The Social Distance Kit
The Problem
There is a huge unmet need in communities across the country for
1) Inexpensive, easy-to-access supplies
2) Critical information communicated in an easily understandable way
#1: Lack of Tools
Social distancing is quickly on its way to becoming the new normal, but some people are better equipped to practice it than others. Unequal access to masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer have left many of our most vulnerable populations at risk — namely the elderly, those who are recently unemployed, low-income, or responsible for taking care of a family.
#2: Lack of Information
Further, there is unequal access to information regarding COVID-19, which puts at a disadvantage those who are struggling and don’t have the time or bandwidth to do research themselves.
There is a need to get both of these things in one place and distributed on store shelves, in online marketplaces, and within community organizations already working to distribute supplies to communities in need.
The Solution
We’ve developed a 2-part solution to this problem.
- A Social Distancing Kit that contains supplies people will need to navigate this period of shutdowns and future periods of transitioning in and out of social distancing. Our kit will include basic protective items (masks, paper soap), attachable indicators of risk factors (eg. stickers for masks that show whether a person is high risk), a way to track symptoms (a QR code sticker that can be put on a thermometer that links to a third party symptom tracking website), informational/funny posters about social distancing, and an info brochure to explain how to make use of the kit.
- A website where the kit can be ordered, a repository of resources (for education, news, entertainment, etc.) can be found, and a poster generator can be used to generate digital images.
There’s so much information out there about what equipment people need or what precautions they need to take, so we want to take confusion out of the process. We believe this kit has the potential to simplify the uncertainty involved in preparing yourself for social distancing by allowing people to get everything they may need in one convenient place.
Ideation
Development
Once we decided to create a kit, we began brainstorming about what items should be included. We wanted to include essential hygiene products like masks and soap but also include things that would make peoples’ lives easier like lotion to compensate for so much hand washing, touchscreen wipes to clean phones, customizable clips to put on masks, and posters to inject some humor into the situation. We quickly put together as many of the things we brainstormed that we had on hand into an initial prototype.
After getting feedback on both the initial kit and the attachable mask symbols, we began to look for the items we needed in bulk to make a preliminary batch of kits.
What makes The Social Distance Kit different?
- Most of the items we plan to put in the kit already exist but are all sold separately. Our kits simplify the buying process and make sure that people are getting some baseline amount of the social distancing resources that they need.
- Smart thermometers exist but there aren’t any low tech solutions to make data collection from a regular thermometer easy.
- Our poster generator lets you design and customize your own poster, hopefully providing a fun and interactive way to visualize how far apart 6 feet is.
If you’d like to see more information or keep updated on the kit’s progress, check out our website at https://socialdistancekit.wixsite.com/home
