What is contact tracing?
Contact tracing is a public health initiative for fighting a spreadable disease such as COVID-19. In public health, contact tracing is the process of the identification of persons who may have come in contact with an infected person and the subsequent collection of further information about these contacts.
Public health organizations aim to reduce infections in the population by tracing the contacts of infected individuals, watching for signs and symptoms or testing them for infection, and treating the infected.
Contact tracing is not new. Diseases for which contact tracing has been commonly tracked include tuberculosis, measles, HIV, and now COVID-19.
If you read the CDC (Center for Disease Control ) website, you can read what a contact tracer does and how the CDC uses a contact tracer. Contract tracing can be referred to as “conventional” or “manual” contact tracing, as it requires manually contacting and gathering information on individuals who may have communicable diseases or have been exposed to them.
This requires phone calls, email, and multiple follow-ups from the contact tracer to their contacts.
From Conventional to Technological
What the public needs to understand is how technology-based applications for tracing are going to affect citizens. We are hearing a drum beat in favor of contact tracing. Companies have been developing phone applications and are hiring people to join their company’s call centers to make the conventional process more efficient for tracers.
Phone applications such as COVIDSafe and NOVID are examples of two contact tracing phone applications. There are many others being developed.
On April 10, 2020, Apple and Google (who account for most of the world's mobile operating systems) announced coronavirus disease 2019 tracking technology for iOS and Android. Relying on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) wireless radio signals for contact tracing, the new tools would warn people about others they'd been in contact with who are infected by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).
As of May 31 Apple’s website states, “All of us at Apple and Google believe there has never been a more important moment to work together to solve one of the world’s most pressing problems. Through close cooperation and collaboration with developers, governments, and public health providers, we hope to harness the power of technology to help countries around the world slow the spread of COVID‑19 and accelerate the return of everyday life.”
Currently, the United States does not link medical records, phone contact records, and the government into one system. However, linking this information is currently used in China and North Korea.
Where are these technological applications going to lead us? Will the tracing of individuals cross barriers of privacy?
Part 2 of this series will review the ethical and legal issues surrounding technology and contact tracing.
Susan Thiel is the Content Writer for Convention of States Nevada. She can be reached at susan.thiel@cosaction.com
