Experts predict the public health workforce needs to add approximately 100,000 contact tracers in the U.S. to effectively assist this large-scale effort. According to ProPublica, public health departments in different states are already hiring “thousands” of human contact tracers, a task force dedicated to collect information from a positive COVID-19 patient about the people they have been in close contact with ( here ). ProPublica recently reported some health experts believe human-based contact tracing could be an effective alternative to apps, as the efficiency of the latter relies on widespread adoption. The researchers estimate contact tracing can help lead to “a reduction in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths”. Oxford University researchers estimate that contact tracing apps, alongside other measures, have “the potential to stop the coronavirus epidemic and help to keep countries out of lockdown” if used by 60% of the population. A Reuters explainer on how contact tracing works is visible here. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes contact tracing as a “key strategy for preventing further spread of COVID-19” and as a “core disease control measure” that has been employed by health department personnel for decades ( here ). Google and Apple also state in their press release that the exposure notification system would be disabled by them “when it is no longer needed”. Users would also be able to turn off the exposure notifications “at any time”. This is false.Īpple and Google stated in their release that the apps “must require users to consent before sharing a positive test result, and the “keys” associated with their devices, with the public health authority,” in addition to installing the software update itself. Some iterations of the claim on social also misleadingly say the iOS 13.5 update will automatically notify all contacts and people that have interacted with a phone’s owner if they test positive for COVID-19 ( here ). However, even after downloading them and consenting to exposure notifications, users would be able to decide whether they want to report a positive diagnosis. These updates lay the groundwork for future contact tracing apps that governments and public health authorities may create. These apps have not been released to the public in the U.S.
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