{"id":388361,"date":"2020-11-23T06:58:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T14:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=388361"},"modified":"2025-05-08T16:46:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T23:46:26","slug":"stare-mesto-guides-mass-testing-with-maps","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/stare-mesto-guides-mass-testing-with-maps","title":{"rendered":"Slovakia&#8217;s COVID-19 Testing Gains Efficiency with Live Maps"},"author":811,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[731],"tags":[1621,430851,195422,160522,472611],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[491702],"esri_blog_department":[478192],"class_list":["post-388361","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-communication","tag-covid-19","tag-dashboard","tag-health","tag-testing","esri-blog-category-health","esri_blog_department-gis-for-good"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"In the old town district of Bratislava, Slovakia, a live map reduced wait times in the country\u2019s push to test every adult over two weekends.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"When faced with the challenge of testing everyone, Bratislava-Star\u00e9 Mesto, Slovakia, used a live map-based dashboard to give everyone an up-to-the-moment awareness.\r\n\r\nKey Takeaways\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The country\u2019s capital city provided a live map to drive awareness of virus testing progress.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Geospatial analysis helped determine the optimum distance between testing sites.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Local leaders in Bratislava have continued with a mapping app approach to tackle challenges.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In response to a recent pandemic surge across Europe, the entire adult population of Slovakia, more than 3.6 million people, underwent COVID-19 testing during the last two weekends of October. In the Star\u00e9 Mesto (Old Town) district of the capital city of Bratislava, the mayor\u2019s office provided residents with a dashboard and live map to show testing sites and wait times\u2014a move that saved a lot of frustration and increased safety.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe expected more than 40,000 people in two days at 30 testing points,\u201d said Matej \u0160tevove, head of the mayor\u2019s office in Bratislava-Star\u00e9 Mesto District. \u201cWe had to carefully manage the people because it could become overcrowded. With the dashboard app, we were communicating where to go and at what time, or where not to go because there was a long line.\u201d\r\n\r\nBecause residents could see current wait times, they spread themselves across testing sites, keeping the district testing program safe and efficient.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe got good feedback from people the whole time,\u201d \u0160tevove said. \u201cThey were thankful for the information because it helped them. In other districts, they were waiting six hours for the test. In our district, they waited from 15 minutes to two hours.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":388421,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"National testing in Slovakia took place in two waves over two weekends. The effort ultimately identified <a href=\"https:\/\/www.somzodpovedny.sk\/\">57,462 infected people<\/a>\u00a0and revealed previously unknown hot spots of infection in the north of the country. Those who tested positive were asked to isolate and their families asked to quarantine in hopes of keeping Slovakia\u2019s caseloads low. Prime Minister Igor Matovi\u010d remarked how Slovakia offered the world a <a href=\"https:\/\/balkaninsight.com\/2020\/11\/02\/slovakia-tests-over-3-5-million-for-covid-in-two-days\/\">new way to fight the disease<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cNow, all the people know the coronavirus is very serious,\u201d \u0160tevove said. \u201cAs we were organizing this national effort, it was nice to see how many people offered help. We had many volunteers and companies that provided facilities or food for volunteers.\u201d\r\n<h3><strong>Serving a Concentrated Population<\/strong><\/h3>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":388431,"image_position":"right","orientation":"vertical","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Old Town is home to many of the Slovakia\u2019s cultural centers, the national government seat, and the president\u2019s office. It is also one of the more densely populated places in the country.\r\n\r\n\u201cOther districts in our city aren\u2019t as crowded, so it was easier for them,\u201d \u0160tevove said. \u201cIt was difficult for us to pick the right testing points, taking care so they wouldn\u2019t overlap or force people too close.\u201d\r\n\r\nCentral tenets of the country\u2019s testing strategy included maintaining social distance and limiting the number of people indoors. With so few places to spread its population in dense urban areas, officials saw the mapping app as essential to reducing crowding.\r\n\r\n\u0160tevove and a colleague administered the back end of the dashboard application, pulling details they found on Facebook and from text messages about wait times to keep the mapped information up-to-date. They also had colleagues on the ground visiting testing sites to check progress and send updates.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was good to have us there to verify the information,\u201d \u0160tevove said. \u201cResidents know that the information comes right from us, and it\u2019s the correct information and not a hoax.\u201d\r\n<h3><strong>Ongoing Communication<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nAs is the case in many cities and countries around the world, the people of Star\u00e9 Mesto\u00a0have received mixed messages about the virus.\r\n\r\n\u201cMost of the people wear masks and protect themselves, although there\u2019s some disinformation,\u201d \u0160tevove said. \u201cSome say the virus is fake and that we don\u2019t need to wear masks.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":388401,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2020\/11\/20201104-sk-info.png"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":388391,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Wait_Form.png"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The district combats conflicting views by sharing news and details directly with the public through an official communications app. The live dashboard was shared through the app, including alerts sent several times a day to remind subscribers to check wait times. Advertisements promoting the district app as an official information source led to a gain of thousands of new subscribers in advance of the national testing.\r\n\r\nResidents who had the district communication app could see the testing site and wait times dashboard on a desktop or mobile device and share those links with others via social media. \u201cWhen it comes from us, they know it\u2019s an important message, and they share it within their area,\u201d \u0160tevove said."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":388411,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"At the outset of the national effort, everyone from the prime minister to local officials to residents seemed to acknowledge the difficulties of testing everyone.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was a big challenge, and yet we managed to do it without many problems,\u201d \u0160tevove said. \u201cWe found that Bratislava is doing quite well. Of the 29,047 people we tested, just 108 were positive. I hope it will help other governments contain the coronavirus.\u201d\r\n\r\n&nbsp;"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"<h2><strong>Tackling Other Challenges with Apps<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nMany people in Slovakia\u2019s Bratislava-Star\u00e9 Mesto\u00a0District have gained a new appreciation for mapping apps.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe application helped us significantly in managing the flow of people,\u201d said Mayor Zuzana Aufrichtov\u00e1. \u201cI believe that we will use this system on other occasions in the future to make full use of its possibilities.\"\r\n\r\nWith that endorsement, it was a short time later that city administrators thought of a solution to another vexing problem. Many people abandon their nonoperational cars on local roadways because it's expensive to dispose of them.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re developing a system where people can report an abandoned car,\u201d said Matej \u0160tevove, head of the mayor\u2019s office in Bratislava-Star\u00e9 Mesto District. \u201cThey can take a photo and share the GPS coordinates so that one of my colleagues can investigate and research the car\u2019s owner. A notice is placed on the car, and after a certain number of days, we remove it.\u201d\r\n\r\nAs apps offer ease of use and encourage community participation, they bring the local government closer to residents with practical solutions for ongoing problems, from the virus to everyday concerns.","snippet":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Slovakia&#039;s COVID-19 Testing Gains Efficiency with Live Maps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the old town district of Bratislava, Slovakia, a live map reduced wait times in the country\u2019s push to test every adult over two weekends.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/stare-mesto-guides-mass-testing-with-maps\" 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