Ideas worth spreading

How tech companies can help combat the pandemic and reshape public health

343,516 views | Karen DeSalvo • TED2020

Karen DeSalvo, the chief health officer at Google, explains the partnership between big tech and public health in slowing the spread of COVID-19 -- and discusses a new contact tracing technology recently rolled out by Google and Apple that aims to ease the burden on health workers and provide scientists critical time to create a vaccine. (This virtual conversation, hosted by current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers and head of TED Chris Anderson, was recorded on May 27, 2020.)

Karen DeSalvo, the chief health officer at Google, explains the partnership between big tech and public health in slowing the spread of COVID-19 -- and discusses a new contact tracing technology recently rolled out by Google and Apple that aims to ease the burden on health workers and provide scientists critical time to create a vaccine. (This virtual conversation, hosted by current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers and head of TED Chris Anderson, was recorded on May 27, 2020.)

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about the work of contact tracers in public health.

About the speakers

Karen DeSalvo

Chief Health Officer, Google

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Dr. Karen DeSalvo is a nationally recognized health policy leader working at the intersection of medicine, public health and information technology to improve the health of people and their communities.

Whitney Pennington Rodgers

Whitney Pennington Rodgers

TED current affairs curator

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Whitney Pennington Rodgers is an award-winning journalist and media professional.

Chris Anderson

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After a long career in journalism and publishing, Chris Anderson became the curator of the TED Conference in 2002 and has developed it as a platform for identifying and disseminating ideas worth spreading.

Google, 2020 | Article

"Exposure Notifications: Using technology to help public health authorities fight COVID‑19"

This provides an explanation of the Google/Apple Exposure Notification System for public health contact tracing.

Karen B. DeSalvo, et al. | Preventing Chronic Disease, 2017 | Article

"Public Health 3.0: A Call to Action for Public Health to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century"

This article describes a vision for 21st-century public health in the US.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about the work of contact tracers in public health.