Is Contact Tracing The Key to Opening Up The Country in The Midst of COVID-19?
Perhaps one of the most talked about methods of combating the Novel Ccoronavirus, contact tracing is gaining traction as a key component in the push to reopen the economy. Whether traditionally via public health officials contacting infected and potentially infected individuals or virtually via widespread smartphone technologies, there’s no question that contact tracing is critical in the identification and spread of COVID-19.
What is Contact Tracing?
Traditional contact tracing has been around for a while and is credited with reducing the spread of other newsworthy epidemics including ebola and SARS as well as sexually transmitted diseases. The process has typically consisted of public health officials helping recently infected individuals identify everyone with whom they have come into close contact during the course of their infection. The definition of close contact depends on how the illness is spread, and the length of time involved in the identification of those potentially infected varies considerably. Diseases like COVID-19 further complicate the process, as respiratory transmitted diseases make it much more difficult for public health officials to safely make contact with those infected or potentially infected.
In addition to the difficulties involved with properly tracing highly-contagious respiratory transmissions, a national shortage of contact tracers poses a much greater threat in terms of effectively containing the illness. While alternative communication methods can be adopted to deal with contagious diseases (i.e. phone calls, email, and social media messaging), the process itself cannot be carried out without an adequate supply of tracers. Johns Hopkins University estimates that a minimum of 100,000 are necessary to effectively provide contact tracing throughout the United States. With a mere 2,200 contact tracers in the nation, the number of contact tracers necessary to control the spread of the virus is grossly insufficient. However, with the recent layoffs that have left millions of Americans unemployed, the potential expansion of contact tracers could prove to be a much quicker process than previously believed.
In terms of pushback, those most critical of the transmission identification method have expressed concern that contact tracing violates the right to privacy when it comes to personal health matters and the hi-tech tracing systems increase the potential for breaches in private personal health information. While this is understandably a concern, contact tracers never reveal the identity of the infected individual. Those that have come in close contact with the infected person are merely told that they could have been exposed to the illness and not by whom.
While controversial, researchers agree that widespread contact tracing may be the nation’s only hope in terms of safely reopening the country. Without being able to fully and efficiently track the disease, the risk of resurgence—and subsequent future lockdown—is much more difficult to gauge.
Hi-Tech Partnerships
In addition to traditional methods of contact tracing, hi-tech methods are becoming increasingly more prevalent. Tech giants Google and Apple have joined forces to develop a smartphone detection software that uses Bluetooth to track movement patterns of infected individuals and warn others who have been in close proximity with them. A partnership of this scale will allow virtually everyone with smartphone technology access to this infection tracing service and could be the key to ending restrictive lockdown measures in the U.S.
Like traditional contact tracing, smartphone tracing is entirely dependent on users willingness to share their personal diagnoses via the public health app, respecting users’ decisions on how much, if any, personal health information they are willing to share. The system is set to be available for widespread use in mid-May and has the potential to reach over three billion users.
Contact Tracing for Businesses
While Apple and Google are leading the way for widespread contact tracing, other companies are developing more personalized systems for business use. App-builder company Appian has launched their own Covid-19 response system that allows businesses to understand how the novel coronavirus is affecting their employees and provides opportunities for employees to track performance while working from home. The app respects employee health privacy, relying on employee self-reporting and offers a free six-month trial for businesses of over 1,000 employees.
More Information on Contact Tracing
For more information on contact tracing, visit the CDC’s contact tracing page. To learn how to apply for a contract tracing position, visit the CDC Foundation’s website.
Citations:
Gurman, Mark. “Apple, Google Bring Covid-19 Contact-Tracing to 3 Billion People.” Bloomberg, 10 Apr. 2020.
Schwab, Katharine. “This App Lets You Self-Report COVID-19 Symptoms to Your Company.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 19 Mar. 2020.
Yan, Holly. “Contact tracing 101: How it works, who could get hired, and why it's so critical in fighting coronavirus.” CNN Health, 27 Apr. 2020.