Disease Outbreak Tracking Agent
Disease Outbreak Tracking Agent
This AI agent provides real-time infectious disease case counts and outbreak data to patients, healthcare staff, and community members through an interactive conversational interface. Originally deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic to surface case data by country, state, and region, the agent demonstrates how healthcare organizations can use conversational AI to manage the surge in public information requests that accompanies every outbreak. During the peak of COVID-19, health systems saw call volumes spike 300-800% above baseline, overwhelming contact centers and delaying clinical communications. An always-available AI agent that delivers accurate, up-to-date case data without human intervention is the difference between an informed community and an overwhelmed support team.
Disease Outbreak Tracking Agent
Healthcare organizations that deploy AI agents for outbreak communication see immediate reductions in call volume, faster information delivery, and better resource allocation.
During COVID-19, health system contact centers experienced call volume increases of 300-800% that persisted for months. Staffing to that level is neither feasible nor financially sustainable. Organizations that deployed conversational AI agents for outbreak information reported absorbing 40-60% of inbound inquiry volume, freeing human agents to handle complex clinical questions, appointment scheduling, and patient escalations. For a health system receiving 5,000 outbreak-related calls per day, a 50% deflection translates to 2,500 fewer calls daily, saving an estimated $15-25 per call in contact center costs.
In an outbreak, the speed of accurate information delivery directly affects community behavior and health outcomes. Misinformation fills gaps left by slow official communication. An AI agent delivers case data and guidance in under 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, compared to average hold times of 15-30+ minutes during peak outbreak periods. The WHO has called the spread of misinformation during health emergencies an "infodemic" that directly contributes to non-compliance with public health measures. Automated, authoritative information channels are one of the most effective countermeasures.
Every conversation the agent handles generates data about community concerns, geographic areas of interest, and information gaps. Population health teams can analyze query patterns to identify emerging anxiety hotspots, measure the effectiveness of public communication campaigns, and allocate outreach resources where they are needed most. During COVID-19, organizations that monitored chatbot interaction data were able to anticipate testing-site demand surges 3-5 days before they materialized in appointment volumes, enabling proactive resource deployment.
Disease Outbreak Tracking Agent
features
Designed for the specific operational challenges healthcare organizations face during infectious disease outbreaks and public health emergencies.
The agent retrieves and presents current case counts, positivity rates, hospitalization data, and trend information at whatever geographic granularity your data sources support. Users can ask about their specific country, state, county, or city and receive a localized response within seconds. During COVID-19, health systems that deployed automated information channels reported handling 10,000+ daily inquiries without adding staff. This self-service model is especially important because 68% of patients prefer digital channels for non-clinical health information, and that preference intensifies during outbreaks when people actively avoid in-person interactions.
Infectious disease outbreaks create information demand that no human team can scale to match. A single AI agent handles unlimited concurrent conversations, eliminating the hold times and busy signals that erode public trust during crises. During the first wave of COVID-19, the CDC's general inquiry line received 20,000+ calls per day, with average hold times exceeding 30 minutes. Health systems deploying conversational AI agents absorbed the equivalent information load at a fraction of the cost, maintaining response times under 10 seconds regardless of volume.
Disease outbreaks do not respect language barriers, and non-English-speaking communities are often disproportionately affected. The agent can be configured to deliver case data, prevention guidance, and resource information in multiple languages. This is not a secondary feature. In the U.S., 25.9 million people (8.2% of the population) have limited English proficiency, and CDC data consistently shows that language barriers contribute to delayed testing, lower vaccination rates, and worse health outcomes during pandemics.
Beyond raw case numbers, the agent provides contextual guidance: where to find testing sites, vaccination locations, isolation protocols, and when to seek emergency care. It routes users to the right resource based on their situation rather than dumping them into a generic FAQ page. This intelligent routing reduces the cognitive load on worried community members and ensures that people with urgent symptoms reach clinical resources faster, while those seeking general information get answers without tying up clinical communication channels.
Disease Outbreak Tracking Agent
Get a public-facing outbreak information agent live on your website, patient portal, or community channels in days, not weeks.
Disease Outbreak Tracking Agent
FAQs
During an outbreak, healthcare organizations face a massive surge in public information requests about case counts, testing availability, prevention measures, and when to seek care. An AI agent handles these inquiries conversationally and at unlimited scale, delivering real-time data from authoritative sources without requiring human staff. This keeps phone lines clear for clinical communications, reduces misinformation by providing consistent and accurate answers, and operates 24/7 during emergencies when demand is highest. Health systems that deployed AI agents during COVID-19 reported deflecting 40-60% of inbound call volume.
The agent connects to any REST API that provides structured case data. This includes public health data sources like CDC and WHO surveillance feeds, state and county health department dashboards, and third-party data aggregators. It can also pull from internal epidemiological databases maintained by your health system. The original COVID-19 deployment integrated with Microsoft Bing's COVID-19 Data API for global, national, and regional case counts. Tars supports 600+ integrations including custom webhooks, so the agent can be configured to pull from whatever authoritative data source your organization uses.
Yes. Tars is HIPAA compliant, SOC 2 Type 2 certified, GDPR compliant, and ISO certified. While a public-facing case tracking agent primarily delivers aggregate epidemiological data rather than personal health information, Tars maintains full compliance standards across all deployments. If the agent is extended to collect individual health data such as symptom reports or exposure histories, all data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and Tars supports Business Associate Agreements for healthcare organizations that require them.
Yes, rapid deployment is one of the primary advantages. The agent can be configured and launched within days, not weeks. During COVID-19, the speed at which organizations could stand up public information channels directly correlated with their ability to manage call surges and community anxiety. Tars agents are deployed via a visual editor with no coding required, and they can go live as a website widget, WhatsApp bot, or standalone link that can be distributed immediately through email, SMS, and social media channels.
Yes. The agent can be configured to monitor and report on multiple infectious diseases, from seasonal influenza and RSV to emerging outbreaks. Users specify which disease or condition they are asking about, and the agent retrieves the relevant dataset. This makes it a year-round resource for health systems rather than a single-use pandemic tool. With the increasing frequency of respiratory illness seasons involving concurrent flu, COVID-19, and RSV surges, a unified information agent reduces the need to build separate communication channels for each pathogen.
The agent delivers information sourced exclusively from authoritative public health data feeds, ensuring consistency and accuracy across every interaction. Unlike social media or informal community channels, the agent provides the same verified data to every user. It can also be updated in real time as guidance changes, which is critical during fast-moving outbreaks when recommendations from health authorities evolve weekly. By providing a trusted, always-available source of truth, the agent directly counters the misinformation that the WHO has identified as a significant barrier to effective pandemic response.
Every conversation generates structured interaction data including geographic queries, most-asked questions, peak usage times, and user drop-off points. This data is pushed to your analytics tools via integrations with Google Sheets, HubSpot, Salesforce, or custom dashboards. Population health teams can use query patterns to identify community anxiety hotspots, measure whether public health messaging is reaching the right audiences, and anticipate surges in testing or vaccination demand before they hit clinical operations.
While originally deployed for COVID-19 case tracking, the underlying architecture applies to any scenario where a healthcare organization needs to deliver real-time data and guidance to large populations. This includes seasonal flu surveillance, mpox monitoring, measles outbreak response, environmental health emergencies such as wildfire smoke or water contamination events, and hospital-specific metrics like ER wait times or bed availability during surge periods. The agent is a communication infrastructure tool, not a single-disease solution.
Privacy & Security
At Tars, we take privacy and security very seriously. We are compliant with GDPR, ISO, SOC 2, and HIPAA.
Email - sales@hellotars.com
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