Apps fill gaps in public health data nets

Public health has long suffered from costly, incomplete, and error-filled data. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the massive potential for mobile phones and apps to help fill gaps in public health monitoring. Where contact tracing apps were well-designed, with transparency, and launched with modest expectations they have helped fill gaps in public health authorities' efforts.

This points towards a more nuanced understanding of how essential digital government services are viewed in the future—not as replacements but supplements for effective human-powered systems.