The Newest Weapon Against Covid-19: AI That Speed-Reads Faxes

Alison Stribling has learned a lot about infectious disease since she transferred onto Covid-19 response at the health department in Contra Costa County near San Francisco. One of her discoveries: How vital fax machines are to US pandemic response. Across the country, labs and health providers report new Covid-19 cases to local health departments. At Contra Costa Health Services, officials use the data to start contact tracing or send extra help in certain cases, such as at a care home or to an infected health care worker. On a typical day in Contra Costa, only around half of those reports arrive electronically; the rest, as many as hundreds, flow in via the fax line, creating a Sisyphean reading list.