Together in Solidarity

On the two millionth death from the COVID-19 pandemic, Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, put out an impassioned statement urging world leaders to find solidarity amongst this global crisis.

“Our world can only get ahead of this virus one way — together.”

While political divisiveness and instability have been widespread amidst a pandemic (the likes of which the world had not seen in over a century, since the “Spanish Flu”), a global community has answered the call for solidarity to lead a collaborative effort against the deadly virus: Engineers.

The World Health Organization (WHO, 2021) has reported nearly 100 million confirmed cases and over 2 million deaths since the novel coronavirus was first identified in late December of 2019. As the virus rapidly spread across the globe, it became clear that hospitals were not only understaffed but also in shortage of critical medical devices and supplies including ventilators, testing kits, and personal protective equipment (PPE).

With a global shortage of PPE like the N95 respirators, engineers heavily utilized 3D printing technology to make up for the deficit. In Santiago de Chile, a team developed a 3D-printable mask called the “NanoHack” that makes use of a modular filtration system that can substitute the standard polypropylene filter with other more readily available materials and made it open source for anyone to download and use (English, 2020).

In Canada, women in engineering have addressed the shortage problems by either repurposing facilities to produce more PPE or reprocessing existing PPE for safe reuse. Professor Hanan Anis and her students at the University of Ottawa modified open-source designs found on the internet to 3D print 300 face shields a day and distributed them to local frontline workers in hospitals, clinics, and other medical institutions. Similarly, Professor Laura Curiel at the University of Calgary worked with her students to print COVID-19 test kits to aid in replenishing dwindling supplies (Engineering Canada, 2020).

Engineers had to get creative to find solutions in the unlikeliest of places. A novel solution was developed by Professor Amina Stoddart and Research Associate Carolina Ontiveros of Dalhousie University by looking at the wastewater industry. The use of UV lights as a disinfectant had been a common practice, but the pair was able to apply this technique to disinfecting N95 respirators to make them reusable (Engineering Canada, 2020). Across the world in Africa, engineers in Côte d’Ivoire have similarly made observations of the local cashew industry’s method for food waste to produce sanitizing gels (Wallace et al., 2020).

Robotics was also a major tool utilized by engineers in solving healthcare problems posed by the pandemic. A team at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand have repurposed telemedicine robots that were originally designed to aid stroke patients to assist doctors in assessing the condition of COVID-19 patients, as well as tracking their symptoms, all while maintaining a safe distance between doctors and patients (English, 2020). In the absence of existing telemedicine robots, a team at the Thapar Institute of Engineering in India have developed working models of a Robo-cart in just three days with a team of seven people to remotely deliver medicine and food to patients at the local hospital (Khanna, 2020).

Engineers around the world have endeavored to not only alleviate the crisis faced in healthcare but also in education—another critical area impacted by the pandemic. A pair of engineering students from Kerala, India developed a virtual classroom environment with a social media-type interface to allow students and teachers to continue classes amidst the pandemic (Springwise, 2020). Elsewhere in the world, engineers developed a mobile learning management platform for students across Kenya and Sub- Saharan Africa. An AI-driven algorithm was utilized so that every student, regardless of income or location, can receive a personalized education (Kannarkat, 2020).

As world leaders of high-income countries prioritize nationalism and make side-deals to procure vaccines beyond need, the Secretary-General of the United Nations may have lamented on the absence of a global coordinated effort, but his call for solidarity had not completely fallen on deaf ears.

Representing women, minorities, and nations from all around the world, engineers have answered that call—working in unison to meet the challenges of the pandemic through collaborative engineering— together in solidarity.

Annotated Bibliography:

United Nations. (n.d.). 2 million COVID-19 deaths: “Our world can only get ahead of this virus one way - together”. https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/our-world-can-only-get-ahead-virus-one-way-together
This is a transcript of the full statement from Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, after the death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic reached 2 million. The Secretary-General urges world leaders to find solidarity to work together in combating the spread of the deadly virus, specifically, on the vaccine distribution efforts. The message for solidarity resonated well with the efforts of engineers around the world. The statement overall felt genuine and was thought-provoking.

World Health Organization. (2021). WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/
This webpage provides up-to-date quantitative data regarding the global COVID-19 pandemic, including confirmed cases and deaths across the world, by region. The figures provided was useful in making the struggles against the pandemic more tangible. Every nation has been affected by this world crisis and although numbers alone do not fully encapsulate the direness of this world crisis, it is nonetheless a sobering reminder of the challenges faced.

Engineers Canada. (2020, June 18). INWED 2020: How women in engineering are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. https://engineerscanada.ca/news-and-events/news/inwed-2020-how-women-in- engineering-are-respo nding-to-the-covid-19-pandemic
This article provides numerous examples of women in engineering that have made contributions in the fight against the pandemic. From 3D printing to UV disinfection, a variety of topics and methods are covered. Overall, the article was very inspiring to read, as each of the women found a way to work collaboratively to the betterment of society through engineering.

English, T. (2020, April 18). How Engineers are Contributing to the Fight Against the Outbreak. Interesting Engineering. https://interestingengineering.com/how-engineers-are-contributing-to-the- fight-against-the-outbreak
This article showcased several engineering projects that have creativity found solutions to the various challenges the pandemic has posed. While it covered projects that were mentioned in other articles, it focused much on particular innovations within each piece of technology. The article also highlighted the scalable impact of 3D printing technology, which was critical in replenishing PPE supplies.

Wallace, M., Fakinlede, O., Harsh, M., Kongo, V., Bal, R., Kingiri, A., & Sheikheldin, G. (2020, November 28). How COVID-19 is transforming engineering in Africa. University World News. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201128090338800
This article highlighted some of the efforts going on in Africa and its effects on the economy and infrastructure of the continent. Much of the article was focused on the state and development of engineering in the region, but there were also some good examples of innovations to use as examples. Africa is no stranger to epidemics and it was enlightening to see the various ways of how engineering has been steadily transforming the region.

Khanna, B. (2020, May 2). Thapar engineers come up with Robo-cart to deliver medicines, food to COVID-19 patients. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ludhiana/thapar- engineers-come-up-with-robo-cart-to-deliver- medicines-food-to-covid-19- patients/articleshow/75504911.cms
This article covers a team of engineers that developed a remote operated cart in the span of only three days with a team of only seven. In contrast to other referenced articles, this one primarily focused on a single project in India. The story was a good example of how engineers in regions with fewer resources have managed to find solutions in the midst of the pandemic.

Kannarkat, J. & Augustine, N. (2020, October 16). Reimagining innovation to navigate COVID-19. The Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2020/10/16/reimagining-innovation- to-navigate-covid-19/
This article covered several different projects that addressed various issues including healthcare, education, and economy. Many of the projects here were covered elsewhere, but the project in Kenya using an SMS-based “online” education was particularly interesting due to its mention of using an AI algorithm to personalize the education for each student. This was very helpful in highlighting the use of high-tech in a region widely known for disparity in access to technology.

Springwise. (2020, July 21). Top 5 Education Innovations in Response to Coronavirus. https://www.springwise.com/innovation-snapshot/education-schools-coronavirus
This article covered five different projects that found creative solutions in response to the pandemic: an eLearning initiative in Kenya, tent classrooms for social distancing, a virtual classroom, livestream surgeries in VR, and mobile screens in primary schools. Again, many of the listed projects were covered by other articles, but the ones that focused on education were good examples of highlighting some of the non-healthcare related endeavors worked on by engineers.