Asian Institute of Technology Edu-Innovation Camp

Epicollect – Geo App Training and Mapping

Measures of Iconic Places Against COVID-19

By
Cablitas, Chad Quincy
Calatrava, Clint Simon
Estrera, Althea Kryziah

October 7, 2021
RATIONALE

Almost two years have already passed since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and changed
the whole world. Basically, all citizens from around the world experienced strict localized or
nationwide lockdowns as an attempt to drastically slow down and essentially stop the spread
of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This led to a severe drop in economic activity, closing down
schools, attractions, offices, forcing some people to lose or quit their jobs, and inciting mental
and emotional health issues among numerous citizens. This persisted for almost a year.
Eventually, some countries managed to successfully delay the spread of the virus, while
others took a bit much longer. With this, such countries started to slowly open up their
borders, businesses, and regain some stability amidst the situation. Moreover, towards the end
of 2020, vaccines were finally developed and distributed throughout the world.

The Philippines was among the countries that significantly opened up later than most other
countries. Even until today, as this report is being made, setting up face-to-face classes is still
in the works and may not probably be realized until next year. Nonetheless, businesses,
offices, and leisure and entertainment areas are now reopened to the public—but are still
quite limited. With this, more and more people tend to gather in crowded places, which
catalyzes a more efficient way for the virus to spread. However, this can be prevented by
simply following the minimum health protocols, such as strictly practicing social distancing,
frequent disinfection, properly wearing legitimate face masks, and most of all, being fully
vaccinated. Moreover, if all else fails, this can be mitigated by efficiently testing suspected
patients and employing effective contact tracing mechanisms, so to immediately track and
isolate potentially infected people.

With these in mind, this survey was developed. The rationale of this survey was to determine
the safety of iconic places in Leyte and Southern Leyte of Region VIII in the Philippines by
assessing the COVID-19 preventive measures imposed. As iconic places, such as beaches,
parks, resorts, etc., are now getting more and more visitors or clients, this can help reveal
which places are performing well in minimizing the spread of the virus and which ones need
stricter oversight to ensure that the minimum health protocols are followed.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this project are the following:

1. To determine the preventive measures practiced by an iconic place against COVID19.
2. To assess the safety of a specific iconic place against COVID-19
3. To inform the public based on the results arrived from this project.
QUESTIONS

First, we created a text box where respondents could enter the name of the iconic place. Then,
they should take a photo of the area and input the location. The type of attraction must be
determined as either purpose-built, natural, or heritage attraction and whether it is open to the
public or not. If it was closed, then safety issues are not of concern. However, if it’s open to
the public, we arranged questions which could assess the safety of the iconic place. We will
get data of their frequency of visits and number of visitors per day/week/month. Thereafter,
entrance fee will be determined, if it is imposed or not as free visits to an iconic place tend to
steer more visitors than those with entrance fee. Most importantly, preventive measures
practiced in the specific iconic place will be checked.

Example of a single survey is shown below

Carto map of the data collected
(in markers)

(in heatmap)
BENEFITS

From the data collected, results show that all of the iconic places surveyed requires wearing
of mask. This alone provides a 67-90% effectivity when practiced properly. However, when
paired with other preventive measures, safety of the visitors against COVID-19 would be
significantly increased. Thus, the more preventive measures observed by an iconic place, the
safer it is. This could provide a sense of ease and security to the public and those with good
preventive measures in turn, would be visited more. Thus, the results of this project, when
disseminated, would be useful and convenient. Visitors who plan on visiting a place could
use the survey to determine what preventive measures should he/she prepare and follow.
Moreover, it could also be used to evaluate which iconic places are safer thus, helping a
visitor decide which places to go.