Contact tracing

[1] In doing so, public health officials utilize contact tracing to conduct disease surveillance and prevent outbreaks.

[5] Revealing partner history and details about sexual activity was challenging as it affected relationships among individuals and community members.

[4] With these negative implications of contact tracing, particularly in the space of sexually transmitted infections, public health officials found it difficult to elicit information from exposed individuals.

[6] The United States soon followed and enacted a contact tracing program for the prevention of infectious diseases which included TB, HIV, SARS, and now SARS-CoV-2.

[10] This information becomes relevant for health systems to keep track of high risk populations and medical errors, unavoidable and preventable.

[10] For pulmonary tuberculosis, people living in the same household or spending a significant amount of time in the same room as the index case are relevant.

[14] This was followed by isolation of infected individuals and immunization of the surrounding community and contacts at-risk of contracting smallpox.

[2] With each outbreak and disease presenting with its own challenges, contact tracing is an adaptable tool used by authorities to identify, notify, and curb transmission of infections.

[19] Journalist and author Laurie Garrett pointed out in late October 2020, however, that the amount of the virus in the U.S. is now so large that no health departments has the resources to contact and trace.

[37] In addition, digital applications automate the process and replace the manual steps contact tracers take to track and notify exposed individuals.

[37] Manual methods require a skilled workforce who put in significant hours to diligently follow the steps in contact tracing.

[39] This is typically a cloud database that may have specialized features such as the ability to use SMS or email directly within the software to notify people believed to have been in close contact with someone carrying an infectious disease.

[40] Utilizing a database, provides benefit to track persons of interest and offers a platforms to look at data points such as race, zip code, and symptoms.

[40] Vendors offering contact tracing case management software include Salesforce, Microsoft and Watkyn.

[44] Global positioning system (GPS) technology was used to track movement of individuals and appropriately notify persons who have been exposed.

[44] The South Korean government launched the Corona 100m application to implement their digital contact tracing measures.

[44] At the end of April 2020, South Korea reported over 10,000 infections and 204 deaths, numbers which were vastly superior to contemporaries in the European Union.

[46] On 10 April 2020, Apple and Google, which account for most of the world's mobile operating systems, announced COVID-19 apps for iOS and Android.

[47] Relying on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) wireless radio signals for proximity information,[48] the new tools would warn people that they had been in contact with who are infected by SARS-CoV-2.

[50][51] Such parameters include proximity or distance to trigger an exposure and the timeframe in which contacts are considered to be infectious (usually 14 days).

[9] Public health practitioners often are mandated reporters, required to act to contain a communicable disease within a broader population and also ethically obliged to warn individuals of their exposure.

[9] Public health teams typically disclose the minimum amount of information required to achieve the objectives of contact tracing.

[54] Some activists and health care providers have expressed concerns that contact tracing may discourage persons from seeking medical treatment for fear of loss of confidentiality and subsequent stigma, discrimination, or abuse.

[9] Public health officials have recognized that the goals of contact tracing must be balanced with the maintenance of trust with vulnerable populations and sensitivity to individual situations.

[55] Big tech companies have access to data which provides insight on where people visit, what types of interests they pursue, and who interacts with each other.

[55] Therefore, questions regarding the extent of data collected, how long the information is stored, who it is shared with, and for what purpose it is being utilized come with serious ethical considerations.

[55] Manual tracing efforts face difficulty tracking hard to reach individuals given social complexities.

[55] Digital tools require a smart phone and a reliable internet connection, two factors that might exclude certain individuals from benefiting from the technology.

[56][57] Moreover, whether participating in contact tracing efforts should be voluntary or mandatory is another ethical dilemma that adds to the complexity of implementation.

[56] Executing a robust contact tracing program requires resources, skilled professionals, and an ethical framework that complies with the fabric of a particular nation.