People With Ties to COVID-19 Victims More Willing to Share Tracing Data: Parks

Consumers are more willing to share their smartphone data for contract tracing if they know someone who has had COVID-19, reported Parks Associates Wednesday. More than 80% of those who know someone infected are willing to share smartphone data, with privacy protections, vs. 65% who don’t.

The effectiveness of contact tracing depends on the recall quality of the infected person and the timeliness of tracers’ ability to locate and contact those potentially exposed, said Parks Senior Director Jennifer Kent. Using Bluetooth to detect the distance and duration of interaction, a smartphone-based approach can identify people with whom an infected person may have interacted but doesn't know. It can also make notifications of potential exposure “nearly instantaneous.”

As COVID-19 cases spread, more people will know someone who contracted the disease, “which may increase their willingness to share smartphone data,” said Kent. In March, 8% of survey respondents knew at least one person who had COVID-19; that jumped to 35% in May. By Wednesday, the U.S. had 7,504,116 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 210,972 deaths, said the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Seventy percent of those with firsthand COVID-19 experience said they’re willing to share smartphone data to track COVID-19; 59% of those with a household member who had the disease would share, said the survey. Just under half who had experienced no symptoms would be willing to share. By mobile operating system, 58% of iPhone users would be willing, 47% of Android users.

Age affected willingness to share smartphone data for contract tracing, said the report: 90% of respondents ages 18-24 were willing to share if privacy protections were offered; 63% of those 65 and older were willing. Higher income households and those with higher levels of education were more likely to share, it said.

On level of concern by age about the COVID-19 outbreak, 37% of 18- to 24-year-olds were “concerned” vs. 7% “unconcerned,” with the remainder “neutral”; half of those 25-34 were concerned vs. 13% unconcerned; 49% of ages 35-44 were concerned vs. 15% unconcerned; 34% of 45-54 were concerned vs. 24% unconcerned; ages 55-64 were split at 28%; and of those 65 and over, 19% were concerned, 33% not concerned, it said. Reasons for less concern among older generations could be attributed to more sheltering in place and social distancing, Parks said: “Young adults are typically involved in multiple social activities.”

For more effective digital contact tracing, “consumers must adopt the technology,” said Kent, citing an Oxford University study saying adoption by 15% of the population will result in reduced disease transmission and fewer deaths; adoption by 60% of the population or more yields the greatest public health benefit.

To promote wider adoption, Apple and Google rolled out the Exposure Notification Express system Sept. 1, removing the requirement that individuals seek out and download an app from a public health official to participate, Kent noted. The tech companies took on app development and ongoing support to relieve health organizations of that burden, developing an application programming interface that public health officials can use to build contact-tracing apps. But state adoption is “slow,” she said, with only 10 states signed on by mid-September; 25 more expressed interest.