Surge Outreach

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

In June 2020, Miami-Dade County reported close to 40,000 positive COVID-19 cases and 1,000 deaths, both totals the highest in Florida. To help flatten the curve and stop the spread of infection, County government formed Strategic Unified Response to Guideline Education (SURGE) Outreach Teams made up of community volunteers and County employees. SURGE Teams were tasked with visiting residents and business owners in hotspot and vulnerable population areas throughout the County to provide information of the importance of maintaining social distancing, handwashing and wearing masks. The Teams also handed out kits with sanitizer and masks. Miami-Dade County is the most populated county in the state with a population of 2,700,000 and the third largest in area with 1,946 square miles, a strategy had to be implemented to identify the vulnerable areas to visit and plan how to make the best and most efficient use of the SURGE Teams. A series of processes were developed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to identify the areas to visit, create walkable routes, interactively assign routes to SURGE Teams and track progress. When the program ended in January 2021, eight million residences and businesses had been visited by the SURGE Teams, a huge undertaking.