Case Study: University of Arizona achieves life-saving, scalable COVID-19 SMS tracing with Twilio

How the University of Arizona Pioneers Life-saving Covid-19 Tracing With Twilio Sms

The University of Arizona’s Data Science Institute faced the challenge of tracking COVID-19 spread quickly and equitably amid low app adoption, limited testing, and a digitally divided population in Pima County. With public-health officials needing timely, localized data — and many residents lacking smartphones or reliable connectivity — the team needed a low-tech, HIPAA-compliant solution that could be built and launched fast.

They launched AZCOVIDTXT by integrating REDCap with Twilio Programmable Messaging to deliver a two-way SMS system: residents text JOIN, submit weekly household health surveys in English or Spanish, and opt into zip-code–specific updates; data feed a public map and inform resource allocation. Deployed in under a week and easily scaled, the program now reaches 3,500 households across 220 zip codes with over 102,000 messages sent, and has expanded into long-term care monitoring and an IVR voicemail system to further support public-health decision-making.

University of Arizona

Tracy Crane

Assistant Professor of Nursing and Public Health