Tech Tips: Alexa and Help with COVID-19

Tech Tips: Alexa and Help with COVID-19

Contributed by Jerry Price, Assistive Technology Specialist

ALEXA AND HELP WITH COVID-19

Alexa is the cloud-based personal assistant that is built into Amazon products such as Echo Dot, Echo Show, Amazon Fire Tablets, and other products made by numerous manufacturers.  The interactive personal assistant can help you with many tasks when it comes to the Coronavirus.  For example, you can ask it for cleaning tips, call the Covid hotline, and give me an update on Covid-19, what I should do if I think I have Covid-19 and others.  Recently, the May Clinic has added a skill called Mayo Clinic Answers on COVID-19.  You must enable this skill before using it.  Once enabled, Alexa will walk you through a series of questions concerning your health.

As many Alexa users have discovered, there are some skills that you can ask the assistant to enable while others must be granted permission by going into the Amazon Alexa app.  Unfortunately, at the
time of this writing, it is the latter option for Mayo Clinic Answers:

Voiceover Instructions for Enabling an Alexa Skill

• open the Alexa App
• double tap on the menu
• double tap on the skills and games tab
• now double-tap on the search button
• type in Mayo Clinic

The Mayo Clinic Answers to Covid-19 will be one of the choices. Enable the skill and save permission.

Just as an aside, the Mayo Clinic also offers an app called First Aid which you can have Alexa enable.