact.

Students – The system will help them to avoid affecting Covid-19 and also the time spending

filling the contact information.

Professor - The system will be helpful for professors because it will keep them safe from

students/colleagues who are possible carriers of Covid 19.

Researchers - The researchers will gain more experience in responding and providing solutions

to the contact tracing problems encountered by the public during this pandemic. In addition, they

will be more knowledgeable and sensitive to the issues and needs of the citizens especially

during this pandemic.