The global pandemic of COVID-19 is one of the things that shocked the world. History books have yet to write on this topic and explain it since it is so complex. There’s practically no country that wasn’t affected by it. The damage caused by it was vast, both in economics, health, and a wide array of other fields.
For two years now, people are behaving in a way they haven’t been used to. Of course, this is needed since this is an unpredictable virus. Scientists have been working for quite a while before we got the vaccines that help us with solving the problems caused by the pandemic.
The scars the global economy has suffered are still fresh, and it would take a lot of time for it to recover fully. One of the industries that have managed to recover quite a bit is surveillance. If you require these services, be sure to visit Howard Agency. Now, let’s take a look at vital information regarding this topic.
COVID-19 and Surveillance
There’s an obvious reason why the surveillance industry was at a halt since the start of the global pandemic of COVID-19. A vast majority of countries were under a lockdown, so there was no need for any sort of surveillance. In some countries out there, the industry was close to a complete crash due to the circumstances.
We are talking about all the branches of the industry, from business surveillance to private surveillance, like private investigators. Many people drew a parallel with the hospitality industry, which as in the same condition for a long time. Thankfully, the situation is much better than it was some months ago.
Since practically all the workers have returned to their workplaces, surveillance has become active as it was before the crisis. Once again, it has the goal of keeping both workers and property secure from all the problems that can occur, for whatever reason.
The only branch of this industry that was practiced during this time was medical surveillance.
Medical Surveillance
Naturally, medical surveillance is not something that can be described as a new concept.
The first time it was practiced was in the 14th century after the plague outbreak in Europe.
As you probably know, people have been isolated from all contact with people who don’t suffer from the infection.
In fact, the term quarantine was coined in Italy since people who have been affected by a certain infection were isolated for at least 40 days. Therefore, you can see that this is a measure that prevents the spread of the virus. Under the same principle, digital technologies were used for tracking COVID-19 patients.
Of course, we are talking about people who were in hospitals. The lockdown was the measure that protected the people who avoided it. We can say that it was quite an effective one since practically all the countries were able to keep the number of patients to a minimum.
Monitoring the location and health data is not an easy task, due to the numerous connections people have throughout the day, right? When these are conducted properly, they can provide a useful insight into how effective the preventive measures, like the lockdown and other approaches.
Three main technologies have made this approach possible. The first one is mobile location data. It’s because it provides the government with the ability to track people’s movements to enforce quarantines, which have proved themselves as the most effective method of them all, except for vaccination.
The next technology is facial recognition technology, which is linked with biometric databases. It helps the medical teams to recognize people who have a fever. The third and final one is using open-source applications. Through these, people share genomic data to enhance the scientist’s efforts to understand all the conditions that led to the virus’s further development.
Big Data
The use of modern technologies has become so widespread these days, and people perceive it as a necessity. When you take a look at it realistic, it certainly became an important element in our everyday life. So, it doesn’t come as a surprise that modern technology was used as a way of preventing COVID-19.
As you probably know, some countries have used various digital surveillance technologies for monitoring the population interaction to prevent the virus from spreading further. What does this have to do with big data? Well, information was shared by institutions to have a better understanding of the situation.
While some think that this is a controversial approach to solving this issue, the consensus is that it is effective. Basically, the information gathered through this approach is not shared by anyone since it is encrypted and only medical institutions have an access to it, which makes perfect sense.
The State of the Industry
Due to the increased need for surveillance equipment in the last two decades, for various reasons, the industry has experienced a significant rise. For example, the global surveillance industry had a $26.6 billion market value in 2016. In 2020, the market value reached $45.5 billion.
Naturally, 2024 was the year of stagnation due to the pandemic, but it is expected for it to reach $62.6 in 2024. The countries that make up the biggest percentage of this industry are China, the United States, Germany, and South Korea. Naturally, we are talking about some of the most technologically advanced countries in the world.
The equipment itself is currently at a high level. Just think about all the high-resolution cameras and other pieces of equipment. There’s absolutely no doubt that the development of even better devices will happen in the future, along with the progress of technologies used for their development.
The Bottom Line
COVID-19 has been a traumatic experience for the whole planet. Some things will never be the same after it is gone. Some habits will stay with humans long after that. Thankfully, surveillance services are something that will not experience any big damage. Here, you can take a look at all that’s relevant to know about this subject. We’re sure you will find it interesting.
