The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked unprecedented public health and social measures (PHSM) by national and local governments, including border restrictions, school closures, mandatory facemask use and stay at home orders. Quantifying the effectiveness of these interventions in reducing disease transmission is key to rational policy making in response to the current and future pandemics. In order to estimate the effectiveness of these interventions, detailed descriptions of their timelines, scale and scope are needed. The Health Intervention Tracking for COVID-19 (HIT-COVID) is a curated and standardized global database that catalogues the implementation and relaxation of COVID-19 related PHSM. With a team of over 200 volunteer contributors, we assembled policy timelines for a range of key PHSM aimed at reducing COVID-19 risk for the national and first administrative levels (e.g. provinces and states) globally, including details such as the degree of implementation and targeted populations. We continue to maintain and adapt this database to the changing COVID-19 landscape so it can serve as a resource for researchers and policymakers alike.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential feasibility of using a smartphone app in myopia screening. Methods The app estimates myopic refractive error by measuring the far point distance for reading three 20/20 Tumbling E letters. In total, 113 myopic subjects with astigmatism no greater than −1.75 diopters (D) were enrolled from 5 sites. The mean age was 22 ± 8.5 years. The app measurement was compared with noncycloplegic subjective refraction measurement or autorefractor if subjective refraction was not available. In addition, 22 subjects were tested with the app for repeatability. Results For 201 eyes included, the range of spherical equivalent refraction error was 0 to −10.2 D. The app measurement and clinical measurement was highly correlated (Pearson R = 0.91, P < 0.001). There was a small bias (0.17 D) in the app measurement overall, and it was significantly different across the 5 sites due to different age of subjects enrolled at those sites ( P = 0.001) – young adults in their 20s were underestimated the most by 0.49 D, whereas children were overestimated by 0.29 D. The mean absolute deviation of the app measurement was 0.65 D. The repeatability of multiple testing in terms of 95% limit of agreement was ±0.61 D. Conclusions Overall, the app measurement is consistent with clinical measurement performed by vision care professionals. The repeatability is comparable with that of some autorefractors. Age-associated human factors may influence the app measurement. Translational Relevance The app could be potentially used as a mass screening tool for myopia.

The pervasiveness of mobile devices and other associated technologies has affected all aspects of our daily lives. People with visual impairments are no exception, as they increasingly tend to rely on mobile apps for assistance with various visual tasks in daily life. Compared to dedicated visual aids, mobile apps offer advantages such as affordability, versatility, portability, and ubiquity. We have surveyed hundreds of mobile apps of potential interest to people with vision impairments, either released as special assistive apps claiming to help in tasks such as text or object recognition ( n = 68), digital accessibility ( n = 84), navigation ( n = 44), and remote sighted service ( n = 4), among others, or marketed as general camera magnification apps that can be used for visual assistance ( n = 77). While assistive apps as a whole received positive feedback from visually impaired users, as reported in various studies, evaluations of the usability of every app were typically limited to user reviews, which are often not scientifically informative. Rigorous evaluation studies on the effect of vision assistance apps on daily task performance and quality of life are relatively rare. Moreover, evaluation criteria are difficult to establish, given the heterogeneity of the visual tasks and visual needs of the users. In addition to surveying literature on vision assistance apps, this review discusses the feasibility and necessity of conducting scientific research to understand visual needs and methods to evaluate real-world benefits. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Vision Science, Volume 9 is September 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.