How are engineers contributing to the Covid response? and are there other ways they could contribute to slowing the spread or improving the outcomes of patients?

The recent COVID-19 breakout has been quite alarming, rapidly spreading across the globe and many countries are going into lockdown. Despite all the panic, scientists all over the world have been trying to figure out a cure for the pandemic. However, while these scientists have been working on a cure. Engineers could be figuring out solutions that could help patients fight the pandemic and prolong their life. New medical equipment could be manufactured to help the patients in need. Or there may be engineering solutions to slowing down or halting the spread of the pandemic. There could be many ways that different types of engineering could become a factor into slowing down the spread of the coronavirus.

Already, in Spain, there has been a medically approved emergency 3D printed ventilator that has gone into production. The device is an emergency device that can help patients breathe for a short period of time. The engineering technology has now come to Australia with Triple Eight Race Engineers create a ventilator to help ICUs (Intensive Care Units). Modelling tools originally designed to improve the efficiency of factories are being used by Cambridge engineers to help Addenbrooke’s Hospital manage the COVID-19 emergency.

Isolation has become one way of dealing with the coronavirus, with many people staying at home to stop the outbreak of the virus. However along with the isolation people have been dying to buy many of the essential items that are needed to be properly isolated. This is where engineering could improve the manufacturing rate of essential items that are needed when people are in isolation. This will also benefit long-term as many more products will be able to be produced quicker and more efficiently.

Although the engineers are not at the frontlines of fighting the COVID-19 outbreak, they may be behind the scenes, helping the people in need while the scientists are working to cure the hundreds of thousands of people who have been infected with the recent pandemic.

Update: 20/04/20

Since the date this post was uploaded on the 8th of April, there have been more suggestions on how engineers could continue to help with the coronavirus pandemic. As well as making new health equipment, a few of these suggestions are:

– A quicker, novel and easier way of COVID-19 testing
This would allow many patients and people who are anxious, to test themselves, it would be great if this kind of equipment was made to be as accurate as possible. This testing would allow people to know if they have to virus, which allows them to seek medical attention

– Speeding up the testing
This would just allow more people to be tested and be treated so that they can recover quickly.