Creating a Trusted and Unified Contact Tracing Strategy by POLLYANNA SANDERSON As COVID-19 rates sharply increase across the United Texas, and Arizona. To help overcome these limitations, States, it is becoming clearer that digital contact tracing digital tools can supplement traditional contact tracing tools could help alleviate the crisis. In order for digital tools efforts. However, in the absence of a national contact tracing to play a role, however, we need a better national strategy to strategy, nascent digital contact tracing efforts are being undermined by a lack of interoperability and low adoption ensure adoption, trust, and interoperability. Contact tracing apps around the world are facing due to concerns about privacy, security, and effectiveness. As a first step, digital contact tracing efforts should be criticism. Some critics allege the apps are not as effective interoperable between states in as promised. Others raise concerns order to be effective over time. about privacy and security. Due As states reopen and individuals to the nascency of the proximity increasingly cross state lines tracking technology and the rush for travel or work, exposure to deployment, effectiveness is notification apps have to be able fairly unknown. But to quote to “talk to each other” — that is, Mark Twain, reports of the death for Bluetooth signals sent from of contact tracing apps are greatly one person’s device to be detected exaggerated. Specifically, early by another person’s device even reports indicate that decentralized if she or he is using a different apps based on the Apple-Google app or operating system. This can Exposure Notification API show be technically challenging and great promise as tools that could require substantial financial and bolster U.S. states’ contact engineering effort such as Googletracing efforts with the help of a Apple’s partnership to create a coordinated national strategy. Pollyanna Sanderson new Exposure Notification API for Contact tracing is a welldecentralized Bluetooth signals established epidemiological to be sent and received between method of tracking and containing As COVID-19 rates devices. the spread of a virus during a sharply increase across However, in the U.S., current pandemic. Traditionally, it works efforts are disjointed. Utah, by conducting interviews with the United States, it is North Dakota, and Rhode Island diagnosed individuals to discuss becoming clearer that have introduced their own apps their movements and interactions digital contact tracing tools that allow the user to share their so that others who may be at risk location history with a contact of exposure (such as family or could help alleviate tracer (a “centralized” model). coworkers) can be notified and take the crisis. However, these states have faced appropriate steps to self-isolate or sharp pushback over concerns quarantine. about privacy and security, and as However, traditional contact a result have low adoption rates tracing techniques are limited by COVID-19’s long asymptomatic period (10 days). A person speaking with (between 1-4%). These states are also discovering that a contact tracer will often be unable to identify the wide GPS location data is usually not precise enough to measure variety of people, including strangers, they may have person-to-person exposure, particularly indoors and in come into contact with. As shutdown orders are lifted and urban areas where risk of infection is greatest. In contrast, individuals return to work, school, and other activities in Alabama and Virginia have committed to implementing greater numbers, this is a major limitation of traditional apps that use Bluetooth signals through the Apple-Google public health methods, and we already observe COVID-19 API (a “decentralized” model). This follows the model of transmissions rising sharply in places such as Florida, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and dozens of others. 16
RIPON FORUM August 2020
