Flu season is in full swing, and if the amount of news articles I’ve read about it is any indicator of how serious it has been, I’m surprised no one I know has gotten it yet. In an attempt to help educate people about what’s going on, and how to prevent getting the flu themselves, the CDC launched an app totally dedicated to it. It’s name is plain and simple — CDC Influenza.
It seems as if the CDC is getting rather tech-savvy, with the recent release of their new mobile app. And apparently, the CDC feels that the influenza outbreak this year is serious enough to warrant it’s own mobile app. Unfortunately, unlike the CDC app, it’s only available for iOS devices, so anyone with an Android phone or tablet is out of luck. Luckily, my husband and I just purchased an iPad mini, so I can actually review it.
Before I downloaded it, I saw this article about the app. It talks about the mixed reviews of the app, but how it is overall helpful. I found myself feeling the same way as I browsed through the options. Here is the menu, and what the app has to offer:
Overall, I found everything to be very information-heavy. I found pages of information that I didn’t really want to read. There are a lot of different sections though, so anyone that is interested in the flu might find it useful. I think it’s good that the app includes information about the vaccination and the safety of it, because I know that’s an issue of concern with a lot of people.
I did like that there was a map which showed where the flu was, and how widespread it was. As you can see below, it’s pretty much everywhere. That’s enough to make me want to coop up inside until Spring!
The app seemed a little bit slow and jumpy to me. It seemed like every few minutes, a box that says “Updating Content…” would pop up, and for the next few minutes, the app was unusable. I’m not sure why that happened — perhaps there is just a lot of important updates?
This definitely seems more like an app for physicians to download. I think it’s probably important for them to be informed about the current situation and be able to access this information while visiting with patients. I could imagine our physician using this app on his tablet to answer questions. For just anyone though, I think this isn’t the most user-friendly app, as it’s more just informative, unless the person is really interested in learning about influenza.
[…] CDC Release Influenza App […]