- As the battle with the COVID-19 continues to ravage our society, doctors, corporations, and politicians are looking for all kinds of ways to minimize the damage.
- China uses a straight-to-the-point approach by directly spraying and disinfecting from above.
- Europe’s diversity in the COVID-19 fight.
- The US is far behind other countries when it comes to the use of drones in the fight against COVID-19.
- Visit TheDronesWorld’s Home page for more stories.
Drones to the Rescue
As the battle with the COVID-19 continues to ravage our society, doctors, corporations, and politicians are looking for all kinds of ways to minimize the damage. Here’s where the versatility of drones comes into play. Not only do they help in battling the virus, but they also do it in many different ways. Different types of drones for different purposes. All of which have one goal in common – defeating the virus.
Is China taking the lead?
China uses a straight-to-the-point approach, by directly spraying and disinfecting from above. This method is time-saving and economically reasonable, and also shows amazing results. It comes especially handy in such densely populated countries like China. It is far more efficient when compared to hand spray. China is home to giant drone companies like DJI and Yuneec, so they are able to accomplish this in the most cost-effective way.
Another straightforward method that they use is transporting medical samples using drones. The usage of drones in the medical industry is not a new process. The first time these Medical Drones were introduced in Rwanda, where the company Zipline had the first flight to provide the country with fast medical supply transportation.
China’s first use of this method took place in early February. A 20-minute round trip was made in just over 6 minutes, making it 3 times more time-efficient. The approach showed success by not only cutting time but also unnecessary man-to-man contact.
Europe’s diversity in COVID-19 fight
Being as diverse as it can get, Europe’s ways of handling the situation are different for each country.
- Britain, for example, uses the so-called method of “public shame”. The police capture footage of people who don’t follow the safety guidelines and posts them on Twitter. The effectiveness of this method remains questionable.
- France and Spain use a similar approach. They look for people who don’t adhere to the guidelines, but instead of posting the act on Twitter, they warn the groups or individuals through speaker-equipped drones from a safe distance. Police on the French Riviera also send lockdown and quarantine instructions through drones.
- The Bulgarian Municipality of Burgas announced an interesting idea. They plan to measure the body temperature of the citizens using drones equipped with thermometric cameras. Suspicious individuals will be tracked and taken to the nearest test center.
Is the USA catching up on technology vs COVID-19 fight?
Surprisingly, the US is far behind other countries when it comes to the use of drones to fight COVID-19. Currently, the US has only one government-controlled use of drones in battling the pandemic. It uses the same method as Spain and France, described above. This method is most noticeable in the state of California. The Chula Vista Police Department, located south of San Diego upgrades its fleet with two more drones that will be outfitted with speakers and night vision cameras.
However, there are numerous ways that individuals and corporations in the USA use drones to handle things in the pandemic. For example, drone enthusiasts give city tours of quarantine cities. This serves as an eye-opening example of how different life was in those cities not too long ago. As the USA is one of the world’s most developed countries many changes need to occur in order to take advantage of drones technology in critical situations. A bright spot in the tunnel can be seen as Amazon started taking drone delivery even more seriously.
Which method is the best? Which country shows the best results in the use of drones? Only time can tell. One thing is certain. The pandemic surely has a positive effect on the drone industry as a whole, as well as in acknowledging the real benefits of their use within our communities.
Credits to MorethanShipping, GeoAwesomeness, EuroNews