Cellphone tracking could help stem the spread of coronavirus. Is privacy the price?
Kelly Servick
Abstract
“IT IS POSSIBLE TO STOP THE EPIDEMIC ” That’s the message splashed atop a website built by a University of Oxford team this week to share new research on the spread of the novel coronavirus Below that hopeful statement comes a big caveat: To stop the virus’ spread, health officials need to find and isolate the contacts of infected people—lots of them—and fast Such contact tracing is a mainstay of infectious disease control But the Oxford team is one of several now advocating for a new approach: tapping into cellphone location data to track the spread of infection and warn people who may have been exposed
Topics & Concepts
Contact tracingCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Internet privacyCoronavirusTracking (education)Location tracking2019-20 coronavirus outbreakSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Computer securityTracingBusinessInfectious disease (medical specialty)VirologyAdvertisingComputer scienceMedicineDiseasePsychologyOutbreakReal-time computingPedagogyOperating systemPathologyCOVID-19 Digital Contact Tracing