INSIGHT: Covid-19 Pandemic Highlights the Need for Privacy Legislation

In the search for solutions to the Covid-19 crisis, organizations across the health-care industry are looking to big data—vast, varied stores of data—to support research that responds to a myriad of challenges.

Big data is an essential tool for researchers looking not only to track and contain the spread of the virus but to manage and monitor the delivery of health care and community resources, identify individuals who may be particularly vulnerable to the virus in the midst of the pandemic, understand treatments, and develop a vaccine.

Aggregated, de-identified big data—when coupled with powerful analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning—can ...