Firm Management
Apps We Love: May 2020 – Apps to Survive the Pandemic
What does a person or a business need during a pandemic and how can apps fill that need? We weren't sure ourselves, so we started searching. Here are the results of that search.
May. 19, 2020
What does a person or a business need during a pandemic and how can apps fill that need? We weren’t sure ourselves, so we started searching. Here are the results of that search.
Pandemic Games
There seems to be a lot of game playing going on as we’re all confined to our living quarters. Beyond the traditional app games we might use as filler during our normal lives, there are plenty of games specifically geared toward helping us either find a way out of the pandemic or relive it over and over with a prize in mind. Here is a sampling:
- Plague Inc. ($.99) is the game that encourages you to wipe out the world’s population and let nothing stand in your way. The game has won many awards, and the reviews – not just from players but from major publications around the globe – are excellent for the gamesmanship, the challenge, and the quality of the product. (Note that earlier this year the Cyberspace Administration of China deemed the game illegal in China and it was removed from the Apple app store)
- Pandemic The Board Game ($4.99) is the app based on the popular board game where, instead of killing everyone, your goal is the save the world from four deadly diseases. Reviews are mixed. There are multiple levels of difficulty.
- Not technically apps, this game and the next one are particularly interesting for their educational value. In the Vax epidemic prevention game you have a chance to visualize how a disease spreads while you make the life and death decisions about who gets to die in order to save the largest group of population.
- Just the Vax is an educational and “fun way to learn about vaccines,” designed for children and disguised as a trivia game.
COVID-19-Specific Apps
Whether you are concerned about your symptoms, what to know how many cases have been found in your area, or want to share your information with others, these apps can help you weather the pandemic:
- COVID Control, produced by Johns Hopkins University, provides an opportunity for you to anonymously report your temperature and COVID-related symptoms daily along with your zip code so that the potential outbreak of new outbreaks can be tracked.
- In conjunction with the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Apple has created its Apple COVID-19 app which provides information and resources on identifying symptoms and better understanding the pandemic.
- Healthlynked COVID-19 Tracker allows you to report your symptoms in order to determine an early diagnosis. This app can send a notification to your contacts so they can seek medical care if they have been in contact with you. The app reports the latest data from the World Health Organization and shows hot spots on a world map.
Living Under Lockdown Apps
We still need to carry on. If you are on lockdown, there is no shortage of food available. Whether you are in need of delivery/pickup options, how-to-cook lessons, home entertainment, or information on managing the overwhelmingness of all of this, these apps may come in handy.
- Food delivery: There is a plethora of apps designed to bring food to your doorstep. GrubHub, DoorDash, UberEats, Seamless, Postmates, and Instacart will pick up what you want and deliver it. Hours and destinations vary by location.
- Learn how to cook: You don’t have to be a Top Chef to cook like one. There are live and on-demand videos available 24-7 to show you how to prepare meals, along with recipes and step-by-step instructions. Rather than getting overwhelmed with it all, try thinking about what you would order if only you could go out to your favorite restaurant, and then try recreating that at home (with the help of a food delivery service to get you the ingredients you need).
- Others need food too. You may have a full pantry, but many are struggling. The FoodFinder app shows you where to find food assistance programs in your area which you can use yourself, recommend to others, or to which you can provide donations so that they can carry on.
- Stress/anxiety management: We did an article on this topic three years ago – long before the pandemic occurred – now would be a good time to revisit these apps to help you get through the long days and nights. https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/12299983/
- Media streaming: Fortunately, we live in the era of streaming, so whether you go directly to the television station websites or YouTube online, pay for services such as HBO, Showtime, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu, search for video content online, or even connect with your public library’s free Kanopy service, there is plenty of video entertainment to last through this pandemic.