April 28, 2020

expert comment on apps to track COVID-19

Comment on the use of apps to track COVID-19. 

Prof Eivor Oborn, a Specialist in Health Technology at Warwick Business School, said:

“The UK model opts for less privacy but more central Government control than the app developed by Apple.

“I assume the Government want the data to study the Covid-19 pattern. For that they need all the data in their own server.  However, no exit plan has been discussed for the app, which leaves concern about what they will do with data after the pandemic.

“The Apple approach involves less surveillance and is also more efficient on the battery. The UK app is trading efficiency and privacy for information and the potential to control the overall app tracking process, so they can easily update the code over time as the pandemic evolves.”

“Using an app to identify and isolate anyone who has come into contact with an infected person could be a critical factor in leaving lockdown.

“The virus is spreading too quickly for the pandemic to be contained by simply isolating those we have tested and know are infected, or by manually tracing all their contacts.

“Working out all the places a patient has been and finding everyone they have been in contact can take days or weeks – much slower than it takes the virus to spread.

“By modelling the spread of the virus in response to different tracing strategies, researchers have shown that only digital contact-tracking could get control over the pandemic.

“This kind of contact-tracing technology has already been used with some success in countries such as China and South Korea, but there have been questions whether western countries would accept such levels of surveillance.

“Given our near wartime conditions, many people might find the idea of voluntarily downloading an app preferable to remaining in lockdown, even if it constantly tracks you.”

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink: www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19

Declared interests

None received.